Modular housing represents an opportunity for the mass provision of housing of an appropriate standard, implemented sustainably. We analyzed the theoretical basis of this type of housing for refugee populations. We identified several generations of housing provision, from tented camps to container settlements, and ultimately to units resembling traditional housing estates. The latter is feasible due to technological advancements. Our research contributes to the implementation of the principles of the New European Bauhaus initiative, which underpins the European Green Deal policy on space design. Using the Research through Design (RtD) method within the framework of a settlement project for the Ukrainian population migrating from war zones (Modular Refugees Settlement Project “ProModSe”), we tested the suitability of these principles in extreme and critical war-related situations. The most important criteria were speed of implementation, the prospect of long-term residence, and ensuring safety. We analyzed the social, environmental, and aesthetic–functional aspects, comparing them with existing practices in the design of settlements for displaced persons, modular settlements, and quality standards in residential environments. The results demonstrate, at multiple scales, the critical interdependence of sustainable development, aesthetics and functionality, and community creation. We emphasize the need to include security as an essential fourth axis within the New European Bauhaus concept. This study contributes to addressing the complex housing problem for refugee populations. The generalizations formulated based on empirical research complement the knowledge of housing and the functioning of the sociotechnological system.

Obserwacja doświadczeń polskich miast posiadających tereny kolejowe pokazuje, że pomimo niewątpliwych zalet kolej przyczyniła się do wzmocnienia podziałów przestrzennych i odseparowania poszczególnych obszarów. W dobie postępu technologicznego, tunelowanie linii kolejowych w centrach miast ułatwia proces inwestowania na tych wcześniej problemowych, ale eksponowanych obszarach w krajobrazie miasta i przyczynia się do ich rewitalizacji. Celem artykułu jest przybliżenie metody pracy nad zdegradowanym terenem po-kolejowym w niespójnej strukturze przestrzennej miasta i wykazanie w jaki sposób skuteczne projektowanie wspiera proces rewitalizacji dopełniając działania społeczne. Na wariantowych, studialnych przykładach przeanalizowano teren linii kolei wileńskiej i terenów okalających zlokalizowanych w warszawskiej dzielnicy Praga Północ. Artykuł wpisuje się w debatę dotyczącą właściwego wyznaczenia obszaru rewitalizacji na podstawie wiarygodnych danych zaczerpniętych z analiz uwarunkowań istniejących i projektowanych przeprowadzonych w kontekście przestrzenno-funkcjonalnym większych jednostek urbanistycznych. Regeneration of the spatial structure of post-railway areas on the example of Warsaw district of Praga Observation of experiences of Polish cities with railway areas shows that despite its unquestionable advantages, railway contributed to the strengthening of spatial divisions and the separation of individual areas. In the era of technological progress, tunneling of railway lines in city centers facilitates investment process in these previously problematic but exposed areas in the city landscape and contributes to their revitalization. The aim of this article is to present methods of work on a degraded post-railway area in an incoherent spatial structure of the city and to show how the effective design supports the revitalization process by complementing social activities. Based on variant, study examples, the area of the Vilnius railway line and the surrounding areas located in the Warsaw district of Praga Północ have been analyzed. The article is a part of the debate on the proper designation of the revitalization area on the basis of reliable data taken from the analyzes of existing and planned conditions in the spatial and functional context of larger urban units.

This paper emphasises that the use of a broad context related to several levels of complexity: relational (concerning the spatial structure of the project), design (involving the use of knowledge and information concerning the complexity of the project) and didactic or procedural (referring to the stages of the design procedure) is an important element of the design process of the housing environment. The researchers present a design approach developed in the author’s urban design studio. By acting according to the proposed ‘braid’ model, achieving a so-called ‘satisfactory’ design solution in city shaping is possible. The model synthetically illustrates the mechanism of the design process and its critical elements, indicating that the essence of urban design is to exploit the interdependence of the three mentioned contexts. They significantly influence the originality and quality of design solutions in creating the living environment – especially in the creation phase of the spatial structure model.

Public spaces are indispensable elements of the urban spatial structure, binding the components of the urban tissue and playing a crucial role in shaping a sustainable housing environment. Fragments of urban tissue that are not connected by public spaces are prone to gradual degradation. A defragmented city must therefore be ‘stitched together’ by spatial corridors to counteract this tendency effectively, which directly affects the quality of the living environment. The aim of this article is to identify the process of increasing the attractiveness of an area by transforming nodes into places and forming connections between them. An illustrative example of this hypothesis – the development resulting from the creation and consolidation of a public space network – is the transformation of a previously neglected section of the Warsaw waterfront – the Powiśle Północne area, bounded by the Śląsko-Dąbrowski and Poniatowski bridges, the Vistula riverbank, and the upper edge of the Warsaw Escarpment. This article presents the development of urban landscape formation in the years 1990-2020. The process involves designing public spaces by connecting fully formed nodes and linkages into a coherent whole.