Marlena Happach on Copenhagenizing Warsaw
Marlena Happach discusses the history of building Warsaw and the current infrastructure of the city. Warsaw metropolitan area has total population of 2.7 million inhabitants. The city faces the issues of high costs in public transportation, low quality of green spaces, unemployment, stagnation and finding itself a new identity that keeps up with the 21st century. The way that the city developed with low densities and high populations, makes infrastructure expensive. Development was focused on growing quickly, not growing efficiently or making the development of the city work for the people in it. In her words, "the city was thinking about economy and development but without thinking about space and quality of space, which for me means quality of life".
As they search for new spaces for urban development, and new ways to prosper the city—a process requires bold strategies, a paradigm shift in city-making. Copenhagen is a city that has acted as a role model for certain goals in the Polish capital, in terms of greenery, quality of public space, and smarter transportation.
Marlena Happach has been a Chief Architect for the city of Warsaw since 2016 and the director for the Department of Architecture and Planning. In her position, she monitors trends in urban development and decides how to influence behavior in order to make the city more livable and easier to navigate. During her lecture, she discusses several of her ongoing projects for the city, especially trying to make the city more livable.
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