Malgorzata TOMCZAK
Re-use - International Architecture Biennale Krakow 2021
The International Architecture Biennale Krakow 2021 is behind us! Full of great guests, speeches, discussions, topics. Two (for workshop participants even three) intensive days with concrete conclusions and postulates," says Marek Kaszyński, president of the Cracow branch of SARP, in the opening interview of this issue. The slogan for this year's edition was RE-USE. Krakow themes, but discussed in a broader urban context: we talked about Aleje Trzech Wieszczów, the industrial heritage of Nowa Huta and the Wesoła district. The introductory panel was held under the auspices of the Malopolska Chamber of Architects of Poland.
The city is a field of tensions, but also a space of synergy and cooperation between different stakeholders. How to effectively dialogue and moderate the discussion about the city in order to build a relationship based on the full subjectivity of investors, officials, residents or participants in the creative industries, who co-create a complex urban reality? Is demolition the first thought when designing new spaces? To what extent is the city subject to processes of self-organization, and to what extent is it regulated by law, including conservation and local plans? We sought contemporary-sounding answers to these and many other questions in today's pandemic world. In redefining our priorities, we refer to the slogan RE-USE. It resounded at the Biennale exceptionally strongly and currently. We are all the more pleased to have had the pleasure of co-creating this event. We are already looking forward to the next one - in 2023.
On behalf of the Editorial Board, Publisher and the entire A&B team, I would like to wish you, dear Readers and Friends - a family and peaceful Christmas and a good and, above all, healthy New Year.
