The search for a City Architect who will take care of Gdansk's space began in February this year. On April 12, the function will be assumed by Professor Piotr Lorens, head of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the Gdansk University of Technology, who, as Director of the Architect's Office, announces that he intends to take care of the green strategy for the city first.
Five candidates took part in the competition for the position; those who met the formal requirements had the opportunity to present their vision for the city to a dedicated committee. Professor Lorens, as stressed by Piotr Grzelak, a member of the committee and deputy mayor for sustainable development, was distinguished not only by his vision of the directions of change facing the city, but also by his awareness of the legal conditions, considerations related to the various stakeholders operating in the city area and his knowledge of the elements related to the construction process.
Directing the work of the new Office of the City Architect will include such tasks as conducting urban and architectural analyses for selected city investments and conducting public consultations in this regard, issuing architectural and urban planning opinions for the needs of the Mayor, city departments and organizational units, setting conditions, frameworks andguidelines for the implementation of projects aimed at ensuring the harmonious development of the architecture of urban space, submitting applications for the preparation or amendment of local zoning plans when necessary, issuing opinions on the conditions of development and land use and construction permits for selected projects of significant importance to the city, as well as initiating and organizing architectural and urban-architectural competitions.
Some time ago, together with Mayor Piotr Grzelak, we announced a competition for the position of City Architect. A person that we ourselves are talking about and we want her to take care of urban planning order, architectural vision especially in areas and areas that are strategic, prestigious, but also conflicting. I am very pleased and with great joy to welcome on board the team of the city of Gdansk Mr. Piotr Lorens," the mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz said during the conference.
Piotr Lorens began working at the Gdansk University of Technology in the Department of Urban Development after graduation. In the 1990s, thanks to a Fulbright scholarship, he went to the United States for an internship, where he completed the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the International Training Program at Harvard University. In addition to his research and teaching work, he is also active in urban planning and development planning design and consulting. From 2003 to 2009 he served as President of the Board of Directors of the Gdansk Branch of the Society of Polish Urban Planners, since September 2015 he has served as President of the Board of Directors of TUP, and since 2011 as Vice President of the International Society of City and Regional Planners (ISOCARP).
About Gdansk, in the summary of the article "Gdansk - a laboratory of urban transformation" in the issue of A&B dedicated to this city, Professor Piotr Lorens wrote:
Gdansk can thus be considered a kind of laboratory of urban transform ations allowing for the development of a new approach to local architecture and urbanism.
We congratulate the professor, wish him many successes, and will curiously observe further development of Gdansk under the eye of an urban architect.
