Rewitalizacja

Anna Mastalerz opublikowała w czasopiśmie Urban Development Issues (vol. 61,2018) artykuł „Classification and Analysis of Social Participation Initiatives in a Post-Industrial City – a case study of Pabianice” (Klasyfikacja i analiza inicjatyw społecznych w postprzemysłowym mieście na przykładzie Pabianic). Autorka ukazuje rolę 700 Pabianiczan – konsultantów społecznych - w kształtowaniu programu rewitalizacji fragmentu miasta obejmującego ulicę Zamkową i Stary Rynek, która rozpoczęła się w 2017 roku. Jednocześnie w obawie przed pozoracją (tokenizm) stawia pytanie o rzeczywisty wpływ interesariuszy na ostateczną formę zmian w przestrzeni miejskiej. Uważa także, iż atutem Pabianic są imponujące ślady przedprzemysłowej historii miasta, które ułatwiają proces rewitalizacji, gdyż dawne tereny przemysłowe, nie będące własnością miejską, nie poddają się korzystnej modernizacji i niekiedy odstręczają swoim wyglądem. Jednym słowem – obiekty renesansowe z okresu jagiellońskiego wygrały w znacznej mierze z dziewiętnastowiecznymi fabrykami.

(…) The aim of this study is to examine the social participation initiatives carried out during the preparation of the Urban Regeneration Programme for Pabianice (Program Rewitalizacji Pabianic) – an industrial town in Lodz province. Social participation initiatives carried out while creating an urban regeneration programme for the city will be compared with models and classified according to the level of social involvement and power in the decision making and urban regeneration processes. (…)

Pabianice – an overview

Pabianice is located in the centre of Poland, very close to Lodz, in a former textile manufacturing region. It’s a medium -sized city of about 66 thousand residents. It has a heritage dating from before the industrial era, it is however a post-industrial legacy visible from every angle.

The history of Pabianice dates back to the 10/11 th century, which is significantly earlier than most of the post-industrial cities in the region. The town was granted its municipal rights in the first half of the 14th century. In 1565, a fortified renaissance mansion was built by the Krakow Chapter House (which today serves as a city museum and is called ‘the castle’ by the locals) which lies West of the existing town and near the local river, the Dobrzynka. A few years later, the church of St. Matthew and St. Lawrance was erected opposite ‘the castle’, marking the old town centre.

The year of 1820 proved to be a milestone in the history of Pabianice. A decree was issued stating that Pabianice had been selected to become one of the centres of the textile industry. In just a few decades the growing textile industry lifted the city’s position to the second largest production centry in the country. By the turn of the 20th there were textile

giants such as Kindler or Krusche&Ender running their factories in Pabianice. Blossoming textile production radically and permanentny changed the city.

After 1945 the whole industry in Poland went through a radical change, namely the nationalisation of all the factories. Nevertheless, it did not change the basic way in which Pabianice functioned – its development and income was still based on the textile industry. The big gest change came after 1989, when, as a consequence of the transition from a centralised communist economy to liberal capitalism, a number of industry-powered areas in Polish cities became redundant; Pabianice was one of them. Factories went back to their private owners only to be then rapidly closed down. The sudden collapse of the industry was disastrous for smaller cities the size of Pabianice. It resonated across the whole town, marking it as redundant after years of prosperity. This situation resulted in many malfunctioning post-industrial areas that brought serious spatial, social and economic problems to the very centre of the city.

The long-term dominancie of one industry created specific social settings, establishing customs and the region’s identity, as was the case with the Ruhr Valley. Workers who were used to relying on big comapnies naturally felt anger, pessimism and passivity when the industry went into crisis, and copmanies closed down. Progress towards a new, more diverse and flexible economic structure required different kinds of social and economic relations.

The memory of the industrial times is still fresh in memory of local people, since one of the most severe consequences of the collapse of the textile industry was a Cash in the Job market and a seroius need for restructuring. For people grounded in an older, more traditional culture, this type of transition is always difficult.

On the other hand, the younger generation less bound by older times of industrial glory and more open to innovation, have not had many reasons to stay in Pabianice. For the past 10-15 years the city’s population has been decreasing from a peak in 1995 of 75 668 residents to 65 823 in 2017. Those left are hesitant to cooperate, they still perceive the city through the events of the 1990s.

Another reason which makes it difficult to revive these post-industrial areas is that they are mosty privately owned, which makes it more complicated for the city to approach them. However, Pabianice has an advantage over most post-industrial cities in the area, which is its history, dating long before the industrial era. Thic creates another way to facilitate the residents’ participation in regenerating and reinventing the town after the collapse of industry.

Currently, when the post-industrial legacy seems to still be seen by the residents more as a threat and liability than as an asset, Pabianice can revert to its pre-industrial heritage to entourage people to take part in reviving the part of the city they already appreciate due to its historical characteristics. These are also areas that mainly consists of proprieties owned by the city, hence areas more accessible to the urban regeneration programme.

In 2016 Pabianice took part in a competition for the best urban regenerations project, which involved the revival of the old town square with the main road and the castel. Despite not winning, the objective proved very, very important and thus it became part of the new regeneration programme.

Works on the programme began on 23.06.2017 – a contract was signed commissioning the Urban Regeneration Programme for Pabianice – comprehensive guidelines for pulling degradeted areas in the city out of a state of crisic including proper analysis, appraisal and social consultations as well as obtaining the necessary permits and assessments. All preparations were based on qualitative and quantitative data, mainly acquired from those involved in the city’s affairs, decision-making parties and the local community.

The first element in creating the programme entailed a deep-rooted analysis of the whole city, so that areas in crisis could be identified. The second part was both project-and-solution based. A large group of citizens (about 700 people) was involved in and participated in the creation of the Programme.(…)

The finished dokument includes the following note regarding the scope of social participation: ‘At every stage of the works on the Programme, its content was not only put out to consultation, but – in accordance with the idea of social participation - jointly worked out with the local community’. (…)

There is no doubt that the inclusion of local communities is a core element of research and growing awareness of the importance of social involvement provide the possibility that in future decisions and action aimed at social change in degraded areas may actually amend the negative phenomena and improve the overall functioning of regenerated parts of the city in the long run. This will, however, require more effort and patience from all the parties involved – to establish a relationship based on trust, not just to fulfil the requirements of the law.

And although social participation is legally required during urban regeneration, there are no formal tools or methods yet to assess its effectiveness. Usually, the only summary of what is involved at the stage of preparing the regeneration programme is a chapter in the finished document, describing the activities carried out in general and restrained manner.

Autor: Sławomir Saładaj