OD NIECHCIANEJ FABRYKI BAWEŁNY DO SYMBOLU MIASTA. EWOLUCJA ZNACZENIA DZIEDZICTWA POPRZEMYSŁOWEGO W ROZWOJU MIASTA
FROM AN UNWANTED COTTON FACTORY TO THE SYMBOL OF THE CITY. THE EVOLUTION OF THE MEANING OF THE POST-INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CITY OF ŁÓDŹ

Summary/Abstract: Post-industrial heritage belongs to the large ‘family’ of cultural legacy. This heritage consists mainly of elements that are remnants of the industrial culture of a given region. The post-industrial heritage holds values rooted in its history, society, urban architecture, science and technology; there is also the unique identity of the region included in it. A great number of genuine elements of the post-industrial heritage are present in the urban structure of the City of Łódź nowadays, forming its specific character and constituting a significant factor in the city’s development. Nevertheless, this tendency has been observable for merely two decades now. Towards the end of the 1990s the inhabitants’ attitude towards this resource was rather negative. The material elements of the post- industrial heritage made more of a problem than an asset. The aim of this article is to present the evolution behind the change in the approach of the local community to their perception of the post-industrial heritage of Łódź, as well as to show how the potential of the heritage has impacted the development of the city and the image of it. An important goal of the work is also to give characteristics of making use of the post-industrial heritage in the process of revitalization of Łódź, using the case study of Manufaktura – a shopping mall, leisure complex and arts centre. The research method applied in the article is an analysis of the content of the local press, the main topic of which is this facility. The article shows the way in which the post-industrial heritage has influenced the image and the devel- opment of the city. The article presents added values which the local community has gained thanks to the revitalization of their unique post-industrial heritage. Stimulation of dormant assets which the object under study possesses has changed the perception of the post-industrial heritage, while its new functions have re- generated yet another change in the perception of the object itself. Conclusions from the conducted research point also to the fact that the post-industrial heritage of Łódź, a part of which Manufaktura is, offers not only a testimony to the past, but also one to progress, a transformation following the decline of the textile industry. The key conclusion is that the investment implemented in the former Poznański’s Manufacture is a pioneering one and provides an inspiration to carry out further revitalization actions on post-factory objects located within the city’s landscape.

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