Contemporary revitalization of public spaces in Łódź. The role of squares, streets and courtyards in creating the genius loci based on the historical heritage

The city of Lodz (Łódź), despite its medieval origins (1423), is a young city. It was established as an important industrial center in the 19th century. In the 20th century it was the second largest city in Poland. The unusual and unique in Poland, "American" plan of the city (one main street and districts developing around the factories) resulted in a lack of city squares and a small amount of public space. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Lodz has been trying to create common spaces. Unfortunately, after the systemic transformation of 1989 and in connection with the economic crisis of the 1990s, they underwent far-reaching degradation. Nowadays they are undergoing a revitalization process. There are many competitions and projects concerning both the rehabilitation of existing city squares and the creation of new ones. However, the term "city square" has largely lost its original, traditional meaning and the name "square" now covers a variety of open spaces - pedestrian streets, courtyards.  We propose to pay attention to a few selected, diverse examples of municipal and private investments like squares, streets, parks. Despite the positive reception of the changes made and the "renewal" of the city the process is criticized by many specialists and considered controversial. The presentation is an attempt to analyze these solutions in terms of urban planning, city landscape and ecology. And also whether such solutions can be considered modern and adequate to the requirements of planning in the 21st century