OD MIEJSCA DO NIE-MIEJSCA. DRUGIE ŻYCIE PODZIEMI DWORCA CENTRALNEGO W WARSZAWIE
FROM PLACE TO NON-PLACE: THE SECOND LIFE OF THE UNDERGROUND PASSAGES OF WARSAW’S CENTRAL STATION

Summary/Abstract: The metamorphosis of Warsaw’s Central Station and its underground passages is the story of Poland’s system transformation, of the process of adapting Poland’s economy to the world economy, to the free market model, and of strategies for managing the public space in the face of general commercialization and privatization. Finally, it is the story of the results of these processes for social life. The author, using the category of invisibility, observes the processes and social phenomena that were either brought to the fore or marginalized, or eliminated, from social life during the aesthetic trans- formation of the station and its underground passages. She shows that ordinarily the ostensible modernization of a structure is in reality a manifestation of the economic and social gentrification of that part of the city. At the same time, seeing the domination of international chains and the short life span of local businesses, and analyzing the division of the underground commercial space between global and local brands, she concludes that it symbolizes the consolidation of the peripheral position of Polish ‘post-transformation’ businesses in regard to global businesses.

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