Ubiquitous traces of the Polish People's Republic in 21st-century Łódź

Łódź – a city in central Poland, third in terms of population and fourth by area – for Poland. Part of the city's areas has been recognized as a "Monument to History". Today Łódź intrigues, evokes various emotions, but one cannot deny its participation in the contemporary landscape and architecture, with genuine gems straight from the Polish People's Republic era.

PRL-era housing blocks

Łódź's housing blocks are the first and distinctly characteristic memento of the PRL era that greets residents with its sight to this day. This memento consists of housing estates such as Teofilów, Dąbrowa, Retkinia, Widzew, Chojny, and Radogoszcz. The first post-war housing estates were built using brick construction technology, but the subsequent ones, from the 1960s onward, began to offend with massive prefabricated panels. Such cheap and quick construction was meant to be merely a transitional system, but the "temporary" blocks continue to house their residents to this day. Apartments in large-panel buildings are cramped, virtually identical, and are characterized by poor acoustics. Today these blocks are exceptionally colorful, but their colors do not please the residents' eyes.

Deteriorating centre of Łódź

Another memento, still based on housing in which owners nestle to this day, is the deteriorating centre of Łódź. Here, beautiful townhouses from the 1930s appear, however with bathrooms shared between neighbors and located in the hallway. The municipality decided on the allocation of apartments, and this combined with low rents meant that ultimately property owners believed they had something coming to them. The townhouses were neglected, which is why today they are almost frightening in appearance.

A view straight from the 1960s is Łódź slashed by wide arterial roads. The demolished buildings were not reconstructed, even though decades have passed. The areas adjacent to the representative Piotrkowska street are eerie and disturb the vision of a developing city's landscape. Transportation needs resulted in the construction of through routes. In 1975, 3,500 buildings were demolished, and in their place many new, interesting facilities were supposed to be built. Unfortunately, most of them do not evoke positive emotions, and besides, on one side there is the Centre with only a few high-rise buildings, while on the Western side there is emptiness.

Poland's oldest city

The last memento, which cannot be overlooked, though not necessarily visible in the form of physically constructed objects, is the residents – poorly educated, struggling with high unemployment. Consequently, enormous stress, anxiety, which in turn has translated into a high frequency of illnesses. Łódź in this regard almost dominates, as residents struggle with both circulatory system diseases, higher risk of cancer development, and unfortunately mental illnesses. Poland's oldest city has beneath it residents aging more rapidly, influenced by the difficult times and hard work done piecemeal in the textile industry.