**2. Materials and Methods**

One of the fundamental assumptions of this work is a holistic multifaceted analysis of the study area. To make the most appropriate decisions concerning the selection of a research method, the authors analysed the suitability of a series of research methods usually applied to complex issues requiring an extensive analysis. The study was based on two, in the authors' opinion the most adequate, research methods in a given context:


Both the method of logical argumentation and heuristic methods help systemize the activities connected with investigations, beginning from the determination of the study subject and ending at the definition of expected results from the work conducted. In the above-mentioned methods, the subject and scope of the study defined aspects such as the search for key developmental factors, types of investigations (theoretical, analytical), humanistic and philosophical interpretation of architectural issues, etc. Next, the types of undertaken activities are determined (deduction, synthesis, analogies, drawing conclusions, abstract and logical analysis). The heuristic methodology specifies a study approach, for instance, if it is expected to share one's knowledge and opinions, as well as if the researcher should enter some social interactions. Both methods also define techniques applied in order to carry out investigations, such as logical interpretations, SWOT analyses, scenarios, Delphi technique, and foresight. The researcher also determines which tools will be used (architectural documentation, lists and comparisons, and tables). Finally, the expected results are predicted. In the heuristic method, determination of possible directions of development (empirical approach) and definition of methods of implementation of strategic goals (normative approach), or in the case of the method of logical argumentation, for example, if it is planned to publish the study results.

The combination of two methods into one mixed method (Table 1) aims at the systematization of the undertaken work which is supposed to yield specific effects. Although creating their own mixed method, the authors based it on the rules and methods used in deconstructivism, which challenges fixed patterns and ponders on a given issue anew, from scratch, following simultaneously technological changes. This approach was very helpful when it came to the questioning of the legitimacy of the so-far well-established, either by law or custom, decisions, and activities. It facilitated also the search for the balance between individual issues, which had been earlier deconstructed into separate elements. In Tischner's book we read that "Jackques Derrida proposed that the act of creation should be the goal in its own right, not a piece of creation itself, even in architecture. However, this seems to be an extreme view, suspending the centuries-long aim of building engineering" [6].


**Table 1.** Development of own mixed method on the basis of heuristic methods and the method of logical argumentation, (table by E. Latusek, based on [7]).

Similarly to two basic methods, the authors' own mixed method determined the types of activities that had to be undertaken to meet specific investigation needs. The initial phase of the work encompassed the definition of study subject and scope, types of activities, research approach to analyses and design, tools and techniques to be applied as well as expected results. To facilitate the general reception, Table 1 was supplemented with the aspects, such as: subject, work objective(s), research problem, thesis and hypothesis. Own mixed method aimed at the following.

	- historical literature research,
	- examination of the formal and legal status,
	- analysis of the built and natural environment,
	- analysis of traffic and circulation,
	- photographic documentation and
	- familiarisation with activities undertaken by the local community with the purpose of the area revitalisation.
	- -SWOT analysis,
	- assessment of the user groups and
	- performance of comparative studies with selected European examples of riverside development.

The research on the formal and legal state of the area of Zabłocie and the project-related land encompassed many urban planning documents, which had an impact on designing decisions in the scope of land development, position of the object on the building plot and its forms. The analysed formal and legal documentation first included documents such as the Building Law, types of flood risk and other legal acts. The legal–formal documentation analysed included first of all documents such as the Act on the Building Law and types of flooding risk. The analysed legal acts concerning the project-related area encompassed the following: A Study of Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development of the City of Cracow (Kraków), Prognosis of Environmental Impact, A Local Programme of Zabłocie Regeneration, Update of Municipal Regeneration Programme of the City of Cracow (Kraków), A Local Plan of the Vistula Riverside "Wisła Boulevards" and A Local Plan of Zabłocie.
