Fast Urban Research

Since 2003, Dominiczak and Zawadska have been international advisers to the SEAS project, initiated by Intercult. They have undertaken a series of urban mapping exercises called Fast Urban Research as part of the SEAS project’s work in sea harbours and resorts around the coasts of the Adriatic, Baltic, Black and North Seas. Their mappings include Rijeka (Croatia), Stockholm (Sweden) and Constanta (Romania). Future projects are planned for other SEAS project places including Odessa (Ukraine).

Inspired by the links and overlaps between contemporary artists and their own architectural practice, Fast Urban Research provides a cultural overview of the changes in the architectural landscape in post-industrial cities today. It is an urban action charting public space.

“Fast Urban Research uncovers and describes a city’s key spatial identity elements in one short visit to the site. The project is based on a highly advanced use of the unique dialogic methodology that focuses on spatial identity issues for both urban
and rural areas and produces dialogic information. This information becomes a key for identity-sensitive design and, therefore, for creating a unique spatial image (“urban face”) of the city.”

During the SEAS touring Jacek Dominiczak and Monika Zawadzka gathered thousands of images in each city they worked in, together with a team of local students. These images of facades, streets, the architectonic relationship between the facades of buildings were analysed along with street maps showing the grid of the city. This visual mapping revealed Local Identity Codes, visual ques to the identity and feeling of a city.

Fast Urban Research: Constanta (PDF)