Krakbw

Andrew Dawson Depa~ment of Geography, University of 3 Andrew5

UK

It is a commonplace that cities are composed of a variety of contrasting sub-units. Central business districts, con- servation zones and ethnic ghettos are the stuff of which urban analysis is often made. Furthermore, it is accepted that much of the day-to-day working of cities arises out of the fact that these sub-units are functionally complementary, and much of the movement within the urban fabric is strong/y directed into the paths between them. It fo//ows that the quakty of decisions about city design and man- agement depends in farge part upon the r~~nition not on/y of the tendency and need for different activities and groups to be spatial/y segregated within the city, but also of the social tensions and transport problems which very high de- grees of segregation can engender, and of the consequent importance of balanc- ing the conflicting aims of enhancing environmental quality and of maintaining accessibi/i~ within the urban fabric.

It is tempting to suggest that nowhere in Europe is the variety of sub-units within a single city as marked, nor the importance of the canons of good planning noted above so great, as in Krakow-the former capital city of Poland, and a settlement with a current population of almost 750000. Perhaps there are cities of com-

parable size - Edinburgh, Marseilles, Salzburg or Sofia - which pose problems of equal significance, but in any list of European cities deserving of attention Krakow would command a place. Recog-

‘UNESCO described Krakbw as one of the world’s finest monuments to civilization’

nition of its importance was given by UNESCO in 1978 when it announced that the city, together with the neigh- bouring salt mine at Wieliczka, was one of the 12 finest monuments to civilization and nature in the world. In this profile the present administrative boundary will be adopted as the spatial limit of the area of interest, and some of the most impor- tant of the sub-units within this will be described by outlining the city’s develop- ment (Figure 1). The relations between the different parts of the city will then be examined, especially those which pose severe problems for the authorities; and the profile will conclude with an account of plans to tackle the problems up to the end of the century.

The medieval core. Although it would be quite inaccurate to suggest that the square kilometre of the centre (Figure 2)

0264-2751~~105~9-~~3.00 0 1984 Bu~e~o~h & Co (Publishers) Ltd 449

0 Pr;ldnik Blaty + Former airport

n Olsza IT A Lenln Steelworks

E3 Medieval core

c13 Outer belt

IEY Suburbs

cc] Free

,** Ctty boundary

_/- Boundary of Nowa Huta

0 5 km L ,

Figure 1. Some sub-units within Krakbw. Source: After R. Mydel, Rozwoj Sfrukfury Przesfrzennej Miasta Krakow, Polska Akademia Nauk, Wroclaw, 1979.

in composition, function or history, it is readily recognizable as being different from other parts of the city. Its chief focus is the Royal Castle and Cathedral on the Wawel Hill. whose 14th century spires and turrets are reminders

that Krak6w was the capital between 1038 and 1609 (Figure 3). A second focus is the Chief Market Place (<>kbu~z~ Rynek) - a square with sides of 200 metres, dating from 1257. which lies at the centre of the grid-iron street pattern of the core, and which was one of the largest in medieval Europe (Figure 4). Within the Market Place stand the medieval Cloth Hall, or Sukienniw, the remains of the Town Hall and the 14th century church of St Mary: and elsewhere in the core there are many buildings of 18th century and earlier origin, including monasteries and churches, and colleges belonging to the Jagiellonian University, which was founded in 1364. Four hun- dred of these buildings are considered to be of historic interest. Most of the build- Figure 2. The medieval core and outer belt of ings in the core are of three or four Krak6w.

450 CITIES August 1984

storeys, and many contain courtyards which have been infilled by later develop- ment, especially during last century.’ Thus, the density of building is high, and there is little open public space outside the Chief Market Place and the much

smaller Small Market (Marty Rynek). However, vehicles have been excluded from several of the narrow streets and from the Chief Market since 1978. The boundary of the core is clearly marked by the wooded belt of about 70 metres width

and four kilometres length. called the Pfartiy, which was laid out in the 1820s on the site of the medieval fortifications, and which separates the core from the rest of the city.

The Outer Belt. If the Plarzty forms an inner ring. delineating the core, although not including the other medieval settle- ments of Kazimierz and Kleparz which lie just beyond it. the fortifications of the latter half of the 19th century created an outer ring which prevented the narrow belt of development outside the medieval town from advancing further into the countryside until 1906, in spite of an increase in the population of the city from 25000 to 85000 during the last century. Thus, the railways, many public build- ings, some industry and much tenement housing was crammed into the area of about four square kilometres between the two rings on the north bank of the Vistula, and this zone is still characte- rized by high densities of building, little open space, and a population density of 25000 per square kilometre, which is twice that of either the core or of the modern suburbs beyond (Table 1). In the case of Kazimierz, less than a fifth of the area was in use for all forms of gardens, orchards and parks in 1972.2 Furth- ermore, whereas much traffic has been excluded from the core, the outer belt is bounded on both edges by major roads which take traffic around the city centre, and is crossed by several narrow, but busy streets which link these two roads; and these streets and the inner ring are important shopping areas. In this the

CITIES August 1984

‘Z. Gbrka, ‘Krakowskie stare miasto’, in ed 6. Kortus, Rola i

Rynek), showing St Mary’s Church and, on the right, part of the Sukiennice.

451

be found among the services in the centre “A.H. Oawson, ‘Urban of the socialist city? and, in spite of a structure in ffee- enterprise and planned socialist environmants’,

trebling of the population since 1933, the CBD is no larger now than it was then.

Tijd yoor Econ en Sac

y;zi yj”i 527 971 8 PP ~1~~~~~ suburbs. Beyond the outer ring and the small area of 19th century de- velopment south of the Vistula in Pod- g6rze lies by far the largest part of the city, which may be divided between the modern suburbs and the urban fringe. Two types of residential suburb are com- mon - those which are composed of single-family dwellings with private gar- dens, which were built at fairly low densities and which are the most prized residential locations, and the bulk of the post-war housing, which is in the form of large-scale estates of multistorey flats. Some of the most recent of these estates, such as that at Pqdnik BiaTy in the north of the city. tower over the farmland on the edge of the built-up area, and stand austerely in an as yet barren environ- ment. However, older areas such as Olsza II, are now surrounded by mature public gardens and woodland, which pro- vide a more pleasant environment. The two types of suburb are intermixed throughout this zone, which also contains educational buildings, hotels, parks, some industry. pIaying fietds and allot- ments, so that the density of development is much lower than in the more central areas, and there is a greater feeling of light, space and greenery.

The largest single, identifiable, sub- unit among the suburbs is Nowa Huta -- a development which, by any standards, is remarkable. Before the second world war, only about a quarter of the work- force in the city was engaged in manufac-

Table 1. Some sub-units within Krak&v in 5975.

Sub-unit Area Population Population {square km) density (per

square km)

turing, there were few factories of any size, and although there was a wide range of industry it did not include metallurgy. However, the Polish government’s deci- sion to embark upon a programme of economic development to shift the ba- lance of the economy away from agricul- ture, and in particular to provide alterna- tive employment in the south and south- east of the country where farms were tiny and landless farm labourers many, and its

‘a huge iron-and-steel mill was built to the east’ -.-_1___ choice of the basic. investment industries as the means for carrying out its program- me led it to build a huge. integrated, iron-and-steel mill to the east of the city, together with a town to house the mill’s employees. The choice of site was justi- fied officially by reference to the situation of Nowa Huta between the iron-ore fields of the Ukraine and the coalfield of Upper Silesia, but it was also strongly influenced by the opposition in Krakow to Poland’s post-war economic and social dominance by Russian ideas, and it was anticipated that the mill town would generate an industrial, proletarian community which would offset the traditional intellectual and bourgeois society of the city,

Work began in I!?49 and, as a result of the completion of these plans and of the construction of a series of smaller factor- ies and student residences on and around the former city airport which lay between Krakow and Nowa Huta, the two settle- ments now form a continuous built-up area. Unlike the other post-war suburbs, which tend to be amorphous and lack coherence, not only is Nowa Huta domin- ated by the chimneys of the Lenin steei- works, but the town is also laid out in a rigidly geometric form, based on a series of broad avenues CoI~lnemorating the October and Cuban Revolutions, Lenin

Medieval core 1 12400 13930 Outer belt

and the Polish Six-Year Plan under which 4 107000 24 760

Suburbs 321 4927w 4100 it was begun, which focus on the Lenin Fringe 197 73300 370 Monument at the town centre (Figure 5).

Source: R. Mydel, Rozw6j Struktury Przestrzennej Miasta These streets are lined by residential

Kr&owa, Polska Akademia Nauk, Wr~&w, 1979. p 33. blocks in the socialist-realist style of

CfTiES Auc~ust 1984

architecture, but the impression of sever- ity is offset by the generous provision of trees, and almost half of the land surface is given over to gardens and parks4 More recent extensions to the town, though almost all made up of high-rise apartment blocks, are arranged in a more informal manner. Altogether, about 22OQOO peo- ple now live in the Nowa Huta area of Krakow, and about 6500000 tonnes of crude steel is produced annually from its mill.

T/E u&urr frkge. Three-fifths of the area within the city’s boundaries, however, must be classed as urban fringe. About 85% of the fand in this fringe is still in agricultural or forest use’ and settlement is largely in villages which are now undergoing rapid changes. White the villages still contain many of the tradi- tional, singfe-storey, wooden farmhouses and steadings with thatched roofs, and while several still lack paved roads, run- ning water and mains gas, almost ail are experiencing both the replacement of the traditional houses and the construction of large, detached, three-storey, brick buildings with garages and balconies. Moreover, the new houses are spreading

beyond the edges of the villages, in contrast to the outside of the city bound- ary, where sprawl of this type at the expense of farm land has not been permitted for several years, Only about a quarter of the population of the fringe is dependent upon agriculture, and the majority join many thousands of others who commute into the city daily from beyond its boundaries.’

Sub-units and poEicy problems. Thus a number of distinct sub-units have been created within the city over several cen- turies, each of which is characterized by its own pattern of land use and functions. As we shall see, each of them is afso connected to and influences the others in particular ways, and it is from these connections that a number of problems have arisen which now face the city and national authorities.

In the case of the core and of Kazi- mierz it has been the policy since the war to protect and restore the historic fabric. A major programme was begun in 1974 in which it was planned to deal with all the buildings of value, and thus to enhance the city’s attractiveness to foreign tour- ists. In 1978 contributions were solicited

“8. Kortus and W. Vfassenbroeck, ‘A new industrial town and the steel plant in Cracow - Nowa Huta (Poland)‘, De aa~r~k~u~e, Vof 4,7979, pp 347-358. ‘Ft. Mydel, Rozwd] Struktuty Przestrzennej Miasta Krakowa, Polska Akademia Nauk, Wroclaw, 1979. % Kwiecieir, ‘WspHzalelnoSC zjawisk urbanizacji w strefie podmiejskiej Krakowa’, Zeszyfy ~auk~we U. J., Prace Geograficzne, Vol50, 1980, pp 61-70.

@a Parks. allotment gardens L Lenin Monument and other public open space

+ Central sc)uare

Figure 5. The centre of Nowa tfuta.

453

1981, pp 15-19. ‘“A,t4. DawsQn.

from all parts of the country to assist the work. f-fowever, progress has been very slow because about 60% of the floor- space, including many apartments, is in private ownership” and the ~~pn~a~~~~~ of the area is elderly. In consequence it has _I___.--*

‘83te ou&?r heft IS remar~3biC

for its current lack of building

--. pverl $0 he ~~~~~~~~~ $0 mq?ty whole bfocks in order to allow wctfk to begin. Work has been completed on a few crf the 40 biocks in the core, but many still await restoration. Moreover. there is increasing ~~~m~etition for resources for restor~~t~on. For instance, it is now being argued that there are many buildings outside the core * including some of 19th century origin. which should be included in the restoration programme, and an ambitious pr~~g~amrne of work in other historic to?%%!%, SEE& as To& aNi &M&d, hSS

also been launched. At the same time the restored frontages in Krak&w. with their dec~3ration and sculptures, are already falling prey to the high fevel of atmos- pheric pottution caused not only be rmis- sinns of ~~d~str~~~~ waste fxmx Nowa Huta and other ax’cas in the city, but also from Upper Sitesia to the west and from the w~d~spre~~d use of stoves ttr heat the houses within the core itself, These prob- Iems cafl for new policy decrisions about the rate of future work, about the bnkmce between restoration and the cost of con- troHing emission of poltrrtants, and abuut the division of effort between Kraktiw and the rest of Poland.

The enter belt aiso suffers fi-om maq of the prob!ems faced by the core. Much of the accommodation was built before fYf& and is now in need of ~~stora~~on or repfacement. For instante, only three- quarters of the buildings itt Kazimierz possess main drainage.” There is a Iack of play space, Icvets of atmospheric poitu- tion and noise are high. there is traffic congestion, and the high densities of both pedestrian and road traffic give rise to

many accidents.” However, while there is a gener& hCMirPg shortZ%gCZ in the City. arising out of decisions at the national level to concentrate investment in so- cxlfed ‘~~rod~~t~~e’ activities, few build- ings can be dispensed with, programmcs for the derno~it~~n of substandard hous- ing - which have been rn~~~~~~~~~ - have not been fulfilled. and efforts have been concentrated un the provision of more. rather than f’letter, housing. Thus the outer belt is r~nlark~~b~e for its current fack c3f ~~~~~i~~~ activity and for the meagre amount of redeve~~F?~~nt which has taken place there since the 1940s.” Iiatvevcr, this cannot be purstacd inde- finitety, if only because the Iwilding stock is ~~~nti~uin~ to age, not to ~~~ntion the occqxmts’ desire for better conditions.

Much of the construction in recent decades has been in the suburbs. but a close correlation has developed between the age of the housing and the demog- raphic structure of the ~~habit~~~ts. Thus, while f3% of rhe city% residents in t9.?0 (and about 23% of the population of the core) were over 60, less than 5% of the residents of Nowa Huta were in that age group. Converscfy, by 1980 the rate of natural growth varied from 11 .B per l~~~~(~ in Nowa Fi-futa throt~gh Fhe city avcrqc of

7 down to 0.3 in the administrative district which included the core, the outer belt and some more modern suburbs.” However, this spatial pattern to the derno~r~~ph~~ structure. which is the re- sult of the provision of new housing chiefly for young families and usually on ,the edge nf the build-up area, and which carries with it a marked spatial pattern of demand for edu~ation~~l, health and other ~ornrn~~jt~ services, is unstahic and is

Iikefy to change rapidfy as, for instance, the children in the suburbs leave home.. Thus, more attention may have to be paid to stabilizing the demographic structure in each part of what has become a far-fhmg city if a satisfactory degre%. of” access to public services is to bc achieved for the population as a whole,

FinalXy, it is apparent that the urbarr fringe will pose IWO increasing prohtems

for the city’s planners. First, the rash of private houses is fragmenting the open space in the fringe, and may be reducing the scope for large-scale developments by the public sector for housing or other purposes in future.‘” Second, most of the new houses in the fringe belong to people who work elsewhere in the city, and many of these either own or plan to own a car. It is expected that the number of cars will increase five-fold between 1975 and 1990.“ Yet there is little provision for parking within the central areas, and most of what there is is on the street.

Thus, there are a variety of problems facing Krakow; some stem from priorities which have been decided at the national level, but others lie within the rather

modest range of decision making which is permitted to local authorities in Poland. All have been publicly recognized by academics and planners within the coun- try.

K&&v 2000. Perspective plans for 1990 and 2000 indicate something of the way in which the authorities intend to tackle these problems. For example, plans for the core envisage substantial reductions in the density of building, major changes in the pattern of land uses, and comple- tion of the restoration work (Table 2). However, comparison of these targets with what has been achieved since 1970

shows that much remains to be done if the aim of the plan -to turn the core into

an area devoted to tourist and retailing services - is to be accomplished. Little progress was made during the 1970s to reduce the total floor area, and in par- ticular housing, and monasteries, and administration and banks were still well above their targets for declining use of the available space in 1980, while educa- tion and science had actually increased their area. On the other hand, shops and hotels, whose areas should have been growing, declined, and the growth of bars and restaurants was slight. Similarly, although atmospheric pollution was offi- cially recognized as a problem during the

197Os, and especially during the Solidar- ity period when the aluminium refinery at Skawina on the outskirts of Krakow was closed, the authorities have not yet man- aged to reduce the emission of dust or of sulphur dioxide. ”

As regards the outer belt, a fall in the population is envisaged from 111000 in 1970 to 50000 in 1990, together with a decline in the area under industry, ware- housing, housing and educational uses. The space which is made available will be taken by greatly increased facilities for tourists, and by more parking and shops, but it is acknowledged that the whole of the potential demand for the city-centre parking of private cars cannot be met.”

Little new building is planned for the established suburbs, and in the case of Nowa Huta the population is expected to fall from 205000 in 1975 to 155000 in

Table 2. Use of floorspace in the medieval core.

Culture Housing and monasteries Shops Education and science Hotels Administration and banks Bars and restaurants Under renovation

Total

Percent of total

In 1980

11.9 40.2

5.1 8.7 1.1

10.5 2.1

11.8

Plan for 2000

24.3 23.1 11 8.4 8.1 7.3 6.5 _

In relation to the perspective plan (Plan for 2000 = 100)

1970 1990

63 71 299 252

75 66 113 148 44 20

240 204 43 46

_ _

146 144

Source: 2. G6rka, ‘Akcja odnowy Krakowa a uzytkowanie przestrzeni centrum miasta’, ZeszyIy Naukowe U.J., Prace Geograficzne, 1983.

‘3J. Bogdanowski, ‘Plany a zywiolowoS6 rozwoju przestrzenngo’, in Krakow 2000, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakbw, 1974, pp 97-l 01. “KrakowskiZespdl Miejski, Plan Zagospodarowania Przestrzennego na Okres Perspektiwiczny, Krakbw. 1977.

150p tit, Ref 12

160p tit, Ref 14.

CITIES August 1984 455

“ibid.

1990. The only major investments which are planned are in connection with some decentralization of higher education from the city centre and the improvement of local health facilities. On the other hand, the number of jobs in the suburbs is to rise by about 30%, or 26000, as existing factories are modernized and extended, and the housing for the extra workers and their families will be in farther flung new suburbs, across the Vistula to the south and east, beyond the present city bound- aries. Indeed, the population of the Wieliczka area is planned to rise from 41000 to 185000 in the space of 15 years.

When all these plans are taken together the population of the city, and of the neighbouring areas which will be developed in conjunction with it, will rise from about 750000 in 1975 to over 900000 by 1990, and to about 1 million at

the turn of the century. Even so. 6~)OOO

people will still be commuting into Kra- kow in 1990, and pressure on housing will continue. New road systems and re- creational facilities are planned, the num- ber of hospital beds is to rise three-fold. and hotel places by nine times by 1990, and many other ambitious official targets are planned.‘? However, the future is likely to be much less dramatic. The crisis of 19X0 and the martial law of 1981-X3 were the consequence of the unjustified optimism of the Gierek era. Marked falls in output and in standards of living have put back the realistic expectations of the Poles. perhaps for many years. There is little doubt that the policy aims which have been outlined above will continue to be maintained to some extent, but their achievement is likely to be much slower than was once envisaged. In short, ‘Kra-

kow 2000’ may not be very different from the city of today.

ClTlES August 1984