Impact of Spatial Development of State Agricultural Farms and Unification of Residential Developments on the Cultural Landscape of Rural Areas – Revitalization Issues

Abstract

The form of rural development of Western Pomerania forms a distinctive cultural feature of this region due to its typology, traditional timber frame and brick structures. Factors that influenced the condition and the preservation state of rural areas in the first years following the Second World War are vastly connected with the political situation of Western Pomerania, spoliation and the destructive activity of the Red Army. The establishment of State Agricultural Farms has had a significant impact on the current form of architecture and led to deformation of the cultural landscape in rural areas. The development complexes built in the 1960s and 1970s were characterized by their use of repeating forms of construction development. In the effect, the characteristic images of villages until the mid-20th century, became subject to total unification, by use of identical, typical solutions, straight from RBM catalogues. The character of these buildings very rarely shows any connections with regional buildings, which is closely connected with the creation of new social class of the so called worker-farmer. The pseudo-urban objects created are of a scale that is inappropriate for rural areas and are devoid of any architectural detail. The typical and ready designs used in their construction, together with prefabricated elements caused the total unification of development. The current problem is how to revitalize these areas in a way that will take into account the typical objects that are patterned after urban objects and thus extremely incompatible with canons of rural development. The problem of transformation should be considered an interdisciplinary issue, since it is subject to various disciplines, and thus perceived from different viewpoints. The rural area revitalization schemes introduced in recent years in the Western Pomeranian voivodeship and based on development strategies, already brought significant results, and the support of local authorities for social activity promoting local cultural heritage forms a significant aspect for further development of these areas.