Vistula River Valley in Cracow: from an Urban Barrier to a New Axis of Culture in the Scale of the City

Abstract

Cracow’s city centre has witnessed the unsustainable development in recent decades. The shores of the Vistula River, which flows through it remains undeveloped, even along its downtown section. The river was and remains in many points a major urban barrier, which divides the city. The research, which has been conducted for many years, consist of three elements. One is devoted to the hydrological, compositional and semantical role of the river in the city. Second focuses on defining the urban barriers. The third was devoted to the role of the buildings and complexes of culture, which were erected along Vistula for three decades. The objective of the research was to verify, using comparative analysis, whether it is possible to establish a new axis of activity, associated with those investments and its surroundings. Research results have demonstrated the high quality of most of the architectural forms of new buildings, and the accompanying public spaces. The riverside boulevards are also being subjected to transformation, but so far, in exceedingly small sections. The manner of linking these projects with the surrounding urban tissue remains a problem, in addition to perceiving the river as an urban barrier. The small number of connections between both banks of the river is particularly surprising. In conclusion, it should be stated that the situation is slowly changing, including the bottom-up efforts. However, urban design and planning interventions are needed in the scale of the entire city, implemented with the broader view towards the revitalization of Cracow's riverside areas.