ABSTRACT
The paper is devoted to Łódź—a city in central Poland. Its aim is to present the historical conditions of the city's development and conduct an analysis of the socio-economic transformations following the fall of communism. Łódź became a textile industry city in 1823 and towards the end of the 19th century, it was already populated by over 300,000 inhabitants. Before 1989, Łódź had been developing based on textile production and related industries. In 1989, communism in Poland fell, which brought profound socio-economic transformations. The bonds between the countries of the Eastern bloc loosened and the import of textile goods produced in Łódź stopped. Socio-economic transformations resulted in the decline of textile manufacturing. Industrial decline, combined with depopulation, made Łódź the fastest-shrinking Polish big city. In the 2000s, new branches of industry and services started to develop, among others due to Poland joining the European Union, favourable location, industrial traditions, low prices of land and commercial spaces. The chapter presents stages in the development of the city. The author discusses contemporary problems of Łódź, related to the socio-economic transformation after the fall of communism in 1989, as well as indicates the opportunities and directions of further development.
