“Ł. City has the advantage that indifference here is not hostile – it is merely resigned.” Urban Revitalization Policy in Łódź and the Individual in Postmodern Space in Tomasz Piątek’s Novel Miasto Ł.

Abstract

Łódź is a city most vividly immortalized in 20th-century literature, primarily through the works of Reymont. Consequently, the literary image of Łódź is often associated with its industrial era. My aim was to reveal a portrayal of both modern-day Łódź, facing challenges in administrative functionality, and its residents, who are shaped on one hand by the city administration’s revitalization plans and, on the other, by a postmodern reality characterized by relativism and pragmatism. This work seeks to present Tomasz Piątek’s perspectives on the city administration’s revitalization policies, as well as to outline the broader social issues in the context of these actions. Additionally, I interpret the philosophical thread of human struggle within a reality overshadowed by axiological relativism, where the narrator searches for concepts such as the “Absolute” and “God.”