1st Edition
Urban Change in Central Europe The Case of Kraków
The changes that Central European cities have undergone since 1989 deserve a complex, interdisciplinary analysis that offers deep insight into the specific nature of the transformation taking place in the region. This book presents a multidimensional and cross-disciplinary case study of Kraków, focusing on the changes taking place in Central Europe over the last three decades.
This book answers the question of how the once neglected city of Kraków has transformed into a thriving global tourist destination, an attractive investment market, and a European leader of shared services. It examines political, socio-economic, cultural, and architectural development of the city against the ongoing processes of post-1989 political and economic transition, European integration, and globalisation. The authors offer a portrait of the evolution in thinking about the developmental resources of the city, accounting for what is broadly construed as culture and heritage. Whereas previous studies have offered only one-dimensional insights into these phenomena, this book highlights the specific characteristics of the transition and identifies the challenges typical of many cities in Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary, after the fall of communism.
This book will be valuable reading for academics, researchers and postgraduate and PhD students of economic geography, urban studies, public management, political studies, sociology, culture and heritage management, and modern history, as well as those with an interest in Central European and transformation issues.
List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Jacek Purchla
1. Kraków 1989 and since
Jacek Purchla
2. Civil society: From “Solidarity” to urban activism
Dominika Hołuj
3. Municipal self- government: 1990–2019
Dominika Hołuj
4. Kraków in the face of the transformation: The economic life of the city
Krzysztof Broński
5. Kraków: An eventful city
Joanna Sanetra-Szeliga
6. Kraków spatial development after 1989
Michał Wiśniewski
7. Kraków and its region: Mutual relations after 1989
Piotr Miodunka
8. Kraków architecture and globalisation
Michał Wiśniewski
9. Kraków culture heritage: On the way to globalizing the national potential
Andrzej Laskowski
10. Kraków: A creative city
Joanna Sanetra-Szeliga
11. Kraków’s metropolitan functions
Jacek Purchla
Afterword – Kraków: Dialectics of history and change
Robert Pyrah
Names Index
Subject Index
Biography
Jacek Purchla is Professor of Humanities and Head of the Department of Economic and Social History/UNESCO Chair for Heritage and Urban Studies at the Cracow University of Economics.