ABSTRACT
Amongst the unintended consequences of Central and Eastern European accession to the European Union, particularly conspicuous was the invasion of Polish, Czech or Hungarian streets by young Britons, flying over for stag weekends or partying bouts. Locals found their ways truly disagreeable. Public space in Central and Eastern Europe is not flat, horizontal and democratic. Instead, it is warped, in the sense that some of its users are perched higher and others lower in the urban pecking order. A similar difference can be observed in the Netherlands and Belgium. Sights that terrify Polish urbanites, like street camera footage of a naked foreign tourist strutting on the main square of Wroclaw, an event that once made headlines, would leave most Dutch people unimpressed. In the Netherlands, a drunken man urinating in the middle of the street is not likely to raise eyebrows.
