No longer just the Architect of the City, but also the Urban Gardener! During a conference held on April 15 this year in the Młynówka Królewska park, new trees were planted, plans for improving the quality of life in Krakow were discussed, and most importantly, the person who will be responsible for putting them into practice was introduced. The new official in charge of landscape architecture and greenery issues in Krakow is Katarzyna Opalka. What is her plan to decongest Krakow?
Katarzyna Opalka is not a new figure in Krakow's local government. The landscape architect has worked for the past few years at the Urban Greenery Authority, where she was in charge of, among other things, designing the Gardens of Krakowians, and she also runs the community profile Miastozmiana, where she documents green transformations in Krakow's urban space.
Janusz Sepioł, Chief Architect of the City of Krakow, mentioned plans to create an office of the Urban Gardener in Krakow as early as last November, during a conversation Ola Kloc gave at the 10th OEES Congress. After announcements, the plans finally came to fruition. At the time, Janusz Sepiol wished that the new official would "walk hand in hand with the architect of the city." Indeed, Katarzyna Opalka serves not only as City Gardener, but also as Deputy Director of the Office of the City Architect. As Urban Gardener, she in turn works within the structure of the Office of the City Architect, in the Department of Urban Order. What changes will she make?
Deconstruct Krakow
The most important initiative of the new City Gardener is to be "Green Streets," which is a project for the rapid spot de-conetoning of Krakow's streets in the least "green" areas of the city.
As part of the "Green Streets" project, the so-called concrete deserts will be greened. - These will be small, spot interventions, which will give a quick effect - trees, vegetation, elements of small architecture will appear on streets dominated by concrete. In the first place, we will change the face of such streets as Wrocławska, Garncarska, Zamoyski, Asnyka, Kalwaryjska and Friedleina. We would like greenery to appear on them later this year
- says Katarzyna Opałka, Urban Gardener of Krakow.
Of the listed locations, two require urgent intervention. These are the square located in front of the Korona Sports Club building on Kalwaryjska Street, and the section of roadway next to the Bohaterów Getta Square stop on Na Zjeździe Street that has been closed to traffic. Both places are concrete deserts, where during the summer the pavement heats up to record temperatures.
In the case of Na Zjazd Street, we're mainly talking about greening the roadway, but the square in front of the historic Crown is part of the pedestrian space where residents meet or wait for oncoming streetcars. The visualizations presented by the city show three small plantings - but it is unclear whether the plans to enrich Korona with new greenery correlate with the planned expansion and revitalization of the modernist swimming pool, to be handled by the Krakow-based SANECCY studio.
First, however, the changes will most likely take place at the outlet of Friedlein Street, where it connects to Wroclawska Street. Currently, a section of Friedlein has been closed off from traffic and fenced off with concrete pots. They are to be replaced by a new pocket park with a small pedestrian route and numerous trees.
There will also be a "little Japan" in Krakow. The most spectacular change is to be the creation of Cherry Alley in Mistrzejowice's Millennium Park. According to Krakow authorities, 20 new flowering trees will be planted in two rows around the park path.
Krakow's city furniture catalog will be created
© Pixabay
Will a Kraków bench be created?
One of the tasks of the Urban Gardener will also be to take care of small architecture and urban furniture in Krakow. These are heterogeneous, and it is not uncommon to find several different models of benches on one street. The capital faced a similar problem, where the Warsaw Bench standard was eventually developed. As can be learned from the materials presented by the City, the Urban Gardener announces the creation of a Cracow Urban Furniture Catalog, which will probably serve a similar function to its Warsaw counterpart. The Urban Furniture Catalog will consist not only of proposals for benches, baskets or tables, but also for paving and technical infrastructure facilities.
The 10 commandments of Urban Gardening
Also presented at the conference was the Green Decalogue, which is a set of guidelines and principles for the management of greenery in the city. The most important issues are contained in 10 points:
-
Protect existing trees
-
We plant trees among the streets
-
We plant trees at bus stops
-
We increase biodiversity
-
We retain rainwater
-
We use a catalog of urban furniture
-
We give up multicolored posts
-
We design with a landscape architect
-
We create friendly zones among the streets
-
We introduce a green audit
It is worth adding, however, that this is more of a declaration than a binding law. The situation was similar with the high-profile Standards for Responsible Construction, which the Cracow municipality presented in February this year. Although it is difficult to measure its effectiveness at this point, the document has not fallen into oblivion - as mentioned during the conference "New Challenges of the Housing Market" by the 1st Deputy Mayor of the City of Krakow Prof. Stanislaw Mazur, a union of metropolitan cities is currently being formed to consult on the proposed changes and even come up with specific proposals at the central level. Although the Green Decalogue is far more general in nature, it is to be hoped that the Urban Gardener will conduct activities in accordance with its guidelines.
Woonerf on Krupnicza Street in Krakow
Photo: Mach240390 © CC BY-SA 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons
One hundred new woonerfs in Krakow
As Krakow's Chief Architect Janusz Sepiol revealed at a press conference, a host of new green streets are to appear in Krakow, inspired by the experience the city gained from the greening of Krupnicza Street. About a hundred streets have been selected that could be turned into new woonerfs. Surely the Krupnicza transformation is a good example? We wrote more about the woonerf on Krupnicza in June 2023. We will probably find out more about the plans of Katarzyna Opalka, the new Urban Gardener of Krakow, in the near future.
