All Things Urban

Online-Discussion with Wojciech Kotecki, Dorota Leśniak-Rychlak, Łukasz Pancewicz, Małgorzata Jędrzejczyk | Moderator: Anna Cymer | 17.00, 06.02.2021 | Registration: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_16OtiqoJTXu3dY2ODoUFAQ Simultaneous Interpretation into English will be provided. Organizer: Pilecki-Institute Berlin Partners: Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Liebling House - The White City Centre It happens that reality can overtake human imagination. No sooner had we developed a debate on urban planning, the process of forming cities and modernistic heritage which has done much to mold our urbanized environment, than the global pandemic challenged our views on the subject. The virus, which has forced people to maintain greater distances between one another and complicated typically urban co-existence in crowded and boisterous groups, will doubtlessly influence urban planning. What consequences will it have? Where can we find points of reference for them? Can modernism become an inspiration, with its neighborly units, its intimate public spaces and access to greenery? What can we, today, in the age of climate change and viral threat, learn from the past in order to make our cities more conducive to life? Has modernism taught us anything, given us anything, or should we plan to rethink our cities from the ground up? Panelists: Dorota Leśniak-Rychlak is a Polish art historian and architect with a doctoral degree. She is editor-in- chief of “Autoportret”; founder and chairperson of the Architecture Institute Foundation; curator and co-curator of numerous architecture exhibitions, including “Impossible Objects” at the Polish Pavilion, 14th edition of the Architecture Biennale in Venice and the “Warsaw Under Construction” Festival at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Originator and editor of publications in the field of architecture theory and practice. Her recent publication titled “Jesteśmy wreszcie we własnym domu” (“We are finally in our own home”) concerns housing changes that took place in Poland during the transformation period. Łukasz Pancewicz is an urban planner with doctoral degree, academic instructor and, along with Monika Arczyńska, a co-founder of A2P2, an architecture and planning firm specializing in solving complex urban problems. In his early career, Pancewicz worked as a consultant and official dealing with urban planning for the city of Łódź. He completed his internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has carried out projects involving urban planning in cities such as Gdańsk, Warsaw and Kraków, public space planning (Gdynia, Łódź) and designing public services (e.g. a system of public bike hire in the regions of Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa Basin). Wojciech Kotecki is an architect and urban planner who graduated from the Architecture Department of the Warsaw University of Technology. He is a member of the executive committee of the Contest Jury of the Polish Association of Architects (Warsaw branch), an academic instructor at the Architecture Department of the Warsaw University of Technology and, since 2014, a co-owner of the architecture firm BBGK Architekci. He took part in the construction of several master plan projects, residential facilities, high-rise buildings and public buildings such as the municipality hall in Konstancin-Jeziorna, a prefabricated residential building on Sprzeczna Street in Warsaw, or the master plan of the Gdańsk Shipyard – Młode Miasto (with Henning Larsen). Małgorzata Jędrzejczyk is an art historian and curator. She studied Art History at the Jagiellonian University, Universität Wien and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. The author of academic articles on art and architecture of the 20th century and publications in exhibition catalogs and magazines. Co-editor of the publications “Image/Body and Composition of Space. Sculptures of the avant-garde”. Curator and co-curator of exhibitions, including “Identity. 100 Years of Polish Architecture” (2019); “Composing Space. Sculptures of the avant-garde” (2019-2020). Head of the Exercising Modernity Program (Pilecki Institute Berlin). Anna Cymer A historian of architecture, graduate of Art History at the University of Warsaw. She works with the dissemination of knowledge about architecture. She also writes for popular, industry and specialist media. Anna Cymer has twice received scholarships from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and is a winner of the Journalist Award from the Chamber of Architects of the Republic of Poland She is the author of the book “Architektura w Polsce 1945–1989”.

The Pilecki Institute has been established to facilitate the interdisciplinary and international analysis of issues and developments that were of key importance for the political history of the 20th century, namely the Nazi and Soviet totalitarian regimes and the global consequences of their actions. An important element of our mission focuses on honoring persons who gave aid and succor to Polish citizens and Poles of different citizenship in those difficult times. Their efforts are recognized by the award of the Virtus et Fraternitas medal, which is bestowed by the President of the Republic of Poland acting on a motion of the Director of the Institute. We also gather and make available documents concerning selected aspects of the 20th century, provide support for scientific research programs, and help disseminate knowledge about the period through educational projects and events which straddle culture and history.