Uniejow town revitalization

Urban strategies for the revitalization of the town of Uniejow, Poland

Uniejow, Poland

Blue, green and yellow
Blue: the river

Water runs through the history of Uniejow. In its origins the town settled at the most fertile bank of the Warta river, safe from floods. We propose water to be at the forefront of the town’s future. The town center will open back to the river with a new river promenade, and a wooden pedestrian bridge will provide a link with the old castle, the spa and the new developments at the left bank.

At the eastern side of this bridge, a small square steps down to the river, providing a contact point between the old town and the water and giving a clear access to the river promenade. The bridge is also a viewpoint towards the two medieval landmarks of the town: the church and the castle.

Green: the landscape

The river nurtures a richness of landscapes: agriculture, forestry, pastures and tree lined paths. Together they form a green infrastructure that organizes the land. We propose to strengthen it: additional trees are planted along the paths that cross the town, so that a green connection is established between the river and the agricultural fields.

Binding the parts of the town at both sides of the river, a new “landscape loop” will use existing paths to provide a soft itinerary pedestrians and bicycles for the discovery of the landscape. Moreover, the river waters can irrigate a new ecological agriculture and foster contemporary forms of economy in close relation with the landscape.
In this sense, at the north-east gate of the town, we propose an Eco-Farm that opens to the agricultural landscape and that incorporates a restored old farm as its entrance. In the Eco-farm, a restaurant, a hotel, and farm animals, including horses, welcome a public interested in healthy products which are grown on site: from the orchard to the table.

Yellow: the old town

The oldest buildings of the town are made of the local yellow limestone. Many superimposed historical layers and not fully realized ambitions have blurred the structure of the town. We propose to reveal this palimpsest and to use it to lend a clear structure to the town.
For this purpose, the medieval center and the main street leading to it (Bogumilla) recover their original density and marked urban character, becoming the heart of the town. The renewed public spaces contribute to the reading of the town’s historical layers, along with a “history loop” that will provide a pedagogical itinerary through the town’s past, present and future, while, at the same time, linking more closely the parts of the town at both sides of the river.

At one tip of the main street (Bogumilla), we find the remodeled town’s square and the bell tower. At the opposite tip, we propose an Innovation Cluster, where new economic potentials for the town will be researched and developed. The Innovation Cluster marks the new gate to the town, with the restored mill, the greenhouse buildings. Between this clear urban core and the open agricultural landscape there is a transition area where the different town extensions are located. Here, we propose that the new in-fills and town extensions are places where urbanity and agriculture are weaved together into self-sustainable communities that strive to be in balance with the landscape.

Project name

Blue, Green and Yellow. Urban strategies for the revitalization of the historic town of Uniejow

Location

Uniejow, Poland

Client

Uniejow Municipality

Year

2014

Status

Competition

Program

Masterplan, office (rental workshops), housing, civic center, public space

Site: 10.000ha

Gross built area: 10.000m2

Author

Eduard Balcells Architecture+Urbanism+Landscape

Honorata Grzesikowska, Balbina Mateo, Mercedes Doz, Imma Subías, Luis Torres, architects

Collaborators

Joan Gallego, Monika Kustra, Edyta Wisnieska, architects