How to Teach Architecture – Remarks on the Edge of Polish Transformation Processes After 1989

Abstract

The political changes in Poland after 1989 have resulted in a whole range of dynamic processes including the transformation of space. Until that time the established institutional framework for spatial, urban and architectural planning policy was based on uniform provisions of the so-called planned economy. The same applied to the training of architects, which was based on a unified profile of education provided at the state's technical universities.The effects of the political system change are reaching far beyond the political and economic arenas. The existing urban planning tools lost their value because of factors such as liberalization of regulations and scale of investments. Poland witnessed the phenomena of suburbanization and the uncontrolled transformation of space. In addition to legislative action, education is the tool that can improve this situation, especially in the field of spatial development. The article discusses education in the field of architecture as an important tool that could improve the existing state of uncontrolled transformation of landscape and spatial disorder in the built environment. The analysis is based on examples of different fields where architectural education takes place and affects the future form of the built environment. The articles ask question about architectural education: What are the hopes placed on it, what are the already visible effects and the expectations of the long-term effects? This analysis focuses on a number of aspects of architectural education: the fields for education of future architects and the lifelong learning of architects already active in the market. There is also a need to mention the importance of the architectural education of future recipients of architecture, namely children and young people involved in different actions on the national and local level.