Since the beginning of 2019, Krakow's Wolnica Square, the former market square of Kazimierz, presents a sad sight - there is a parking lot in operation. Apparently, it's temporary. But it wasn't good before either - cobblestones, no shade, no benches. Event space. Located next to the square, the Ethnographic Museum has been showing for years how to think wisely about the development of this space. Now the idea of a neighborhood roundtable has also matured.
Wolnica Square is the center of Krakow's Kazimierz district. As laid out by King Casimir the Great in the 14th century, it rivaled the size of the Main Square. In the 19th century, half of it was left when Krakowska Street was laid in its place. Still, it's a vast space, with the City Hall towering over it. Historically, it was a market square. Nowadays it has lost its function in favor of representation and the location of various events. Before a parking lot was arranged on the square's slab, it was an empty space, and cars surrounded (and still surround) it like a wreath. In the corner a neglected fountain. A string of old pots from the communist era and just a few trees on the perimeter. Residents have repeatedly pointed out the need to humanize the square.
A temporary parking lot in Wolnica Square was arranged in early 2019
photo: Katarzyna Piszczkiewicz
wooden dance floor
"Wolnica Square is dead on a daily basis. And it's even avoided by a wide arc, especially in summer, when it's very hot," says Katarzyna Pilitowska, who has been a resident of Kazimierz for seventeen years and runs a well-known hummus and breakfast bar nearby. And what, in her opinion, should Wolnica Square be like? "It should take into account the residents' need for rest. (...) A square of rest, a square of trees, a square of benches, a square of small greenery."
The closest we came to change was in 2009, when a competition was held to develop an urban-architectural concept for the development of this space. At the time, the winner was a design by the Lewicki Łatak Design Bureau, which envisaged lining the square with a wooden floor.
"What struck us about the nice interior, good proportions and not too bad flooring of the square was that people didn't want to stop here," he says. - recalls Piotr Lewicki. The pretext for stopping was supposed to be the non-obvious flooring - dylovina - a soft plank floor laid out on the grass at village weddings. According to the concept, it was supposed to make one "want to come and stay there, sit down, maybe even lie down in the summer."
A design by the Lewicki Łatak Design Bureau, which won the 2009 competition for the urban-architectural concept for Wolnica Square
photo: courtesy of the Lewicki Łatak Design Bureau
Time passes, and the project has not gone beyond the realm of concept. When the competition was decided, there were no funds in the City Hall to continue the work. And later it began to fall into oblivion. The winning project was not to everyone's liking, for example, the Ethnographic Museum approached it with reserve, considering it too ludic and imposing too one-sided an interpretation of the historic square. The direction of change is still open - the city will not take care of the square now or in the near future, so why not create a vision for this place from the bottom up?
a pretext for a meeting
The initiative was taken by the Ethnographic Museum, which is located in the city hall. It is the square's largest neighbor and feels that together with other neighbors it is in a position to "discuss" its desired shape.
"The modern city is organized in such a way that the people who live in it can pass each other without collision. We are concerned with the opposite - with creating an opportunity to meet. (...) The arrangement essentially has a secondary role. It should simply give an excuse to stop and talk". - says Katarzyna Piszczkiewicz, who coordinates public space activities at the museum. The direction of thinking is thus consistent with the philosophy of the architects.
The museum has created many such pretexts for meeting on the square in the past ten years. The beginning was given by the festival "Etnodizajn". In 2010, works by contemporary designers and craftsmen inspired by the museum's collection appeared on the square. Another spectacular exit to the square took place in 2018 with an exhibition titled. "Who Knows It(s)? Playing with tradition/playing with imagination." Large wooden structures and figures referred to the activities of the Cracow Workshop Association from the early 20th century, whose artists creatively transformed folk forms and motifs. There were also many participatory actions - group design of benches in front of the entrance, painting and planting old pots in the square.
An exhibition entitled. "Who know(s) it? Playing with tradition/playing with imagination" organized in 2018 in Wolnica Square by the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow.
Photo: Marcin Wąsik
Director of the Ethnographic Museum Dr. Antoni Bartosz says this could be a great site for artistic experiments, and points to examples that never made it beyond the design phase. "The Alzheimer's Labyrinth" was meant to recreate the experience of people who, as a result of the disease, disoriented, hide their slippers in the refrigerator, for example. "Mobile Architecture," on the other hand, was supposed to be a response to the paucity of greenery, fitting into the dynamics of the square's life, as well as respecting the preservation guidelines that prevent any interference with the historic pavement. The variability and timeliness of the solutions seems to be an ideal solution.
exert influence, but not appropriation
Ideas that bind the history and identity of the square with the present, respect its heritage, but do not petrify it, are on the one hand ambitious, and on the other accessible, understandable and attractive, are not lacking in the museum. The Ethnographic Museum, after years of experience with the square space, has matured into an incubator of ideas for the square. Dr. Artur Filip, who researches grassroots initiatives in the public spaces of various cities, especially American ones, stresses that the real hosts of a square can be everyone present in a given space, such as those whose windows overlook the square, even if formally the management of the square remains with the city.
"The best way is to get all the stakeholders together and renegotiate the idea of the place. This is the basic difficulty. Another is the right to the space, because no one really has an exclusive right to it. The question is how local institutions, residents or entrepreneurs can influence it and at the same time not appropriate it. Everyone must understand that this space is not anyone's, that it is everyone's. This is a threat and a difficulty," he says.
The exhibition titled. "Wolnica, freedom, imagination" organized in 2010 at Wolnica Square by the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow
photo: Marcin Wąsik
Preparations for a neighborhood roundtable have already taken place. Dr. Artur Filip, who has been working on the metamorphosis of Defilad Square in Warsaw for the past two years, is acting as a consultant here. Threads are being spread. The museum is building, as he puts it, a catalog of values to provide a set of arguments for discussing the purpose and form of the square. These are values from the cultural landscape of the entire area, the history of the square and the way it is used. The whole initiative is intended to be the reverse of the situation that usually occurs with infrastructure projects, that is, when neighbors and users of the place do not participate in the work at the planning stage, and public consultations take place around the finished idea, where the room for maneuver is already very limited.
Is it not too late?
Just what will happen when the City Council matures to deal with the issue of the square and simply acts, disregarding the actions of local users?
"At any moment it may turn out that someone is already designing something and we will be faced with a fait accompli. I would prefer that the city accept the idea of creating a new shape for the square from the bottom up and participate in this work from the beginning." - says Katarzyna Piszczkiewicz.
The only question is whether such a signal will come and whether, however, it is not necessary to work out this vision on our own? After all, none of the deputy mayors of Krakow considered it important to comment on the desired vision of the square for the article I am preparing....
Dr. Artur Filip points out that a group that is able to agree on something on its own and come with a ready-made proposal should be considered a valuable resource by the city authorities. "Of course, this must be wisely agreed upon and must not overlook the interests of those who remain outside this group," he points out. - he points out.
This is not easy, as expectations and needs are different.
Benches in front of the entrance to the Ethnographic Museum in Krakow, designed in 2018 as part of the participatory project titled. "BEFORE_THE_ PROJECT"
photo: Katarzyna Piszczkiewicz
experiment
Stop at the square," said Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Łatak in their concept. To stop and meet, adds MEK. The museum dreams of a square for experiments. An experiment would be the very method of work - grassroots agreement around the shape of such a large, centrally located space. Ideally, the process would involve the architects (who say bluntly, "In ten years our views have changed, we have different experiences from other projects, and today we would certainly think about this square in a different way") and the city, so that the result could be a realistic, not just wishful, vision of downtown Kazimierz.
