On 18 and 19 May 2023, the Institute of Art History of the University of Wrocław, in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology and the Department of Landscape Architecture of the Wrocław University of Life Sciences, is organising a conference entitled ‘Rethinking Green. Green and blue infrastructure in historical inner city buildings’.
The conference is devoted to the issues of protecting and improving the quality of the natural environment in historic parts of cities. These are issues that are currently of great concern to experts and researchers, central and local government authorities and residents themselves. Indeed, the accompanying assumptions are often in conflict with other, equivalent expectations, such as:
- the need to protect the landscape of historical old town and inner-city areas, which in urbanised areas are a key element for the functioning of the tourism industry;
- residents’ expectations regarding the convenience of using urban infrastructure and communications, including the possibility of using and parking cars;
- economically optimal use of undeveloped land.
The aim of the conference is to confront representatives of different disciplines and backgrounds on the situation of greenery and water in intensely built-up historic urban areas, i.e. where the tensions highlighted above reveal themselves with particular force. Reflection should be given to old town districts with medieval origins, as well as to inner city areas created as a result of urbanisation processes in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Attention should also be paid to historic urban areas with a non-residential function – e.g. disused post-industrial areas – covered by the natural expansion of greenery, which is becoming a threat to their historic cultural values. The conference is organised in several locations in Wrocław. Full details are on the conference website.
Translated by Wiktoria Łakoma (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
