Reference to tradition in contemporary architecture of Poznań Agglomeration as a chance for space quality improvement

Proces degradacji przestrzennej małych miast i wsi stanowi złożony problem, który został w sposób szkicowy omówiony w pracy. Receptą na uporządkowanie przestrzeni jest w opinii autora m.in. pielęgnowanie wiedzy o tożsamości kulturowej regionu poprzez nawiązywanie w architekturze do lokalnej tradycji. W artykule zaprezentowane zostały nieliczne udane realizacje i modernizacje budynków, których architektura nawiązuje do kultury i tradycji Wielkopolski.This article is the result and partial summary of the author’s research on the spatial degradation of Poznań metropolitan area – a complex problem, which is briefly discussed in this work. The aim of the article is to present the most successful examples of contemporary buildings in the analysed area that are in contrast to the majority of buildings, which do not respect the cultural legacy and building tradition of the region. It shows that it is possible to successfully combine modern design with traditional forms and that such an approach always gives benefits to the surrounding area and its spatial order. The scarcity of such buildings proves that the level of architectural awareness of society regarding local building traditions and cultural heritage of Wielkopolska is low. It also results in progressing spatial degradation of suburban areas. This elaboration shows that the recipe for improvement of spatial order in Poznań agglomeration is to propagate the knowledge of cultural identity of this region and promote correspondence of contemporary architecture to the local building traditions