Self-organisation and meaning of urban structures: case study of Jewish communities in central Poland in pre-war times

[EN] In spatial, social and cultural pluralism, the questions of human intentionality and socio-spatial emergence remain central to social theory (Portugali 2000, p.142). The correlation between individual preferences, values and intentions, and actual behaviour and actions, is subject to Portugali’s theory of self-organisation (2000). Compared to Gidden’s structuralism, which focuses on society and groups, the point of departure for Portugali (2000) are individuals and their personal choices. The key feature in how complex systems `self-organise', is that they `interpret', the information that comes from the environment (Portugali 2006). The current study explores the urban environment formerly inhabited, and largely constructed, by Jews in two central Polish districts: Mazovia and Lodz, before the tragedy of the Holocaust. While the Jewish presence lasted from the 11th century until the outbreak of World War II, the most intensive development took place in the 19th century, together with the civilisation changes introduced by industrialisation. Embracing the everyday habits of Jewish citizens endows the neighbourhood structures they once inhabited with long gone meanings, the information layer which once helped organise everyday life. The main thesis reveals that Jewish communities in pre-war Poland represented an example of a self-organising society, one which could be considered a prototype of contemporary postmodern cultural complexity. The mapping of this complexity at the scale of a neighbourhood is a challenge, a method for which is addressed in the current paper. The above considerations are in line with the empirical studies of the relations between Jews and Poles, especially in large cities, where more complex socio-cultural processes could have occurred.The current study is a part of the research project financed by The National Science Centre of Poland UMO-2011/03/D/HS3/01630, entitled: “Morphological analysis of urban structures – the cultural approach. Case studies of Jewish communities in the chosen settlements of Lodz and Masovian voivodeships”. Part of the methodological research was performed in SENSEable City Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology within the framework of a Fulbright Senior Research AwardHanzl, M. (2018). Self-organisation and meaning of urban structures: case study of Jewish communities in central Poland in pre-war times. En 24th ISUF International Conference. Book of Papers. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 187-198. https://doi.org/10.4995/ISUF2017.2017.5098OCS18719

A quest to quantify urban sustainability. Assessing incongruous growth

[EN] Urban planners, politicians and citizens need comprehensive and clear information in order to conduct or to get involved in successful evidence-based planning and policymaking. The objective to improve the quality of planning outcomes both at the local and regional level needs design mechanisms that can help verify and support urban planning approaches with quantitative analyses and simulation tools. While this issue has been explored through extensive literature on the topic, there is still plenty to research further, especially when dealing with the evaluation of plans, such as local plans of urban development, comprehensive plans, municipal studies or larger planning involving multiple municipal associations. The use of quantitative analyses may be applied to several aspects of the physical form, including connectivity, ecological system continuations, built structure conciseness and its urban boundary, urban tissue morphology, among others. Quantitative analyses completed by qualitative description and enriched with socio-cultural assessment can result in a comprehensive picture of an area’s current and planned state. This paper presents our experience with mapping residential structure typologies in Lodz, Poland and its surroundings. This mapping assessed the existing residential densities and planned development capacities considering the area’s demographic dynamics in the background. The method revision is completed by examples of open green space quality assessment.Hanzl, M.; Bezerra, LM.; Tomczak, A.; Warsza, R. (2018). A quest to quantify urban sustainability. Assessing incongruous growth. En 24th ISUF International Conference. Book of Papers. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 623-632. https://doi.org/10.4995/ISUF2017.2017.5096OCS62363

THE SPACE INSIDE, education and leisure new square, international workshop + lectures. Membro del comitato scientifico: Alessio Erioli (Unibo), Andrea Luccaroni (Unibo), Gabriele Lelli (Unife), Jean Marie Billa (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture et de Paysage de Bordeaux, France), Malgorzata Hanzl (Lodz University of Technology, Poland), Irit Tsaraf Netanyahu (The Neri Bloomfield school of Design, Haifa, Israel)

Comitato scientifico del workshop internazionale "The space inside" Faenza, Ravenna dell'ottobre 2013. Presenti professori e studenti dell'Università di Ferrara, Università di Bologna, Università di Bordeaux, Università di Haifa e Università di Lodz. Obiettivo una ricerca sulle possibili rigenerazioni di grandi complessi religiosi all'interno del centri storic