Linear wastelands as a chance for a development of a city-wide public space strategy. The linear park project along the road reserve of “Trasa Tysiąclecia” in Warsaw.
Type: Master’s thesis, urban design
Project Location: Poland, Warsaw
Year: 2021
Awards: Honorable mention - Best Master’s Thesis Award NIAiU 2021
Wastelands pose a challenge to a significant number of European cities. Located in the urban core, those vast areas previously served military, railway, transportation or predominantly industrial purposes and are now stripped of any particular use. The value of urban wastelands is still often underestimated, but now, when cities have to deal with the impact of climate change, paradigms are changing and wastelands more and more frequently take an important place in sustainable urban development.
Of particular interest are linear disused landstrips, which serve as multifunctional greenways. This contigious pathways of green habitats produce a broad range of environmental, economic and social benefits. Due to their linearity, greenways give also a great possibility to involve society in the decision-making process. It is a well-established concept in the US and Western Europe, yet still a rather fresh topic in Poland. An overview of various approaches of green, linear space redevelopments in the US and Germany illuminate the guiding principles as well as the broad potential of greenways and serve as inspiration to draw upon throughout my project design of a linear park in the area of the road infrastructure project “Trasa Tysiąclecia” in Warsaw.
