Silesian Conurbation As A Polycentric Structure Of Urban Districts

The Silesian conurbation consists of cities, which in many aspects function as one metropolitan organism. This paper is an attempt to characterise the structure of the Silesian conurbation not as composed of cities, but as a system of districts, in the context of the theory of polycentric systems and the importance of quarters for modern urban areas. The authors present a model of the Silesian Conurbation as a set of quarters of various characteristics: housing estates, local centres, industrial districts, etc. The transition from the conurbation into quarters is discussed and the search for elements that combine and bind the quarters space with external elements in view of social and spatial structures. Within such structures, a description of a typical urban quarter – Rokitnica in Zabrze is given, together with a concept of the revitalization of a local quarter centre. The elaborations were prepared within the study subjects “Urban Revitalization and Regeneration” and “Regional Planning” at the Faculty of Architecture, Silesian University of Technology (course coordinator: Professor Krzysztof Gasidło, teacher: Michał Stangel).