Heritage for the future as seen in Łódź
An analysis of the problem of destroyed urban substance and its uniqueness, which increasingly becomes an element of the “marketing of the future” for peripheral cities. In the case of Łódź, this is a complex issue, obviously for reasons other than the “excess” of heritage, like in Kraków, or the burden of genetically alien history, like in Wrocław. The current attitude to the Łódź heritage must be placed in a broader context of development opportunities of peripheral post-industrial cities like Łódź. In addition, it should be said that reflections on the topic are interpretations which are not sufficiently grounded in facts. Łódź’s backwardness in terms of post-industrial development, deindustrialisation, ageing of its housing structure — all these can paradoxically become opportunities for the city to develop. In Łódź we can still be in direct contact with the not so distant past, looking at virtually intact monuments of the “first” industrialisation. Those who see in this an opportunity for the city are right. This is not about transforming the city into an open-air industrial museum, but about making it probably the only city in Europe where authentic heritage of the past — looked at with affection or even sense of pride — is cultivated.