New Katowice : the form and ideology of the Polish post-war architecture based on the example of Katowice (1945–1980)

Abstract

The book is a presentation, as detailed as the available preserve resources allow, of a fragment of the post-war history of Katowice related to the urban and architectural shape of the city centre – from the first post-war architectural competition for the Katowice Main Square to unrealized concepts of the city-centre development from the 1970s. Such a presentation serves to implement the main goal contained in this publication: to present the contribution made by the Silesian architects and urban planners to the development of the post-war architecture and urban planning in Katowice. It was enormous, as evidenced by numerous publications and memories of the architects themselves. Katowice, apart from Warsaw, constituted the most interesting urban and architectural complex of post-war Poland. Th is was noted by a well-known architecture critic, Przemyslaw Szafer, writing: “Katowice is the most popular among urban planners" [...].