UPWr graduate: - Green spaces in cities are essential

• The oversaturated use of concrete is slowly coming to an end. Now, we’re going green.
• Nowy Targ Square is one of the many public space rejuvenation projects in Wrocław carried out by a graduate of UPWr.
• Agnieszka Kuśmierczyk-Jędrzak has been sprucing up Wrocław with her projects for years. 

– I chose my studies somewhat by chance. It was a new course at UPWr and we were, as it usually happens with new course members, an experimental group. Luckily, the experiment was successful – laughs Angelika Kuśmierczyk-Jędrzak, admitting that she was drawn to the course by the vision of fulfilling herself creatively, the variety of challenges she would face in her future work, and the possibility of working with interesting people.

Immediately after graduating, she managed to get a one-year internship at the Department of Environment and Agriculture of the Wrocław City Hall. She also worked briefly at the architectural firm Vertigo and the Municipal Investment Board, and then another year at the Department of Environment and Agriculture of the Wrocław City Hall. Since 2008, she has been self-employed.

– I mainly focus on designing green areas in public spaces and new-builds together with architects. I don’t do private gardens – says Angelika Kuśmierczyk-Jędrzak about her work.

Time to apologize to green spaces

As the UPWr graduate emphasises, until recently, landscape architecture was, both by city dwellers, developers, and contractors, treated neglectfully. Green spaces were often not created around new buildings, and if there was a design, it was not always followed through correctly. Fortunately, the excessive flooding of public spaces with concrete is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

– Our awareness is changing. With climate change and the emergence of urban heat islands, we, the inhabitants of large cities are beginning to notice that green areas in the city are essential, which makes me as a landscape architect very happy – says Angelika Kuśmierczyk-Jędrzak, smiling.

Heat islands are created in metropolitan areas. The reason for this is the density of buildings and the small percentage of green areas in urban spaces. Buildings, roads, and the entire urban infrastructure collect heat and slowly emit it, which is why we feel the heat so strongly in the city on hot days, in contrast to green areas such as parks or forests. These areas absorb more of the sun's heat and do not give it off in large quantities, meaning they cool the air down

The new face of Nowy Targ

An example of a square where new life will soon be breathed into is Wrocław's Nowy Targ. Last year, a group of activists measured the temperature on a hot day. The thermometer showed as much as 66.6 degrees Celsius. That is why the Wrocław City Greenery Board asked Angelika Kuśmierczyk-Jędrzak and architect Roman Rutkowski to solve the problem of this particular heat island in the city centre.

– We created a project to make Nowy Targ Square greener. Although city squares usually do not have a lot of greenery, in times of climate change, residents are looking for it. And this trend is right, in my opinion. Nowy Targ Square is half the roof of an underground car park and the other half is an underground shelter, so it's a specific and quite difficult situation for planting trees. When creating new public spaces, we have to make sure that we add more trees so that there is more shade and that they perform ecological and climatic roles in addition to aesthetic ones. This is one way of combating urban heat islands – explains the graduate.

Nowy Targ Square will be filled with soil substrate, a special type of substrate, so that more than 63,000 plants will be planted there. These include 172 trees, more than 27,000 perennials, 193 ferns, nearly 13,000 grasses, 23,000 bulbous plants and climbers. A total of 65 plant species and varieties have been proposed for the project.

As you can read on the city's website, the pavement – depending on the location – will be stripped to a depth of 35, 45, and 60 cm. It will be replaced by new layers of insulation and drainage-retention layers with substrate. Under part of the pavement, anti-compression systems will be used to allow the root system of the trees to develop. To achieve a substrate thickness suitable for trees, the plant beds will be elevated by 25 cm. Necessary measures are also related to the construction of a water supply connection, the construction of an automatic irrigation system, the renovation of landscaping elements, and the furnishing of the area with new landscaping elements.

She’s changing the face of Wrocław

Nowy Targ Square is not the only revitalisation project of public spaces in Wrocław that we owe to Angelika Kuśmierczyk-Jędrzak and the architects she has worked with, including Margareta Jarczewska, Joanna Styrylska, Bartosz Żmuda, Tomek Myczkowski, Marcin Dziewoński, and the Maćków Design Studio. Among them are: the Old Town Park, the Old Town Promenade on the section between the National Forum of Music and Świdnicka Street, the waterfront of the Oława River, the square next to the Kopernik monument, the Bird Grove square, Daliowa Island, part of Szczytnicki Park near the Pergola, square of Wrocław Women, Boulevard Fr. Zienkiewicza, Bocheńskiego square, street greenery on Oławska Street near Galeria Dominikańska, Św. Katarzyny, Chrobrego, Sądowa and many others.

– There is a long way to go from the initial idea of what something might look like to the end result. But I like this job because it’s never boring. I don't sit behind a desk all day, and the fact that I work with architects puts me in contact with a lot of cool people with whom I get to exchange experiences. It's also nice to see my projects being brought to life. Although I do get frustrated sometimes when something hasn't been done as designed, or someone has littered a square, destroyed plants, etc. Nevertheless, knowing that I am doing my best to improve our city gives me great satisfaction – concludes the graduate.

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