The starting point of the study on the problems, dilemmas and hopes for effective implementation of revitalization projects in Polish cities was the conviction that revitalization is one of the processes affecting the development and changes in the spatial and functional fabric of cities. Revitalization is defined as a deliberate and purposeful process, the effect of which is to restore life in the dysfunctional and degraded parts of cities. Taking up such a topic required an answer to the question about the nature of revitalization and its aspects. The focus of the study was on the problems of revitalization that stem from the legal and socio-economic situation and the dilemmas faced by local government authorities of Polish cities. The introduction to these considerations is the brief outline of the revitalization of Polish cities in the period after World War II, while the conclusion deals with the fears and hopes related to revitalization activities that are presently initiated. The discussion takes into account the existing, critically assessed, legal regulations on revitalization.

Functional urban areas (FUA) have became an important component of polycentric settlement structure of all European countries. FUAs have been defined as labour market basins, composed on large city and its surrounding areas (commuting zones). The very spatial and economic concept formed the foundation of old industrial regions. Old industrialized regions with all the spatial challenges and economic problems could be also perceived as a specific type of functional urban area. In Poland, National Spatial Development Concept 2030 (NSDC 2030 2013) describes restructuring and revitalization of degraded areas and cities in terms of spatial policy measures addressed to the supporting of cohesion in problematic areas. That is why integrated revitalization programs of functional urban areas may become key instrument of regional spatial policy and urban strategies. In response to the problems of degraded land and related land-use conflicts, it can significantly help in establishing valuable solutions, as well as ensuring connections between environmental, social and economic needs in the development of functional urban areas.

Within this article the method of delimitation of the revitalization area within the realities of the current Polish legislation was described. This method was presented on the example of the City of Wejherowo – a medium-sized municipality, being part of the Gdańsk Metropolitan Area. It includes both spatial and socio-economic analyses allowing selection of the areas suff ering from various types of degradation. In result, this method allows indicating the areas demanding the complex intervention, which – on the basis of the comprehensive analysis – shall be subject of further planning for urban regeneration.

The article is part of the trend of research on revitalization. It presents the methodology of the process of diagnosis and separation of the degraded area from the revitalized one, for the needs of the Local Revitalization Program. The article describes the stages of the process, the examples of used measures, as well as problems appearing at diff erent stages of the study. The methodology is presented on the example of the small town of Wojkowice from the Śląskie Province.

The paper aims to present directions of transformation of riverside areas in Wrocław implemented in 2012-2018 as well as planned investments within Przedmieście Oławskie revitalization program. Przedmieście Oławskie, a quarter housing estate from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is another area being regenerated in Wrocław after Nadodrze. The article outlines projects defined in the Local Revitalization Program for the years 2016-2018, responding to the identified deficits in spatial, social, environmental and economic spheres. The program proposes various projects that will create conditions for further actions. The challenges posed before the revitalization process mean the necessity of undertaking various projects and flexible planning for many years ahead. One of the key actions is a redevelopment of degraded Oława riverfront, which will be an activity and recreation space not only for residents of densely built-up and devoid of green areas Przedmieście Oławskie but also residents of Wroclaw. Modernization of the more than a kilometer section of the wharf can be an impulse for the development of the whole river corridor, that will have high natural, landscape and recreational values. The article discusses the planning process, objectives, principles and methodology of planned activities.

The article presents empirical material obtained in sociological surveys conducted in the Wejherowo area in the year 2014. The purpose of the survey was to record the residents’ opinions on the needs and problems relating to selected functioning aspects of the town and its downtown district, the perception and valuation of the area, the town’s revitalization investments, both planned and in progress, and the perception of the changes taking place in selected spheres of the town’s life. The survey reveals that the dwellers of Wejherowo are capable of responding to the problems the town faces in intellectual and personal dimensions, they follow the postulates related to the ideas and concepts of a creative town more or less consciously, and have a preference for the town ensuring access to the broadly construed culture and entertainment. This encapsulates a vision of developing town cultures, with the focal point evidently shifted from the concept of a town as a place accumulating specimens of architecture and a symbolic space to the town construed as a complex of better facilities and solutions which make everyday life more convenient. More frequently than ever before, town identity becomes the function of negotiations between what is local and what is global. The quality of town life and the features of its ‘town-like character’ appear to be the outcome of continuous and subtle dialectics between the residents and the physical form in which they live, i.e. the town.

In the years 1990., after the collapse of communism in Poland, the public space in Wejherowo – like in many other Polish cities – was to a great extend degraded. In 2008 the Wejherowo city government elaborated and accepted the Local Revitalization Program for the years 2008-2015, which concerned mainly the city centre. It was to be financed substantially by the European Union. One of the most prominent public spaces to be revitalized was the historic palace and park, situated on the banks of the river Cedron, in the close vicinity to the main city square. That big residential complex was built in the second half of the 18th century by the aristocratic Przebendowski’s family and then rebuild by the noble Keyserlingk’s family in the Neo-Gothic style. All the complex was listed in 1971, and today the palace hosts the regional Museum of Kashubian and Pomeranian Literature and Music and the park functions as the public city park. The revitalization works in the park were carried on in 2009-2011 and were focused on the restitution of the historic natural values of the park, with its greenery, historic alleys and old trees. All those work were worth around 6.700 thousand zl, more than half of which came from the European Development Regional Fund. Though the project of revitalization included also the renovation of the palace, its interior and the historic building in its close neighbourhood, those works had not been started up until 2015. The Local Revitalization Program of Wejherowo is now being continued, in the framework of the project concerning the years 2015-2022.

Experiences of subregional cities in programming of urban renewal. The aim of the article is to analyze and evaluate the experience of selected subregional cities in revitalization programming. At the beginning, the strategic policy of the state towards subregional centers was defined. The guidelines from the National Spatial Development Concept, the National Urban Policy and the Strategy for Responsible Development were pointed out. Then, examine in detail the activities carried out so far in 4 cities, which as a result of the administrative reform in 1999 lost the status of the provincial city, i.e. in Ciechanów, Legnica, Piła and Przemyśl. Current documents have been characterized, in particular, the specificity of areas covered by revitalization has been described. Next, the leading directions of transformations of these areas were presented, resulting from the adopted revitalization policy. This allowed for the formulation of certain generalizations about the specificity of the process of renewal of degraded areas in subregional centers in Poland.

The article discusses the possibility of using the living lab model as tool catalyzing the participatory planning in revitalization process. To create more user-centered environment helps as well for better implementation of the smart city formula. Against the background of foreign-practice examples (USA, Germany), reference was made to the Polish experience gained by the Author being leader of the cooperation between research team at the Gdańsk University of Technology (KUiPR WAPG) and the Gdańsk Foundation of Social Innovation (GFIS) – a non-government organization acting as a facilitator of local community in one of the disadvantage Gdańsk districts Orunia – Św. Wojciech. The cooperation, going beyond the existing academic convention of relations with local neighborhood activists can be described as research on revitalization, in an informal revitalization model of the living lab (R_LLO). The research comprise a number of projects carried out in 2010-2018 which has helped to develop new forms of participatory planning such as urban mentoring and community planning academy.

This paper includes a description of both the mode of development and the final structure and contents of the Municipal Revitalization Program, which was developed for the City of Starogard Gdański. All key parts of this program were described as well as methods used for planning the diverse activities associated with revitalization of the municipality. These were based on both actual legislation – of both national and regional importnace – as well as on Author’s own experience in this matter. In result, the article can serve as the example of one of the possible ways of developing the complex program of urban transformation for the medium-sized municipality.

Art. 52 sec. 1 of the Regeneration Act of 9 October 2015 allowed municipalities which, at the time of its entry into force, did not have a valid revitalization program, to carry out revitalization activities on the basis of a revitalization program other than the municipal revitalization program. The choice of procedure was left by the legislature of the municipality, assuming that at the initial stage of the implementation of the law, only the municipality should test its instrument, referring to the nature and scale of its needs. The ROP Managing Authority in Małopolska as the only one in the country introduced the requirement of developing municipal revitalization programs for all municipalities that did not have a current revitalization program at the time of the entry into force of the Act. Therefore, these municipalities, in order to benefi t from EU funding under ROP WM 2014-2020 for revitalization activities planned in the programs, were not able to rely on the derogation contained in art. 52 sec. 1 of the Act. Regardless of the size of the municipality and the nature of revitalization needs, they were compelled to develop a document complying with the statutory procedure, the fi rst stage being the delimitation of the degraded area and the revitalization area and confi rmation by the resolution of the municipality council. As a result Małopolskie Voivodeship has become Poland’s largest laboratory of methodology of delimitation of these areas and development of revitalization programs. The aim of the article is to present the diversity of applied methodological approaches to the delimitation of revitalization areas in Małopolskie Voivodeship and to describe the most noteworthy, as well as to indicate the most common errors in the designation of these areas.

In Nantes, the last shipyard closed in 1986 leaving the city in a desperate situation. The cranes, symbolizing the industrial activity, one by one stopped. Unemployment stroked. The question was between turning the page, tearing down the workshops and reinventing a new story or trying to preserve would appear to most of the population, a kind of modern bulky legacy. In the early 2000’s, the revitalization of Nantes’ former industrial area, led to developing a new way thinking. Instead of designing an urban map with major spots and rows of housing, A. Chemetoff thought better to draw an urban landscape where the past could mix with the future. The industrial heritage has been then preserved in two diff erent ways: construction halls have been reshaped preserving the original structure, everything should be reversed. The intangible heritage, meaning worker’s knowledge, has been reinvested in the cultural industry. This way, the image of the city, its brand, moved from industrial to cultural, attracting a new kind of business, mainly high-tech, students, in a new: “art de Vivre” (Art of living).

Revitalization programme and spatial and strategic management, Revitalization programme is the set of integrated activities in favour of a local community, space and economy, which are territorially concentrated and performed by revitalization stakeholdres. These activities should be based on revitalizing strategic and spatial management strongly oriented to improvement of life and living conditions of a local community. The aim of the article is to explain the essence of revitalization programme as a scenario of spatial and strategic activities of the borough authorities. The authors proves that spatial management and strategic management are the tools that enable them to conduct the revitalization process. In the study there is a passage devoted to theoretical and operational meaning of the subject issue. Also the example collected from The Local Revitalization Programme of Krobia Borough, which was elaborated in 2017, has been presented.

Green spaces are an integral element of urban structures. They are not only a place of rest for their users, but also positively affect their well-being and health. The eff ect of these spaces, is the better, the smoother they create larger urban layout – stings of greenery. The introduction of urban greenery can and should be one of the basic elements of revitalization. Often, however, greenery is designed without multi-aspect analysis, enabling understanding of conditions and the use of existing potential in a given place. The use of computational design in conjunction with the use of generally available databases, such as numerical SRTM terrain models, publicly available OSM map database and EPW meteorological data, allows for the design of space in a more comprehensive way. These design methods allow better matching of the greenery design in a given area to specific architectural, urban and environmental conditions.

The purpose of his paper is to present the modern or the artillery fortification as a special group of historical constructions with their determinants, as possible subjects of revitalization. The fortifications constitute a large group of architectural monuments in Poland. Because of their structural characteristics, they are objects diffi cult to maintain and manage, so they have remained in state of irreversible degradation for many decades. Due to the political and economic transformation in Poland, over recent decades the problem of chaotic and aggressive investment has arisen, which the fortifi cations are falling victims to. The text discusses the fortification as a part of the cultural heritage, the dichotomy between notions of “revitalization” and “revalorization”, and shows prospects of contemporary civil functioning and revitalization of the artillery fortifications.

The main purpose of this article is to present facts related to the history of Port Praski located on the right bank of the Vistula river in Warsaw, which is currently being built. The subject of the consideration is the area and development of the former Port Praski, which project and the fi rst works began after the First World War. It’s spatial and functional connections with the downtown area and surroundings are also key issue. The article presents plans, concepts, projects and investments, furthermore theirs level of implementation. Signifi cant eff ort was made to answer the research questions concerning social expectations regarding the function and the direction of Port Praski development. In the final part of the article was made a comparison of existing revitalization works in Port Praski with HafenCity – the district of Hamburg, where the revitalization project has been already implemented for 20 years. However, comparative analysis revealed several signifi cant differences, allowed to conclude that Polish model of revitalization is only a partially identical with the approach applied in Western Europe.

The article attempts a comparison of two harbor districts, in Gdansk and in Hamburg. In 2013, a multiannual program - IBA Hamburg (International Building Exhibition) - was completed. The IBA, initiated with the a concept of the Leap over the Elbe River, part of the Growing City development agenda, addressed the problem of restructuring the port-nearby zones in Harburg and Wilhelmsburg, which have been recognised as areas of high potential in metropolitan development. The concept of metrozones (intra-peripheries or intra border zones), similarly to the term in-between City (German: Zwischenstadt), describes the current problems associated with the strive for creation of an original, but efficient and compact European city. Restructuring of the harbor districts enables new development of the urbanized, but never planned as urban space, areas. Shaped in accordance with the technological capabilities and with the regulation standards and norms of the second half of the 20th century, nowadays the areas form the resultative landscape, burdened with the image of an unfriendly or even dangerous zones. In the era of high technology, metrozones are becoming valuable intra-city developmental areas, opened to alternative urban programs, avoiding the homogenising global trends. In connection with the above, the article describes the situation of the area organized around Nowy Port in Gdansk.

Good practices in the creation of the Commune Revitalization Program – cooperation between the University of Adam Mickiewicz and the City of Kalisz, The entry of the Revitalization Act on November 18, 2015 enabled municipalities to efficiently plan and conduct the process of moving degraded areas out of the crisis. The Act introduced key regulations affecting the programming of revitalization in Poland. One of the most important instruments is the Municipal Revitalization Program. In order to be able to fully use the potential of this document, we should look for solutions that allow creating the most comprehensive solutions. One of the examples of such activities is cooperation between the university and the local government. Thanks to this combination of practical knowledge of officials with theoretical knowledge of academic experts, we can say that it is a project unique in the country. It is also unique due to the fact that spatial economy students who actively participated in the document creation process were included in the work. The aim of the work is to present the course of the cooperation process of the University of Adam Mickiewicz with the Office during the preparation of the Municipal Revitalization Program for the city of Kalisz and showing the role that the students included in the project played in this project

The article presents how multi-layered urban lighting projects fit into the programs of integrated activities to improve the living conditions of the local community, the surrounding space, and its economic relations. The role of the electric lighting in revealing the night image of the city, its promotion and public spaces transformations offering new impressions to city residents is growing thanks to the use of the SSL technology. The authors focus on a role of outdoor lighting projects in urban regeneration within the selected urban areas. The paper describes how conscious shaping of lighting by analysing the goals and stages of the project can contribute to the improvement of quality in the processes of renewal of degraded urban areas.

BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a tool and technology closely related to the planning, design, implementation and management of construction investments – both at the level of a building, as well as infrastructure or civil engineering. It combines advanced spatial modeling (using virtual representations of building elements) with management of information at every level, from the modelling of building’s components, through complex interactions between these elements, to the description of building processes and the behavior of users of the building. This is just a part of many possibilities, the full application depends only on the needs and skills of the system user. Construction dependencies are set at the level of the IFC (Industry Foundation Class) universal standard IFC, its syntax allows to describe not only the physical structure of the object, but also their mutual interactions. This is done in a hierarchical way, i.e. from the superior element there are subsequent, lower-level elements and interactions. So how can this tool be used in urban revitalization? The basic problem here is the excess of information related to and contained in the virtual model. In urban planning and design, most of this data is unnecessary. On the other hand, the data contained in the GIS (Geographic Information System) models, despite correlation with external databases, are insufficient. Basic location data, technical conditions of facilities and infrastructure, property dependencies are not enough to obtain a full picture of the urban space. The solution to the problem of linking these systems is CIM (City Information Modeling). It combines the description of an object derived from IFC with database support at the level of GIS systems. Such a broad approach allows for placing enough information in one virtual space for designing, modeling and analyzing urban space. The article is an attempt to demonstrate what conditions must be met by the CIM system, to extend its functionality to issues related to the revitalization of urban areas: whether and how the information contained in the spatial model can be used to determine the rules for the revitalization of space at the urban level?

The article shows the need to take into account the principles of sustainable development in the field of the revitalization of space, and point out green roofs as a tool in this process. It is presented in the light of the green city concept, and the criteria of the European Green City Index. The article shows the ecological, social and economic benefits of green roofs (starting from the retrieval of green areas in the urbanized space, the reduction of heat island effects, up to the integration function of green roofs), which is illustrated by a few case studies of applying green roofs within revitalization projects. The article indicates also legal incentives, as well as programs directed to the development of green roofs around the world, pointing out a range of factors to consider also for Polish cities.

In the Act on Revitalization of 9 October 2015, for the first time in Poland, the legal act introduced the necessity to apply the principles of universal design (Article 3 paragraph 2 point 3). The practice of investment processes in crisis areas shows that the requirements set out in the Act are not properly implemented. Regeneration processes require attention to improve the quality of life of residents. The article presents issues related to the implementation of universal design principles during revitalization processes. There is a noticeable lack of interest in this issue despite the fact that it is one of the three tasks set before local governments in the Revitalization Act, after social participation and support for people at risk of exclusion in the area of housing. The reasons for this state should be seen in a small knowledge of the issue, deficiencies in the educational process of designers and poor control on the part of local governments and central authorities. This is due to conservation conditions, which often misinterpret the right to protect cultural heritage. The self-government as its own task should guarantee the possibility of using the positive effects of the revitalization process, in particular the implementation of residents’ rights to an independent and dignifi ed life, which is required by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The revitalization of brownfi elds and post-industrial facilities is a long-term and multistage process. In the first stage of revitalization, it is important to assess the material, emotional and utilitarian value of the preserved cultural heritage. On the example of a revitalization project that has been ongoing since 1996, the former areas of the Gdańsk Shipyard, where the remains of the Imperial Shipyard and Schichau Shipyard are located, the process of formulating the value of the preserved cultural material heritage has been presented. The impact of this process on the subsequent stages of the revitalization of the Young City in Gdańsk was also presented. Gdańsk Shipyard is the cradle of Solidarity, so the emotional value associated with the events accompanying the creation of the Solidarity movement was considered to be the dominant one. Only two objects were entered in the register of monuments; BHP Hall and Solidarity Square (Plac Solidarności). When the Local Development Plan has been passed many investments have begun by various investors without comprehensive integrated activities. The demolition of the preserved halls and the dismantling of shipyard equipment began. This caused that in 2015 the uniqueness of the survived post-industrial complex, qualifying it for inclusion in the World Heritage list, was appreciated. In 2018, the Provincial Pomeranian Monument’s Conservator began the procedure of entry of the preserved objects to the register of monuments. This resulted in the suspension of all investments that commenced legally in the area covered by the proceedings. Lack of proper assessment of the cultural value of material heritage at the stage of preparing the revitalization process led to the loss of part of this heritage and caused increase of the investment activities risk in this area.