‍Creating a Dense, Humane and Sustainable Urban Extension‍

Background Information

The Warsaw metropolitan region has experienced rapid growth since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Prior to the political changes of 1989, Warsaw held its population in check through residency restrictions, but without those restrictions it has gained over 150,000 new residents over the last 12 years with another 500,000 people coming to work from outside the city each day. Our initiative, Miasteczko Wilanów (MW), begun in 2000, focused on building a new and mixed-use district within the city limits to accommodate a substantial portion of the new residents as well as to create employment centers and services.

The goal of the initiative was to overcome the pressure of short term economic stress by integrating and harmonizing the private investors coming from various international and domestic sources to create a compact, comfortable, socially inclusive district on the 169 (core) hectares. That core area with adjacent parcels already contained over 25,000 residents.

The concept of creating a compact, integrated, mixed use district came about from a dialogue between the city of Warsaw and a private landowner/developer. These discussions were largely led by former Minister of Defense Wojciech Okoński in association with the project's lead consultant Guy Perry. The physical concept came about through the collective work of the semi-government planning agency BPRW, the design firm DJ and O, and Perry's firm IN-VI, which established the development strategy and oversaw the physical implementation of the district.

The city of Warsaw provided a major road artery into the heart of the new MW district as well as popular public bus lines which connect the district to the rest of the city. Sixteen private entities from nine different countries have so far built basic infrastructure and over 2.2 million square meters of residential, commercial, educational, cultural, and leisure facilities. Given the very limited budget of the municipal government, public space enhancement initiatives have been undertaken by residents through private developers’ contributions under the direction of IN-VI with the approval of the local government.

Innovation for the Initiative

MW has been revolutionary in its harnessing of ongoing free market forces to create a humane and sustainable district focused on social integration and sustainability. It addresses, by providing a clear physical framework, the short term economic and changing political policies that have led to the fragmented development of most of Warsaw since 1989. The project encountered and overcame private sector resistance and local public sector irregularities during several key stages of its development.

From the outset, the 169 hectare MW core site had a specific development program and urban design philosophy for each land parcel. This facilitated investor pro-forma analysis and streamlined administrative procedures. International and Polish investors were able to rapidly develop the district within a strict urban design framework which included 40 percent naturally permeable surfaces, retention and detention canals, limiting building heights to 14.5 meters, establishing setback and material quality standards for all facades. In addition, these design guidelines implied that developers build underground parking, not fence in their developments and led them to construct significantly different sized residential units throughout the community.

The urban design framework was inspired by many of Europe's most resilient urban districts: what remained of early 20th century Warsaw, the block pattern of the Ensanche of Barcelona, and the Belgravia and South Kensington districts of London. The lead consultant also drew on his experience in French new town design and his participation in the planning of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. The MW district has inspired the planning of similar developments in major cities throughout Poland and other parts of Central Europe. 

Obstacles and Solutions for Innovation

Market resistance came from the perceived difficulty of coordinating the large number of investors to realize the multi-billion Euro project. Central European developers, accustomed to working without consideration of surrounding projects or public spaces, would typically build a gate or wall in each development, which avoided mixing uses or income groups within the same building or neighborhood. From the public sector, there was resistance to creating and maintaining high quality public spaces, partly for budgetary reasons but also because the edge of city infrastructure was designed for car, not for pedestrian, movement. Market skepticism was overcome by coherent planning guidelines and channeling the free market drive to optimize profitability into a coherent set of development projects. The gap in government funding for public spaces was largely overcome by mobilizing district residents to perform regular voluntary community actions to improve public and residual private spaces in their neighborhood.

Outcomes and Assessments

Outcomes achieved are as follows:

Higher Density: The new MW district has achieved a residential density of nearly 12,000 inhabitants per square kilometer—three times the density of the Warsaw city core and 20 times the density of the other peripheral districts of the city. The higher density also made the economics of the project much more profitable for the private sector (15 to 30 percent ROI).

Human Scale: The 14.5 meter height limitations and set back requirements make the streets and building courtyards light and comfortable for residents of all ages. During winter months it is less windy at ground level than districts of the city which have more vertical density. Residents interact visually and verbally with people in the streets and with children in courtyards from terraces and windows—so the community is popular for families with children and has a very low crime rate.

Social Integration: Housing units offered in a typical building range from 40 to over 200 square meters (priced between 60,000 and 800,000 Euro), which has brought together people of different economic means to focus on overall life quality in the community rather than economic status. These different income groups jointly participate in planting trees and hedges during community events. The children in this community have grown especially adept at ignoring income status.

Sustainability: The high percentage of ecologically protected areas meant that the new district did not experience the flooding which occurred in other nearby areas in 2010 and the district canal system served to retain and detain water from flooding the nearby historic Wilanów Palace and its grounds.

We focused on statistics to determine the relationship between high density living and quality of life. We found that our high population density, carefully designed, did not have many negative outcomes normally associated with high-density areas in transition markets: while our population density was the highest in Warsaw, we had low crime rates and attracted hard working and conscientious citizens.

Population Density: 12,000 inhabitants per square kilometer–one of the highest in Warsaw.

Birth Rates: 13.25 rate of increase—one of the highest in Poland

Voter Turnout: 76.81 percent of eligible voters went to the polls 2010—a record in Poland.

These statistics came from the following agencies: GUS - Central Statistical Office of Poland, Statistical Office in Warsaw, and the National Census of Population and Housing 2011.

In 2000 IN-VI organized an independent survey of South Warsaw residents regarding aspirations, priorities, and favorite environments. Results were used to shape the MW district urban design guidelines. A district specific website was initiated in 2000 by IN-VI which served to supply information about the ongoing project until 2007, that site was gradually replaced by a grass roots website (e-wilanow.pl) and internet district newspaper (gazetawilanowska.pl). An independent monthly district magazine (terazwilanow.pl) also keeps residents up to date with community events, actions, and progress.

Devastating wars wiped out 90 percent of Warsaw architecture during the last century. Until the creation of the coherent MW district, the post war city was largely rebuilt in fragments: a bit of historic old town, an isolated historic building, a piece of Soviet micro-rayon, and more recently enclosed malls and gated communities. The most notable structure in the city was a gift from Stalin. This MW district is one that the people of Warsaw can truly call their own. This proud new community registered the highest turnout of eligible voters in Polish history during the last presidential election: 76.81 percent. The MW district has earned international recognition for Warsaw by winning top prizes from ISOCARP and ULI; both awards noted that the exemplary nature of the project for the expansion of Central European cities.

Benefits to Other Cities

Perhaps the greatest challenge for our planet during the next 50 years will be the doubling of our urban populations. New urban development must reverse the current trend towards lower urban densities throughout the world, since along with the sprawl of cities comes increased carbon footprints per capita. The majority of future urban growth will occur in the rapidly evolving cities of Asia, Latin America, Africa and Central Europe. These dynamic cities, like Warsaw, cannot afford—economically, socially, or environmentally—to continue expanding as low density, automobile-oriented environments. The integrated compactness of the MW district, three times denser than the rest of the city of Warsaw, remains attractive, thus economically viable, precisely because of the carefully designed "human" scale of buildings, streets, and courtyards. From the outset this district put the needs of humans first: from the human need to communicate with a four-year old child in a courtyard from the balcony of any floor of a residential building; the need for humans to have the option of going about their daily life on foot or on a bicycle; the human need to protect our natural and agricultural environment as our populations grows on a hospitable, but finite, planet.

In a "free" market, something Poles fought hard to achieve, density has to come by choice, not decree. Those statistically well-educated people, now the residents of Miasteczko Wilanów (MW) district, had the choice to live and work where they wished. All 25,000 have chosen, whether consciously, or not, to live in a more sustainable high density environment. This is perhaps its greatest success. Yet not only is the district now home to Poland's most industrious people, but the community is in a league of its own with respect to overcoming one of Europe’s biggest challenges: a declining and aging population. The new Wilanow district enjoys one of the highest population birth rates in Poland (13.25), and one of the highest in Europe. Perhaps after a very difficult past century, Poles can again feel good about their, and their children's, future in this place.