Making Post-Dystopian Future Possible: Alternative Policies for Bytom

Abstract

This article follows the argument that urban dystopia is reserved not only for the sphere of the fictional but also as a state of reality that academic methods can capture and describe. Taking the example of the city of Bytom, a traditional centre of coal mining in Southern Poland, the article discusses four spheres where the dystopian present is clearly visible – namely, the four elements that led Bytom to a socio-economic and spatial collapse: depopulation, social polarisation and ghettoisation, degradation of the urban fabric and mining damage. Apart from showing empirical evidence, the article critically considers the possibilities of a post-dystopian urban future for the city. A discussion of possible policy answers to these dystopian trends is based on two possible visions of how the urban future could look. First, the semi-dystopian vision assumes that the expected direction and the results of current policies will lead to some improvement in the quality of the urban environment and the residents’ quality of life. Second, the post-dystopian future is based on an optimistic vision, which assumes that a post-dystopian future is possible. However, the desired salvation from the dystopian present will not come about through the search for new utopian visions. It will rely instead on the improvement and mitigation of some of the substantial social, economic and environmental problems that exist and continue to present an unbreakable social image.