Provincial regions in the 21st century

Text: Julianna Szabó

In May 2016 lecturers and students of REA (Réseau des Écoles d’Architecture de la France et d’Europe Centrale et Orientale) have gathered for the 20th time to make a tour of a burning issue of architecture and urban development. The hosting faculty of architecture in Bratislava has chosen a difficult and complex topic to discuss: the future of provincial regions in the 21st century. To analyse the theme itself the meeting actually moved out from the capital into the countryside for three days: the small town of Modra was the venue of the international students’ competition as well as that of the students’ workshop whilst the local culture centre hosted the conference of educators too. The conference of REA lecturers was an occasion to present the future of rural regions, mainly the examples of suburbanisation destroying the landscape, the gems of the architectural history of our villages and to a lesser degree, contemporary projects of landscape design and fine arts organised in the countryside. It also authentically reflects the gap between urban and rural development present in both the policy of settlement development and architecture as a profession.