The article raises the issue of zoning of the central area of Zamosc based on downtown unrealized projects. It also explains the genesis of the formation of its range and the spatial layout, which affected the functioning of nineteenth-century fortress. As early as 1804. Entailer Stanisław Kostka Zamoyski planned to demolish the decaying fortifications and sell strip of land fortress for development. Change the situation on the political arena of Europe made Zamosc under Tsarist Russia became a fortress – a closed town, where civilian activity have been pushed to the back burner and separated from the historical center of strategic cordoned off the circuit. It was not until 24 years after the dissolution of the fortress, in 1880. returned to the development concept of post-fortress area in connection with the planned development of the city, but this met with opposition the military commission – the owner of the land. After regaining independence, the magistrate put forward ambitious building projects realization in the esplanade of the formerly fortress, which this time met with the resistance of the military commissions. As a result of the conversion of disputed land in the late 30’s the post-fortress area was possible to invest. An example was enacted in 1939, pioneering in many respects, zoning plan Zamosc by Władyslaw Wieczorkiewicza and Jan Zachwatowicz in which the authors called for implementation of the downtown on the basis of a linear array of bifocal between the old town (Stare Miasto) and the Nowa Osada suburb.

The aim of the article is to show the opportunities and threats for the center of Kraków generated by the design solutions developed by a team led by Stanisław Hager in 1964 in the General Masterplan of the City of Kraków and adopted for implementation in 1967. The article discusses a set of ideas for the redevelopment of the traffic and transport arrangements around the railway station and compare them with paradigms for the development of city centers.

The notion of the centre is characterised by semantic pluralism, as its meaning is dependent on the scale from which we view a given subject, even in the discipline of architecture and urban planning. The author refers to studies on defining city centres and downtown areas from the period of the second half of the 20th century, confronting them with contemporary theories (space of flows) in all aspects of the urban environment.

Artykuł prezentuje autorskie narzędzie badawcze, opracowane w ramach pracy dysertacyjnej realizowanej na Wydziale Architektury Politechniki Poznańskiej. Instrument ten ma na celu delimitację terenów kluczowych dla rozwoju śródmiejskich przestrzeni kulturowych, a następnie określenie możliwych form ich przekształcania. Zintegrowany system przestrzeni kulturowych oraz Kulturowa oferta inwestycyjna uzupełniają warsztat urbanistów o narzędzia wspierające kreację przestrzeni publicznych o wysokim standardzie użytkowym i przestrzenno-społecznej atrakcyjności.