Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Cities. The City of Gdansk as an Example

Abstract

The article is aimed to answer the question how, depending on the historical heritage, the collective memory, the physical space of the city and their images were shaped, through the politics of memory. All known cultures and languages distinguish the ‘self’ and the ‘other’, ‘us’ and ‘them’. Neither do we know cities which wish to differ in some particular way, although they can have numerous identities. Their multitude and diversity may be a source of conflicts or contradictions in a creating their coherent image. From a sociological perspective, all identities are constructed. The real problem, however, is how, with what, by whom, and for what? Although identities are not time-proof, in favourable circumstances, they legitimize and rationalize dominant institutions of authority and culture. The public discourse on memory and identity of the modern Gdansk is dominated by multiparadigmatism, going beyond the authenticity of the material and cultural heritage and the state of knowledge presented by historians. Metaphoric and discursive ideas, already encoded in the language, such as: Gdansk is a multicultural city; the city of freedom and the city of solidarity are used to demonstrate the multiparadigmatism. Analysis has proved that the identity narrations were built mainly on myth-making constructions, especially on the myth of ‘the Golden Age’. Nowadays, the selections of architectural forms, used as a base for the Gdansk's identities, have been extending with buildings from the Polish People's Republic (1945-1989) period. Their aesthetic and historic values were, until recently, almost completely negated. It was an unwanted heritage.