3.1.5. Availability of Services

The availability of services would be ensured by: "a large number of benches in the infrastructure of public space; stops along the routes of seniors; appropriate functional zoning; creating interactive community work centers for seniors (earning money); creating special senior zones in stores (lower shelves, wider passageways); activation of seniors with children and with animals"; the ideas for "smart" solutions include: "mobile shops in housing estates for the elderly; shopping via mobile applications with home delivery; automatic shopping assistant (a robot); drones for seniors (a shop); self-cooking and self-cleaning robots; printing of clothes".

### 3.1.6. Medical Services (as City-Wide Services)

With regard to medical services, the students indicated a number of solutions which are currently regarded as technological novelties, namely: "a symptoms-interpreting machine (in bed); artificial intelligence at home as a physician; a hologram and interactive meetings with specialist doctors; individual medical scanners". The students did not in any way refer those technological proposals to the solutions in the field of architectural space in which they would be applied.

### 3.1.7. Ensuring Safety

The ideas offered by the students on security issues for seniors in a smart city were as follows: "urban lighting with a motion sensor; robotic guards on the street, transhumanism and technological implants to improve the fitness of seniors". The students overlooked the issue of spatial morphology, which has a significant impact on safety. It is not only about the visibility of areas for surveillance cameras, but it also involves the elimination of places in terms of spaces which are conducive to crime [58,59]. Recently, the problem of counteracting terrorism has been added, which is also reflected in urban space projects [60]. This problem was not perceived by the students.

### 3.1.8. Recreation and Free Time

In the next subtopic "recreation and free time", there were repeated proposals that had been made earlier-regarding the activation and integration of seniors into society (social gardens, activities with children), and only the following was added: "prestigious loges for seniors in cultural institutions; attractive meeting centers for seniors; a larger number of senior architecture points, e.g., graduation towers"; the "smart" solutions involved: "VR (Virtual reality) walking, safe boxes where walking is possible in optimal conditions (temperature, humidity, wherever you want)".

### 3.1.9. New Urban Functions

With respect to new urban functions, the students once again proposed traditional solutions, some of which are already known: "city markets, where you can sell your products (fruit, vegetables, crafts, art); milk bars (places with cheap food); community and intergenerational cafes and workshops; training places for the elderly in the field of interactive services (IT); intergenerational dialogue centers; spaces for exchanging skills and passing on traditions; drama series cinemas for seniors; mutual reading parlors (for the poor sighted)"; the "smart" ideas included: "modern agora: a random selection of topics related to real problems, and brainstorming ideas for their solutions; Flyspot salons (wind tunnels) for people with mobility difficulties—stimulation of movement".

### 3.1.10. Ecology and Sustainable Development

In the described study, ecology and sustainable development were a separate partial problem. The submitted ideas contained individual references to important problems, such as: energy ("cheap, ecological heating, energy sources; power stations for seniors for electricity/energy generation; personal, garden, public solar umbrellas; solar clothing"), pollution ("cleaning air in every house"); waste ("self-segregation of wastes; biodegradable packaging; eco-medicines"); green infrastructure ("gardens

in housing estates—mini vegetable farms, orchards; sensory gardens for the activation of seniors; less paved surfaces and more greenery"). Yet, there is a feeling of paucity about the above ideas, both in terms of quantity and the lack of more inquisitive insight into the problem in the context of architecture.

## 3.1.11. Aesthetics and the Appearance of Buildings and Urban Space

In regards to the aesthetics and appearance of buildings and urban space in a smart city friendly to seniors, the students attached great importance to wayfinding issues, proposing such solutions as: "urban functions-characteristic and easy to recognize; automatic signaling informing about the location of, e.g., the entrance zone; cleaning up visual information, in particular from advertising; clear description of streets and districts; identification of individual residential buildings-color-coded staircases and building entrances; murals—characteristic and acceptable". They also reported the need "to keep the spaces open, to maintain private and semi-private areas; to use calm colors; bright, well-lit rooms; natural materials, cozy interiors and balconies, and to use balustrades that give a sense of security, not fear." All in all, the ideas were very conservative, already known and rather ordinary. More innovative and "smart" thinking was represented by such ideas as: "personalized building facade-automatic signaling sensors; goggles-lenses that allow you to adjust the style of the facade to your taste; paint that changes color; changing eco-facades made of nanorobots".

### **4. Discussion**

When analyzing the research results, we could observe that it was quite difficult for students to relate the problems of designing a smart city friendly to seniors to architecture. It seems that it was also difficult for them to empathize with the role of an architect in this aspect. There were no differences in the quality of the submitted ideas in any of the groups (the level was very even). The image of the city of the future emerging from the students' brainstorms was not futuristic, but real, while the proposed "smart" solutions were frequently not associated with architecture. There were several inspiring ideas, but also ideas that dangerously approached the exclusion or stigmatization of seniors as a social group (separate pavements, separate zones in shops, robotic guards on the streets). On the positive side, it should be noted that students pay attention to extremely important issues: ergonomics, accessibility of buildings and space for everyone, wayfinding and the need for places of social integration. Yet, there were no proposals to solve such important issues as: climate change and what it means for architecture. In addition, the problems of environmental pollution or waste utilization were treated marginally, although they can be very creatively related to architectural design. As an example, we can refer to the heat and power waste-to-energy plant building in Amager, Copenhagen (Denmark), designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group architectural office. This facility proves that innovations in the field of architecture are possible. In the film "BIG Architecture" [61], Bjarke Ingels passionately described how the concept of this—in principle, very utilitarian building—was being developed. It was known that it would be a large cubature, towering over the surroundings. Then, during the brainstorming, the idea of a "mountain building" with a ski slope was proposed. In this way, an incinerator was created, producing electricity and energy, producing more water than it consumes, with a sloping roof, on which a year-round "artificial ski slope, hiking slope and climbing wall" were created [62]. The problem of the chimney, which had to be placed on the body of the building, was also attempted to be solved from the architect's point of view: it was supposed to emit smoke (because it could not be eliminated), but in the shape of circles (smoke rings) [63]. In that way, the most desirable features in the contemporary architecture had been combined: innovation for the benefit of the environment and people. Such innovative ideas directly relating to architectural design, relating to buildings: to their outer shells, roofs, facades, functions and needs of the natural environment and people were definitely missing among the ideas submitted by the students.

When analyzing the above results of the study, it is worth referring to two earlier studies conducted by the author with the participation of the students of the Faculty of Architecture. The first study concerned the notion of students about retirement homes for seniors in the future (but more distant

future, when they are seniors themselves). In this case, the full design thinking methodology was used with prototyping in various ways. The results of the research were more satisfying in terms of the innovation of the proposed solutions. The description of the research and the results were published in the articles of Joanna Tymkiewicz and Maria Bielak-Zasadzka [54,64].

The second of the related studies only indirectly concerned the subject of this article, i.e., the image of sustainable smart cities and the role of the architect in shaping them. In this case, students - young architects faced the following research question: "Would everyone want to live in futuristic-looking buildings?" Young people probably would, but would seniors too? Such doubts arose from the conclusions of the pilot studies regarding, "The evaluation of facade solutions and their impact on the aesthetic quality of the external image of buildings" (2016). The multithreaded scientific and didactic project was realized in cooperation of the Faculty of Architecture with the University of the Third Age in Gliwice and the Laboratory of Architecture 60+ Foundation (Lab 60+). As part of the research, a focus meeting was arranged with seniors who were asked to express their opinions on various aesthetic solutions for the facades of residential buildings intended for the elderly. The examples of such buildings were presented on large photographs and slides. The course of the research and the conclusions have been described in the publications [65,66]. It turned out that seniors criticized the façades of buildings developed in an avant-garde way. Of course, the research was not conducted on a representative group and the results are not authoritative, but for reference, it is worthwhile quoting some examples of seniors' opinions about the highly rated by architects Home for Elderly People in Alcácer do Sal, Portugal (Aires Mateus Arquitectos, 2010), the finalist of the "European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture—Mies van der Rohe Award 2013". They read as follows: "it looks good in the picture, but it is not for living", "cubist shape, too modern", "an unsightly box, a block" [66]. In the quoted studies—in the further creative part of the workshop with seniors, some assumptions regarding the aesthetics and functionality of façade solutions had been developed. They favored the tendencies advocating "moderation, traditional aesthetic solutions, friendly scale of buildings, natural materials". Favorite elements of the façade comprised "large, shared terraces with the opportunity of socializing, intimate balconies, fenced off from one another, but in a way ensuring contact with neighbors" [66]. These completely preliminary guidelines inspire further, in-depth research on this topic and allow us to conclude that if cities of the future are to be focused on people and their needs, and seniors are becoming an increasing part of the society, facade solutions must be consulted with them, and the public should be educated to enhance the understanding and acceptance of innovative, novel and avant-garde solutions—also in terms of aesthetics. Here, architects have a lot of scope to act: as educators, convincing to new architectural solutions and as the liaison between various groups of stakeholders (e.g., between investors and users).

This role of architects is associated with another one—initiating and conducting pre-project participatory research in which representatives of future, potential users would take part. An example of this type of research carried out by the author with the participation of students can be illustrated by the venture, "The Experimental Project on 'Soft' Intervention Aimed at Enlivening the Academic Zone" (2017). The said research project aimed to gather ideas from the academic community to revive the newly designed campus space of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (Figure 3). The research was described and published in the article [67]. We can also add here that among many offered proposals, there were also ones that would certainly improve the image of the academic district in terms of space characterized by the "sustainable" and "smart" features which take into account the needs of people with disabilities. In the project, one of the student teams proposed for the academic district a network of elements improving the functionality and accessibility of the campus using the so-called small architecture and information technology. The network of connections would consist of: pylons with interactive information, an application, typhlographic signs, i.e., tactile information for the blind and a 3D campus model, as well as multifunctional boxes. The boxes would offer: "a charging station for electric carts/wheelchairs, wireless charging of mobile phones, access to electricity from renewable sources, access to Wi-Fi and to academic library resources, a working

station for a student, a place for books, available through the application". The box would be equipped with "devices used to read the resources of digital library, e.g., a tablet, e-book reader, and it would ensure access to the equipment for listening to music files, as well as to the text-to-speech software. The information would be also written in Braille." Such solutions would facilitate the use of the boxes for the visually impaired and hearing impaired. The elements of the concept were presented in the article [67], (p. 29). In that case, the students-future architects played a triple role: researchers, potential users and designers. The presented student concept fits into a frequently adopted strategy which says that smart solutions should be first implemented in a city quarter or district, and not in the whole city. In this aspect, the academic campus is a very good place to initiate smart solutions, with the care for sustainable development [68].

**Figure 3.** Fragment of the central part of the space of the academic campus of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice (Upper Silesia, Poland), as of today (photograph taken by J. Tymkiewicz).

In this article, we have already mentioned the architects' role in designing the image of elderly-friendly sustainable smart cities. These are roles which are located on two opposite poles and which define two attitudes of the architect: as an innovator-visionary (1) as well as a researcher and educator (2). The tasks reflecting these two attitudes are as follows:


The above roles should be supplemented with the most important one, being in the middle and combining both of the above roles, namely: designing the image of cities which implement the idea of elderly-friendly sustainable smart city in real conditions. Cities are currently struggling with the problems mentioned at the beginning of this article, i.e., the increasing number of inhabitants, including seniors, energy consumption and environmental pollution, and the consequences of climate change. Cities have also the potential contained in the development of digital technologies that allow them to diagnose and to some extent solve the mentioned problems. Architects, through their designs and implementations supply a form for the conceptual solutions pertaining to the above problems. They also create a physical space for virtual digital technologies (e.g., for various types of applications) that are supposed to make life easier for users (including the elderly) living in the real built environment. The number of applications proposed for residents is constantly increasing. A review of the European classification of smart city applications has been presented in the article [69]. In addition, in Polish cities various types of "smart" and "sustainable" as well as "pro-senior" applications have already been implemented as, e.g., "active senior card", mobile navigation for visually impaired people, and a smart public transport system [70,71].

There are many more implemented solutions, but is the real world, or the built environment, following the development of the virtual world? The above systems and applications operate in city spaces representing different qualities. On the one hand, these are organized, architecturally valuable, historical or modern city centers. Their attractive image is consistent with the image of a city aspiring to the title of "smart" and "sustainable". But in the same city there are also neglected, devastated districts, or developing districts-but in a chaotic way. Even if there are applications or other smart facilities operating in such places, it is difficult to feel the idea of sustainable smart city. There is an unpleasant gap between technological advancement in the virtual world and low quality of the real world. What is missing is the appropriate quality of the built environment mentioned at the beginning, as a physical platform for implementing the idea of smart city in a sustainable way. There is also no deeper reflection on the design projects being implemented in the field of "smart" and "sustainable" and no reference to architecture.

It seems that an architect-designer should not only use elements of the language of global architecture of sustainable smart cities (listed in Chapter 2), but also take into account real problems of cities (including local problems), buildings and the needs of their users, as well as legal regulations and economic potential. It is too early to make conclusions and summarize the discussed topic as well as to start discussion with other researchers. More research is needed, but now we can at least create a list of tasks related to the role of the architect in shaping the image of a sustainable smart city. They comprise such elements: outer shells/bodies of buildings, facades with details, roofs, and urban spaces in their vicinity (such as: recreational areas, squares, etc.). The diagnosed tasks and roles have been presented in a tabular form, taking into account the division into six building blocks of a smart city (the division has been taken from the already cited publication [32] (pp. 12–16)). It should be added that the partial problems presented below have in many cases been already investigated, but only as general problems, without reference to the issues of designing sustainable smart cities friendly to seniors. For some of them—examples of bibliographic references were given as the nucleus of desk studies. A broader approach requires further literature review and in-depth analyses. At this stage, we could state that knowledge is dispersed and there is a need to consolidate it.

The photographs below are presenting facades and public spaces as the architectural elements of image of Gda ´nsk—the city in Poland, which develops the idea of an elderly-friendly sustainable smart city (Figures 4–8).

**Figure 4.** Gda ´nsk—Museum of the SecondWorldWar, main façade (photograph taken by J. Tymkiewicz).

**Figure 5.** Gda ´nsk—Old Town District (photograph taken by J. Tymkiewicz).

**Figure 6.** Gda ´nsk—modern facades on the banks of the River Motława (photo by J. Tymkiewicz).

**Figure 7.** View of public space of the "Forum Gda ´nsk" (photograph taken by J. Tymkiewicz).

**Figure 8.** Modern public space of the "Forum Gda ´nsk" (photo by J. Tymkiewicz).

The following tables (Tables 2–7) contain the content selected and formulated by the author, supported by the author's experience of research carried out for many years on the functions of facade in the holistic aspect, summarized, among others, in the conference proceedings [72,73], articles [74–77], and in the monograph [78]. The tables contain also—students' inspiring ideas for the author, voiced during the brainstorming described in this article.

It was the author's intention that the tables presented below—ordering architectural issues and presenting architects' roles in a new way, analogously to the issue of sustainable smart cities—could become a starting point to undertake research at the investigative and diagnostic levels in this area, focused on the needs of the residents of sustainable smart cities, especially senior citizens.

**Table 2.** "Smart people"—in the context of the architect's role in designing the image of a sustainable smart city (author's study).


\* The ideas generated during the brainstorming described in the article.

**Table 3.** "Smart economy" in terms of the role of the architect in designing the image of a sustainable smart city (author's study).



### **Table 3.** *Cont.*

**Table 4.** "Smart mobility" in terms of the role of the architect in designing the image of a sustainable smart city (author's study).


\* The ideas generated during the brainstorming described in the article.

**Table 5.** "Smart environment" in terms of the role of the architect in designing the image of a sustainable smart city (author's study).



