Heritage of the Polish Central Industrial District - New Cities

Abstract

“New cities” are perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the construction, existence and subsequent development of the Central Industrial District. These settlement units founded “in cruda radis” have all a similar and characteristic layout structure. A newly established industrial plant of strategic production profile (usually associated with arms manufacturing) was directly or indirectly connected with a residential/services unit, which subsequently evolved into a city. The analysis of new settlements development in the COP area leads to identification of four groups, that vary in terms of transformation effects and current status. These are: small cities, medium cities, villages with urban characteristics and villages absorbed by previously shaped urban units. It seems that among these groups, the group of small cities deserves special attention, as it presents an explication of construction process and urban structure transformation, analysis of which may be easily achieved due to the size such units. This article presents the outline of layouts and the development history of the settlement units that were parts of functional/spatial structure created through the construction of industrial and residential estates in the Central Industrial District. The aim of the study was a framework analysis of how these cities originated and how the tissue of presented urban complexes transformed. The tools used to present these origins and basic urban development transformations included the analysis of available literature, museum/archive resources, general analysis of cartographic materials and also field studies.