Uploaded on 2017-05-07 by Konrad Pawlaczyk

"The impact of infrastructures such as transportation, water, health, and energy on urban form and architecture is a fact. With the beginning of the 21st century, buildings and cities are becoming physical and software systems in addition to collections of material and shapes. Water, energy, transportation and health infrastructure are thus crucial dimensions for the design of the future sustainable urban systems and the human habitat." I can fully agree with this statement, and I think that urban forms of our cities should be shaped by infrustructure, in order to provide people with everything that is necessary, in a sustainable and resilient way. Nevertheless, in some cities (especially cities with long history and listed buildings) it might be difficult to achieve as we cannot simply knock everything down and start from the scratch. It is very challenging to adjust infrustructure to old urban design forms, that might be fossilized and causing many problems for example : regarding circulation and transportation. I used to live in the city of Krakow in Poland, which is one of the most popular touristic destinations in the Eastern Europe. This city has a beautiful Old City and a square marked around which there are a lot of buildings dated back to the 17th century and later. I belive that it is a good city for tourists, but I can tell that as its former inhabitant it the history of the city can be an obstacle in moving forward. One of the biggest problems in the city is air pollution. It is estimated to be the worst in Europe and one of the worst in the world. It is directly linked to the old infrustructure and using coal to heat buildings in the city centre. Hence, I believe that while preserving the past in some cities we should be thinking about the future. Nevertheless, there are some examples of how transportation infrustructure changes the way buildings are arranged on the outskirts of Krakow where this change could occur.