The metropolis of Barcelona is one of the first ten Europe's urban agglomerations. The geographic and natural conditions of the city - located in area between the sea and the forested mountain ranges running parallel to the coast and divided by broad river valleys - have considerably influenced the formation of its hybrid urban structure. The heart of the agglomeration is still Barcelona, established by the Phoenicians in a natural port at the foot of the Montjiuc hill, growing together with its neighbouring towns for more than two thousand years now, incessantly filling one fragment of natural landscape after another with urban fabric. Monumental edifices and high-rise buildings erected in all historic periods have been inorming visitors of the power of teh city and the same time defining places which are important for its urban composition and status. Recent decades have brought no revolutionary changes in this trend. What was changed, though, are the architectural forms of those most emblematic structures in the scale of the metropolis.

W sytuacji niestabilności i zmian, które charakteryzowały Związek Radziecki w latach dwudziestych ubiegłego wieku, grupa architektów-konstruktywistów pod przewodnictwem Moisieja Ginzburga zajmowała się problemem braku mieszkań dla pracowników w dużych sowieckich miastach. Rozwiązania wypracowane przez zespół Ginzburga zostały opracowane pod patronatem Sowieckich platform OSA i Strojkom. Zostały przeprowadzone w trzech kolejnych etapach zwieńczonych budową Domu Narkomfinu. Niemniej, architektoniczna nowoczesność osiągnięta w Narkomfinie była związana z postępami w sektorze budownictwa mieszkaniowego poczynionymi przez ich kolegów z Europy. Niniejszy artykuł podejmuje analizę faktycznych powiązań pomiędzy owym moskiewskim prototypem a zachodnimi modelami, które zaczynały być opracowywane w Europie, a zwłaszcza w Niemczech. Przedmiotowa koncepcja umieszcza badania prowadzone przez zespół Ginzburga w procesie skomplikowanej i niezwykle ważnej asymilacji, która integrowała nowe modernistyczne techniki Zachodu.

The aim of the work is to present one of the most important structures of the last decade — the European Central Bank in Frankfurt am Main, against the background of the role which a sustainable skyscraper can play in the urban composition of a modern city. A literature query and original in situ research show that from the beginning of the 20th century, skyscrapers have become a symbol of the success and importance of cities and metropolises. At the same time, most of the historic skylines of European cities were saved from ‘Manhattanization’. One of the exceptions is Frankfurt, the financial capital of the EU. This paper discusses the construction of the ECB building, both as another important landmark in the city’s urban composition and as an innovative, sustainable structure. The results show that the location of an important high-rise building with a prestigious function in the urban structure confirms the city’s status. At the same time, it was proved that the technological and formal solutions used in the complex, together with the reuse of the built structure (recycling of architecture), may contribute to the reduction of the carbon footprint and maintaining high environmental standards.

The ongoing period of the pandemic makes everybody focused on the matters related to fighting this immense problem posed to the societies worldwide. The governments deal with the threat by publishing regulations which should allow to mitigate the pandemic, walking on thin ice as the decision makers do not always know how to properly respond to the threat in order to save people. Computer-based simulations of e.g. parts of the city or rural area should provide significant help, however, there are some requirements to fulfill. The simulation should be verifiable, supported by the urban research and it should be possible to run it in appropriate scale. Thus in this paper we present an interdisciplinary work of urban researchers and computer scientists, proposing a scalable, HPC-grade model of simulation, which was tested in a real scenario and may be further used to extend our knowledge about epidemic spread and the results of its counteracting methods. The paper shows the relevant state of the art, discusses the micro-scale simulation model, sketches out the elements of its implementation and provides tangible results gathered for a part of the city of Krakow, Poland.