Designing the City of Science - what can the university give to the city? Science as a transformation tool.

The development of science is particularly important in Katowice and Silesia due to the centuries-long industrial exploitation of the region. The region enjoyed two great transformation leaps - the establishment of major medical centres and the spectacular development of culture. In terms of space, this change is symbolised by the Katowice Culture Zone. The time has come to make the third leap - the City of Science. Science is a natural good, more important for the future of the region inhabitants than fossil fuels or the related industry. Science is a public interest and it should address the society needs, also with regard to its functionality and usefulness. However, in the first place science and education are the means to repay the debt to many generations of inhabitants affected by health-deteriorating work, ecological destruction of the environment, wasteful exploitation of fossil fuels and social problems typical for the industrial areas. It’s time for New European Bauhaus. The University should undertake multidisciplinary cooperation in order to diagnose and model solutions to the problems faced by the city and the region. The universities in Katowice and Silesia should be a huge public think-tank serving the inhabitants of the city and region. A fair, eco-friendly and green but also more resistant city is immersed in science, built on innovations and new technologies, grounded in sustainable spatial planning and reliable, innovative economic and financial models. During the panel, we would like to present how the research conducted in our region already impacts its development and the quality of life of its inhabitants. We will present a programme of scientific challenges addressing the needs of region inhabitants, and discuss the spatial and functional assumptions of the city where science is the inhabitant’s natural ally, available and open. One of the concepts will be the plan to establish a dispersed centre of science. The invited experts will try to explain how the functional City of Science should be designed. Based on their experience (Oslo and its university may serve as an example), the panellists will show how to put this ambitious project into life. They will tell about the advantages of building the city of science and specify the related costs.