"Why do we need a city?"

Bielsko-Biała residents were asked to participate in a panel discussion ‘Why do we need a city’ which took place on 29 June at 17.00 in the Beskid Library. Admission was free. This discussion was one of the events during a Week of European Capital of Culture 2029 - Bielsko-Biała as a Candidate City.

During the panel discussion answers were sought to questions about the challenges and directions of development of modern cities, with particular emphasis placed on medium-sized post-industrial cities. What are the threats during such development, and what determines them? What is the role of the city’s residents? What are the responsibilities of the central authorities and what are the responsibilities of local government? At what stage of development are we? Where will we be in 10, 20, 30 years’ time?

The panel comprised:

Filip Springer – reporter, photojournalist, author of books about contemporary Polish architecture and Polish cities: Miedzianka. Historia znikania (Miedzianka. The Story of Disappearing); Źle urodzone. Reportaże o architekturze PRL-u (Born Bad. Articles on the architecture of the People's Republic of Poland); Wanna z kolumnadą. Reportaże o polskiej przestrzeni (Bathtub with a colonnade. Articles on Space in Poland); Miasto Archipelag. Polska mniejszych miast (Archipelago town. Poland through the Prism of Smaller Towns).

Robert Konieczny - Polish architect, graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice. In 1996 he obtained certification at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Head of the KWK Promes office established in 1999. In 2012, he became an independent expert for the Mies van der Rohe Foundation. Nominated twelve times for the Mies van der Rohe award.

Joanna Wowrzeczka - artist (post-doctoral degree in fine arts) and sociologist (doctor of humanities). In her role of sociologist she researches art in Poland; as an artist she studies the issues of the dominated and of public space. Since 1999 she has worked at the Art Institute of the University of Silesia. Since 2010 she has coordinated the Political Critique Centre in Cieszyn. Co-founder of the Szara Gallery (contemporary art) in Cieszyn (currently located in Katowice). She was curator there from 2001 to 2005. For several years she has focused her artistic activities on diagnosing social reality, concentrating on themes relating to work, politics, the city, and exclusion. She is a committed artist. To a greater extent she conducts classes with students in open public spaces, responding to their current problems.

Przemysław Matyja – director of the Spatial Planning Department of the Wrocław City Council. Wrocław urban planner. A graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at the Wrocław University of Technology. He was a team member of the main planner conducting a study, adopted in 2018, of conditions and directions of spatial development in Wrocław.
 

Discussion panel "Why do we need a city?"

June 29, 2023 at 17.00

Beskid Library ul. Słowackiego 17A

Free entrance. The number of places is limited.

The event is part of the Week about the European Capital of Culture 2029 - Bielsko-Biała as a Candidate City.