Abstract
This study concerns contemporary cultural buildings in the historic city centre of Krakow, Poland, and their assessment in terms of sustainability. The paper aims to bridge a research gap in previous studies on pluralistic values and the impact of cultural heritage on sustainability. The comparative case study conducted in Krakow aims to evaluate the functioning and potential of the space towards achieving the following five goals: accessibility, conservation, mix of functions, aesthetics, comfort and sociability. The perception of these buildings and the public space around them by the city residents, as well as their operation during unexpected circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, were also evaluated. The author combined an on-site analysis, behavioural mapping and a survey. The results correlate the liveability and aesthetics of public spaces along with the amount and quality of greenery found there with the comfort of users and the popularity of particular places. This paper highlights how important it is to create cultural spaces in a historic city to develop a range of their activities linked to the surrounding public spaces and green areas. Activating cultural spaces and connecting them to sustainability goals is especially important when faced with declining tourism.
Highlights
Implementing high-budget engineering solutions for sustainability is not always possible for economic reasons
Activating cultural spaces and connecting them to sustainability goals is especially important when faced with declining tourism
Central and Eastern European countries are among those that still rely heavily on fossil fuels [4,5,6] and struggle with an adequate percentage of recycled rubbish [7] and small-scale water retention in built-up areas [8]. This does not mean that the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are to be abandoned with no effort to achieve them
Summary
Implementing high-budget engineering solutions for sustainability is not always possible for economic reasons. The countries of lower economic power are lagging behind in this race [1], which is evident in Central and Eastern European countries when compared to their wealthier western neighbours [2,3]. Central and Eastern European countries are among those that still rely heavily on fossil fuels [4,5,6] and struggle with an adequate percentage of recycled rubbish [7] and small-scale water retention in built-up areas [8]. A certain degree of sustainability should be achieved through other methods and it should be extended to include the measures mentioned above. Such measures can be found in the three pillars of sustainability [9]
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