Szymon Noglaski

Miejska Pracownia Urbanistyczna w Łodzi / Municipal Planning Office of Lodz

Patterns of consumption – experience + shopping
Perfect marriage for post-industrial city tourism –
study of Manufaktura, Lodz

Key words: experience economy, malls, experience spaces,

urbanism, brandscape, shopping

Abstract: The dawn of 20th century saw a rapid growth of new

approach to tourism, its impact on national economies and possibilities
of incorporation leisure and experience into large scale profit-making
process. The shift in Western economies – from production to services,
eventually led to another change: towards creative services. It was the
time, when the term ‘experience economy’ was coined. Post-
communist countries enjoy this pattern as well.
The post-industrial ‘experience shift’ found new tourist attractions
outside of predictable – to the point – heritage: industrial structures,
machinery and processes became now components of tourism arsenal,
considered as valuable and nostalgic as medieval old towns, alongside
with retail, entertainment and hospitality facilities.

City’s identity has been a topic of debate in past 20 years, as Lodz had
to change its economic structure in early 1990s. Lodz is a shrinking
metropolis, once a national center of textile industry, nicknamed
‘Polish Manchester’. Lodz’s transition to service-based economy
caused hardship and effected in present difficulties. The fall of textile
industry caused abandoning of factories and loss of identity matrix.
Manufaktura was constructed on a site of unused 19th factory complex,
one of the largest in the city; located in the historic center. Preserved
buildings were redeveloped to house new uses (retail, leisure, culture
and accommodation); while new structure houses a shopping mall. The
extensive theming was used to brand the development as a
continuation of industrial traditions, mainly aimed at Lodz inhabitants.
However, Manufaktura quickly became a target for local and national
tourism. The mix of attractions offered by the complex resulted in a
consumption-led tourist experience – both for people from Lodz and
incoming visitors.

The article studies particular design issues related to Manufaktura’s

functioning and their impact on the city - as a tourist attraction and
important public space in Lodz’s city center.
1. Planning – relation to surroundings, program, urban spaces;
2. Architecture – quotes, use of heritage, role of architecture in
identity building
 3. Theme and brand – in the context of tourism and life in Lodz

Manufaktura, an example of ‘generated heritage’, contributes to the

city image as well as to the patterns of consumption and living in Lodz.
The development generated a need for new way of spending time; it
was a catalyst for ‘experience economy’ era in the city and, despite
critical comments, became a reference point for Lodz’s identity
direction. The article points at various examples of project’s impact
and shows Manufaktura’s incorporation into Lodz’s self-portrait.

EXPERIENCE ECONOMY
According to Pine and Gilmore the development of civilization reached
its ultimate phase in experience economy, which enables extracting
maximum value from the product. As Anne Lorentzen rephrases Pine
and Gilmore:
‘The agrarian economy offered raw materials hor annonymous market,
while the industrial economy offered manufactured standard goods to
the users. The service economy offers customized services to clients,
while the experience economy offers personal experiences to the
guests and customers’.
Experience economy bases on creating individual bonds between
consumers and products. Experience plays a supportive role –
enhancing the emotional relation between products and consumers or
being a product in itself, to be enjoyed. While the second type of
experiences has been known to humanity since the dawn of
civilization, using experience to attach to products has not been used
on such scale before. Even mundane tasks – such as grocery shopping
or dry-cleaning – have now become subject to careful, conscious
decision undertaken by individuals. Entertaining factor smoothly
becomes an obligatory part of non-leisurely activities and new
consumer culture appeals to pleasing buyers’ senses, creating a
‘unique’ feeling about buying, owning, taking part, using.
Lorentzen claims smaller, peripheral cities which, compared to
metropolises, have smaller potential for attracting knowledge-based
business see experience-related economy as a way to attract
investments, create a brand for them. Her analysis is based on
medium-sized cities in Denmark, a country with capital-dominated
urban network and elaborate service and knowledge-based economy,
based on diversified resources.
In that respect situation of Poland is, however, slightly different.
Metropolitan areas, in terms of European competitiveness, are still
rather weak, but their position to country’s capital, Warsaw, is much
stronger than Danish cities to Copenhagen. Many of them seem to be
concentrating on services as a base for economic activity and their
identities are in process of construction. Some already explore
potential in knowledge-based industry. According to Lorentzen, there is
a correlation between levels of purchase power, relative wealth of
people, and importance of leisure in the economical composition of
metropolis.
There are cases of metropolitan areas which, despite their attempts
and characteristics, fail to attract adequate high-end businesses and,
thus, plummet on the competitiveness ladder. Lodz is definitely an
example here: it is a large city (753.200 inhabitants), which formed a
metropolitan area around it. It is a strong academic center (122.700
students) and an important administrative center. The city was a
national center for textile industry since mid-nineteenth century, which
was put to a sudden end with the shift Poland made to free market
economy. Despite its specialized character, Lodz does not attract
desired amount of high-end investments (even those partially related
to textiles), designated as key economical branches in the local
planning documents:

While industrial economy heavily influenced functional aspects of the

city – vast infrastructure related to production and transport of goods,
service economy concentrates more on mobility of those providing
services, circulation of ‘human capital’. Experience
Experience economy – due to its inherent nature – requires quality of
place rather than heavy infrastructure.
Obviously, the fall of industrial era left cities fragmented, with industry-
oriented infrastructure and model of functioning and planning.

b
The article studies particular design issues related to Manufaktura’s
functioning and their impact on the city - as a tourist attraction and
important public space in Lodz’s city center.
 4. Planning – relation to surroundings, program, urban spaces;
5. Architecture – quotes, use of heritage, role of architecture in
identity building
6. Theme and brand – in the context of tourism and life in Lodz

Researchers on experience economy and experiential spaces,

brandscapes
a. Cities in experience economy (Anne Lorentzen), Consumer City
Since decades cities have been struck with fragmentation, job loss in
conventional industry, identity hardships and planning challenges
related to these processes. Many cities in Europe decided to shift their
income source to tourism, culture and creativity.
b. Contemporary retail space (Jon Goss)

Manufaktura, an example of ‘generated heritage’, contributes to the

city image as well as patterns of consumption and living in Lodz. The
development generated a need for new way of spending time; it was a
catalyst for ‘experience economy’ era in the city and, despite critical
comments, became a reference point for Lodz’s identity direction. The
article points at various examples of project’s impact and shows
Manufaktura’s incorporation into Lodz’s self-portrait.

1. Introduction
a. City of Lodz - short introduction
Lodz is a city with rather short and eruptive history. Although it was
founded in late 14th century, the city has been a small market town
until early nineteenth century. In 1821, the Polish Parliament (under
Russian supervision) included Lodz among industrial towns, with
emphasis on textile production. This initiative became a catalyst of
rapid industrialization. The new borough was marked out, and
effectively since 1823, Prussian weaver settlers started arriving,
receiving incentives from the government authorities to establish their
workshops in New Town. Quickly, another new district was laid out
(Łódka) - designated for industrial production, and subsequent influx of
people shaped the growth of modern, industrial city.
1820 - 767
1830 - 4343
1843 - 15.764
1857 - 39.420
1865 - 40.121
1877 - 51.385
1885 - 108.450
1892 - 168.512
1900 - 283.206
1905 - 343.944
1914 - 477.862
Lodz became an attractive location for wool and cotton mills and
textile factories, constructing its economy primarily on these branches
of industry. The city became major producer of textiles in the Russian
Empire, contributing to ….% of the overall production in years…… This
'textile cluster’ was an arena for most aggressive and expansive
capitalist success.
Its social structure was – from the beginning – based on a large
number of uneducated workers compared with a small number of
wealthy factory owners. The great inequalities and lack of ‘bourgeois
tradition’ effected in a utilitarian, pragmatic approach of Lodz’s
inhabitants to their city. Public spaces were outcome of industrial
driving forces. In a quickly growing industrial metropolis, there was no
place, no concept for manifesting civic pride. This approach will
influence Lodz’s case till present day.
Rebirth of Polish state in 1918 strengthened the role of Lodz in
the country, despite slow decline of its monofunctional economy. The
city became a regional center and a administrative capital of
voivodship, its social structure was enriched by a class of clerks.
Ambitious plans for public works (underground, new railway hubs,
airport) were created, but seldom realized.
During the war, Lodz lost

b. The fall of communism

c. Lodz after economic transition

The dawn of 20th century saw a rapid growth of new approach to

tourism, its impact on national economies and possibilities of
incorporation leisure and experience into large scale profit-making
process. The shift in Western economies – from production to services,
eventually led to another change: towards creative services. It was the
time, when the term ‘experience economy’ was coined. Post-
communist countries enjoy this pattern as well.
The post-industrial ‘experience shift’ found new tourist
attractions outside of predictable – to the point – heritage: industrial
structures, machinery and processes became now components of
tourism arsenal, considered as valuable and nostalgic as medieval old
towns.
Lodz’s identity has been a topic of debate in past 20 years, as
the city had to change its economic structure in early 1990s. Lodz, a
shrinking metropolis, is experiencing a number of structural problems –
aging population, extensive derelict historic urban tissue, low median
income and GDP (compared to other Polish cities), negative migration
ratio, relative high structural unemployment. Once a national center of
textile industry, nicknamed ‘Polish Manchester’, Lodz’s transition to
service-based economy caused hardship and effected in present
difficulties. The fall of textile industry effected in abandoning of
factories and loss of identity matrix.
Manufaktura was constructed on a site of unused 19th factory
complex, one of the largest in the city; located in the historic center of
the city. Preserved buildings were redeveloped to house new uses
(retail, leisure, culture and accommodation); while the shopping mall is
located in a new structure. The extensive theming was used to brand
the development as a continuation of place’s industrial traditions,
mainly aimed to attract Lodz’s inhabitants. However, Manufaktura
quickly became a target for local and national tourism. The mix of
attractions offered by the complex results in a consumption-led tourist
experience. Manufaktura became a landmark in Lodz – for locals and
tourists alike.
d. Look for new identity

e. Decline of public space

f. Manufaktura – towards a new quality public space in the

city

The study of Manufaktura is conducted in the light of an iconic article

by John Goss – ‘The Magic of the mall’. Despite the fact this study is
quite old – it was first published in _____, it bears important
characteristics that can be applied to the design of generated public
spaces that eventually emerged out of malls.

c. Brand, brandscape in city identity, brand influencing city brand, city

image

g. Planning – relation to surroundings, program, urban

spaces;
h. Architecture – quotes, use of heritage, role of architecture
in identity building
i. Theme and brand – in the context of tourism and life in
Lodz
2. Conclusions

Average reading speed: 130 wpm

Bibliography:

On Lodz and Manufaktura

On experience economy

On shopping malls

On other issues

Mattias Kaerrholm
Fun city

Jorge Otero-Pailos: ‘Bigness’ in context: some regressive tendencies in

Rem Koolhaas’ urban theory
Marc Auge: Non-places – introduction to an anthropology of
supermodernity
Mattias Karrholm: To the rhythm of shopping – on symchronisation in
urban landscapes of consumption
Matthew Gandy: Cyborg urbanization: Complexity and monstrosity in
the Contemporary City
Victor Gruen
Abraham Akkerman: Urban Void and the Deconstruction of Neo-
Platonic City-Form
Claus Lassen, Carla Smink, Soren Smidt-Jensen: Experience Spaces,
(Aero)mobilities and Environmental Impacts