Dani arhitekture Banja Luka

There is no zero point or tabula rasa in urbanization. As a physical artifact of shared (past) experience, a city is created of many layers of both structure and meaning. The connections between these layers are neither simple nor linear, but dynamic and create an open structure: for (re)construction and (re)interpretation. That makes us conceive a city as constantly transforming. Architecture, as a creative response to needs and ideologies of certain (actual) moment, witnesses that transformation. It is always a product of (present) time. However, there are architectural (master)pieces that catalyze future urban transformations and at the same time evoke past. Architecture that persists as a strong mark on city maps and a bright spot in the city memory may be understood as heritage.

We are living in the time of dynamic flows, increased migrations, digitalisation, networking and hyper-construction happening worldwide. Cultures and communities are mixing more than ever before in history as if layers upon layers of our past are fusing to change the idea of the meaning of identity. Heritage has become a part of global reality perceived as a collective space without borders (physical and imaginative), which promotes common identities and it builds more inclusive societies. At the same time, urbanization coupled with the increasing difficulty of building in heritage areas creates a dichotomy for architects. Almost paradoxically, a percentage of protected heritage buildings, sites and historical towns is rising across Europe, divided into areas that change extremely quickly and areas that are preserved from change. Cities of the old continent are under the pressure of their own past, on the one hand, and the need for innovation and creation, on the other.

Under these conditions, architects, designers and planners face the common problem: how to create a new layer of the urban structure while adding an extra value to the previous one, while achieving a meaningful and essential link between an urban past and future forthcoming? In the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, we shall discuss the future of our (architectural) present and past. Do we create a time capsule or are we in the line with new urban and architectural realities?