Changing the perception of the post-socialist city: Place promotion and imagery in Lodz, Poland

Little is known about changing attitudes to place in post-socialist East and Central Europe (ECE), but place promotion as a key element of local economic development strategy is increasingly being adopted there. Given that place promotion has attracted criticism it is important to evaluate its use in the post-socialist context. This paper presents a description and evaluation of place promotion in Lodz, Poland. It outlines the problems faced by the city, including its poor image, and the organizations, promotional strategies and imagery which have been developed in response. Place promotion is then evaluated in terms of the ability of the organizations involved to produce a coherent strategy and the suitability of the imagery produced. The paper demonstrates that there are attempts to change the image of Lodz both internally and internationally. However, problems with political collaboration, strategic objectives and the imagery used suggest that a review of whether current place promotion activities are appropriate should be undertaken.