Urban design competition as a tool for planning

Conclusion Planning for the future of the cities may be adviced by urban design competitions. Every single competition should be fit to the site and situation. The more data can be prepared to set the competition guidelines the better result we can get. On the basis of his Polish experience the author suggests that in most cases two-stage competitions can give better results that onestage competitions. In some cases, a broader view of the city and a proper long-term strategy may be more important for the cities’ future than realizing a single target (building or public space) which does not fit enough. The perspective of realizing a proper public space may be a good reason for several different approaches. In such cases public consultations before and after a competition are obligatory, as long as realistic 'on site’ experience is concerned. There are no statistics that would prove the thesis. However, in many cases proper organisation of the competition can do much more than a series of various steps: competition, consultation, after competition design and/or other. Since a design competition and competition judgment are a process, the author believes that two-stage competitions offer the best opportunity for the right judgment and choice for the jury, and allow the designers to adopt a multi-aspect, multi-step approach to designing. Thus, this kind of procedure allows competition organisers to achieve better effects and we may assume that the future of the site benefits from it as well.