• workers' estate
• urban project
• social project
• revitalization
• restoration

The study object of this dissertation concerns the regeneration of the workers’ estate of Ul. Londzina in Zabrze, Poland. The regeneration plan proposed is based on a wide array of analyses carried out on the territory. It is divided into three different levels corresponding to three different intervention ranges from the broadest and most comprehensive to the most detailed one.
The study started with a thorough historical and spatial analysis. First of all, the issue of workers’ estates and the ideology of industrial paternalism have been analysed. Then, the Silesian region in Poland was geographically framed and a synthetic history was reported from an economic and social point of view. The history draws the transformations that characterized the development of the region over the centuries, from a poor and agricultural area into the most industrialized area in Europe. Then an in-depth study of the city of Zabrze followed. It highlighted the salient features of its recent history, giving particular emphasis to the role of Guido Donnersmarck for the industrial development he led at the beginning of the last century.
Then, the spatial and territorial analysis that distinguishes the town-planning approach has been made. More defined borders were mapped of the area and, on the basis of the historical and town archives, a diachronic analysis of the buildings was realized. One Donnersmarcks’ property map was then added as a further insight of the family’s involvement into the city. Therefore, soil, infrastructure, green areas and compositional systems have been analysed. At the end of the urban planning, a SWOT analysis was carried out and two maps were drawn, showing some of the strengths and weaknesses of the neighbourhood.
An in-depth study of the socio-economic aspects followed. It was accomplished through the study of Zabrze municipality documents, questionnaires, interviews and through direct experience. The city’s development plans have been studied and their general guidelines have been drawn up. A questionnaire that captured the point of view of the inhabitants about the historical value of the site, its potentialities and its weaknesses was then elaborated and submitted to residents of the district either directly or via web. Interviews and personal records of people living in Londzina have been collected too.
A typological analysis of the building fabric was then carried out and a listing of all the neighbourhood facilities was made. Schematic maps that highlight some of the salient features of the typology analysis were then drawn.
The chapter devoted to the project closes the work, and it is divided into four levels. The first level deals with the construction of an urban masterplan planned to meet a range of district distributive and functional needs. The second level, on an architectural scale, deals with the problem of inserting a new architecture into historical fabric. The third level deals with the restoration project of a building, taken as a model for interventions throughout the neighbourhood. Finally, the fourth and last level concerns the social project, it deepens the connections between the architectural and the social method of urban regeneration and it draws a series of actions to be taken in order to enhance the life of the inhabitants of Londzina neighbourhood. All the four levels are accompanied by a list of guidelines and recommendations. The peculiar feature of the project was, in fact, the intent to outline a methodology, rather than a pre-packed solution for the various points, to approach the question of the revitalization of workers’ estates.