Malgorzata TOMCZAK

Where do we live, how do we live?

Poland's housing policy is seeing the first swallows of change. It can't yet be said to be taking concrete and real shape, but the topic is slowly beginning to make its way into urban development strategies and central policy. The same is true of residential architecture. Most of what is being built in the Polish housing market is not even architecture, but construction, and of very poor quality. Developer estates often being built on the sprawling outskirts of cities, still fenced off, are our everyday reality. And it's hard to demand anything more from the potential user, who in turn demands something more from the developer, because he buys (often on a multi-year loan) what is within his reach and meets the accessibility criteria.

If we look at residential architecture (as opposed to construction), it's not bad there. Architects do what they can to take care of the quality of their realizations, to give the user a space where he will live well, and where the nearest view outside the window does not hurt. The examples we have chosen for this issue of A&B bear witness to this.

More architecture and architects who sign off on their projects - that's what we wish for ourselves in the new year.