Some Theoretical and Methodological Issues of Regeneration of the Market Squares in the Historic Towns of Galicia

Maryana KaplinsKa* Some Theoretical and Methodological Issues of Regeneration of the Market Squares in the Historic Towns of Galicia Abstract There are around a hundred towns in the region of Galicia, which have the official status of historic settlements. They are in- cluded into the appropriate list and should be conserved. The market squares in these towns are among the most interesting urban odjects of unique architectural and urban features. The paper is dedicated to the issues of their regeneration, more pre- cisely, some theoretical and methodological ones. The meaning of the very notion of regeneration and also the essentiality of an urban object are studied. From such a perspective the directions of the research of regeneration issues are suggested. Keywords: market squares, historic towns, Galicia, regeneration, urban object. The notion of regeneration has been accepted into the Ukrai- school, in which it has acquired a broader con- nian restoration from the Soviet era science, in which it was tent in general. Although therein it is also not generally interpreted in the late 80’s in the sense of a specific possible to avoid a confusion in such terms method of intervention into a historic and architectural en- as regeneration, renewal, redevelopment, vironment of the town. As L. Prybieha says, this notion, and revitalization, rehabilitation etc., because, as along with it the notion of revalorization can be occasionally Peter Roberts has noted: “urban regeneration found in slightly different meanings in publications in the late is a widely experienced but little understood 70-ies of the 20th century, especially in the works of I. Hlyamzha, phenom enon”7. With this in mind, it is used to E. Mikhaylowsky, J. Raninsky1. For example, J. Raninsky, at- outline the conceptual boundaries first in the tributing regeneration and revalorization to the “methods of works dedicated to the regeneration, in par- reconstruction that can be used for monuments of urban de- ticular basing on the wordings by C. Couch K. velopment”2, defines them as the restructuring or urban con- and P. Roberts. Couch underlines that “urban servation. Revalorization according to E. Mikhaylowsky is the regeneration moves beyond the aims, aspi- “return of aesthetic significance”3. Meanwhile Edgar Puchins, rations and achievments of urban renewal, the author of the regeneration project for Old Riga, defined which is seen as a process of essential physi- regeneration as “the transformation of historically formed ur- cal change, urban development (or redevel- ban complex by restoring its lost parts, planning and spatial opment), with its general mission and less structure, composition integrity and functional activity” [1]. well-defined purpose, and urban revitalization This definition became the base for all following ones we can (or rehabilitation) which whilst suggests the find in the Ukrainian scientific literature: “the revival of an ur- need for action, fails to specify a precise meth- ban organism with the reconstruction of its lost parts”4; “the od of approach”8. At the same time Roberts recreation of lost planning and spatial structure parts, compo- defines it as “comprehensive and integrated sition integrity and functional activity of historic towns or their vision and action which leads to the resolution centers, distinct ensembles, architectural complexes”5; “the of urban problems and which seeks to bring restoration of the historic spatial structure of a monumental about a lasting improvement in the economic, urban formation and its functional and aesthetic inclusion into physical, social and environmental condition the life of the town or another settlement”6. of an area that has been subject to change”9. Such definitions of regeneration are not entirely consistent The author also stresses that regeneration ap- with the interpretation of this notion in the Western scientific proaches should focus on far-reaching strate- * PhD Student, Maryana Kaplinska, National University “Lviv Polytechnic”, Department for the Restoration of Architectural and Artistic 60 Heritage, e-mail: [email protected] gic goals10. The normative definition of regeneration, which urban objects, put them into the list of monu- is based on the American approach of the period of 1980-s11 ments and preserve them in such a capacity. has been proposed in Great Britain in 2003. According to it re- The principal difference between an urban generation is “the holistic process of reversing economic, so- and architectural object is a serious meth- cial and physical decay in areas where it has reached a stage odological problem, and it does not allow us when market forces alone will not suffice”12. to transfer mechanically the tried and tested Scientists of the Polish school put similar content into the no- methods from architectural restoration, and tion of revitalization which is defined as the system of mea- requires to ascend to a qualitatively new level sures to return the areas that have lost their social or econom- of understanding of the item. To do this, it is ic functions to life and sustainable development. In particular, important first of all to find out what exactly in the twelvevolumed work “Rewitalizacja miast polskich jako the difference is. For its part, it will be a step sposób zachowania dziedzictwa materialnego i duchowego towards the definition of urban object itself, oraz czynnik zrównoważonego rozwoju” revitalization is pre- as well as to the interpretation of the essence sented as “coordinated process carried out by local authori- of its cultural value. ties together as well as local communities and other stake- It seems expedient to consider the problem holders, and which is a part of the development policy and from the perspective of systems theory. The aims to prevent the degradation of urban space and crises occurrence of new qualities of the whole in phenomena, encourages the development of quality changes comparison with the qualities of its elements due to social and economic activities rising, improvement of is intuitively explained by the emergent prop- living conditions and protection of national heritage, taking erties of the system, or the so-called nonaddi- into account the principles of sustainable development”13. tivity. A number of researchers, including the Thus, the notion of regeneration in the global scientific con- author of this paper, note that urban object text emerges as a universal phenomenon of comprehensive, cannot be a simple sum of architectural build- all-embracing solution of problems of the city in the paradigm ings it is composed of15. But a critical analysis of sustainable development, which includes such methods of shows that is not an entirely correct approach intervention into the urban environment as reconstruction, to see the emergence of some unexpected restoration, revalorization, revitalization etc. As the object of qualities as the property of the system. In par- regeneration any already formed urban structure can be con- ticular, A. Korosov argues that the emergence sidered if it suffer losses or decline. is the absolute property of all systems, and Whereas the cultural heritage is seen on a par with all the the principle of emergence involves the study other resources that should be preserved and increased for of the nature of specific qualities of systems subsequent generations. Sometimes the term “heritage-led that depend not just on the quality of system regeneration” is used to emphasis the conservative focus of elements, but also on its internal relations regeneration in the conditions of intervention into a valuable (i.e. the composition) and relations with the historic and architectural environment. system-spanning environment16. In contrast to this the term of regeneration in the Ukrainian From these positions an urban object can be restoration is used only in relation to valuable historic urban defined as a structural element of a town or entities or even to the monuments of urban development14. a city, which territorial cohesion is caused by That is, the aspect of an urban object cultural value is accen- the unity of its functional and spatial orga- tuated (its historical planning and spatial pattern, functional nization. organization, aesthetics). At the same time a wide range of A comprehensive approach requires to de- strategic issues, such as social, economic, environmental, compose an urban object into three levels: communicational, technological etc. as well as the goal of macro (level of a city in which the object sustainable development itself are overlooked. serves as a structural element); meso (actu- Let’s pause at this point in analyzing the terminological as- ally targets the urban object as a system, in pect, and turn back to determine the regeneration below, af- which we can allocate sublevels for analy- ter considering the object of our study. sis e. g. urban quarter) and micro (by taking Legal grounds to speak about an urban object from the per- buildings as elements and also distinguishing spective of its cultural value have appeared in 2010, when a lower level of elements – architectural de- this notion was normalized in the Law on “Conservation of tails). Cultural Heritage” and distinguished from an architectural ob- At the same time, moreover such an urban ject, while previously there was only the notion of an archi- object as a market square is a complicated tectural and urban object (united). This amendment was of architectural and urban complex (or, in case a great theoretical and practical importance. To begin with, it of its complete composition – an ensemble), demonstrated the recognition of another nature of the urban it also integrates the entire range of constitu- objects cultural value, in contrast to architectural ones. And ents of the town and can be seen as its re- nowadays it gives the reason to inventory a huge number of duced model. Thus, a correct solving the re- 61 generation issues requires a multidisciplinary research of the Architectural and urban space solution.

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