Katowice: Transformation of Mining Town into Modern City

Katowice is a small city of about 300,000 people in South Poland’s Silesian Voivodeship or province. It was the first time that a city in Central and Eastern Europe hosted the World Urban Forum. Katowice successfully hosted the 11th World Urban Forum from June 26-30 this year. The city, which was once famous for having several coal mines and manufacturing units of mining equipment, has transformed itself into a cultural and technology city. The city is famous for hosting international sports, cultural, business, and political events in its famous Strefa Kultury (Zone of Culture). The city has a lot to offer to tourists from well-known museums, the central square, concerts halls, heritage district, lush green parks, and forests to restaurants, offering regional and international cuisines, spread all over the city. Abhishek Pandey takes you on a walk through the streets and lanes of the city to tell you the story of modern Katowice

Katowice has evolved as a modern and cultural city in the last two decades. Earlier known for coal mines and related industrial businesses, the city has undergone a remarkable change since the mining stopped in the late 90s. It is difficult to apprehend now that coal mining thrived at the very same place just twenty-odd years ago. The city has emerged as a modern city and a hub of cultural activities from a mining and industrial city.
Katowice, the host city of the 11th World Urban Forum, is incidentally the 11th most populous city in Poland. The city is the capital of the Silesian Voivodeship or Province in the Upper Silesia region. It is at the center of the Katowice Metropolitan Area in Silesia. The city is managed by a City Mayor locally called Prezydent Miasta (literally meaning City President). The present mayor of the city is Marcin Krupa.

Strefa Kultury (Zone of Culture)

Strefa Kultury is one of the symbols of the transformation of Katowice City into the hub of culture and international events. The area has four main parts—a museum (Silesia Museum), a concert hall (NOSPR), a congress center (ICC), and an entertainment sports arena (Spodek).
The Zone of Culture (known locally as Strefa Kultury) in Katowice hosts many international conferences, sports, business, political and cultural events. It is five-minute walking distance from the Main Square so it makes it accessible for international visitors to reach there easily using public transport options i.e. trains, trams, and buses. The city is walkable so you can reach the Zone of Culture walking if you are living near its central square. Since a majority of hotels are nearby, I saw a lot of people walking from their hotels to the venue of the 11th WUF—Spodek Arena. It was notable that the organizers made sure that the venue was accessible to all. Executive Director Maimunah Mohd Sharif mentioned in her inaugural speech that it was the first WUF that was universally accessible and inclusive.
The Zone of Culture has International Congress Arena with the Spodek Arena turns out to be the biggest conference center in Poland with over 35 conference rooms of varied sizes. The biggest of them has a sitting capacity of 12,000 people. The Spodek Arena is a modern entertainment-sports arena where 11,000 people can sit in stands. The inaugural ceremony of WUF was held here. The zone also has the National Symphonic Orchestra of Polish Radio (NOSPR) which is one of the best concert halls in Central Europe.

Press Tour

The Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy of Poland, the City of Katowice, and UN-Habitat jointly organized a press tour for journalists attending the 11th WUF.
The press tour began with a short trip to the Silesian Museum which is in itself a unique site. It is situated on the grounds of a former coal mine and you go underground for seeing most of the exhibitions which tell historical stories of the Silesia region, Poland, and their connection with world affairs. Though, the museum was first established in 1929. It was closed at the outbreak of World War II and re-established in the mid-80s. The new building was inaugurated in 2015. The museum has the Gallery of Non-Professional Art which has the artworks of the miners who had panted their lives inside and outside coal mines. There is another gallery The Light of History: upper Silesia Over the Ages. This gallery presents the history of the Silesia region, and the lives of people in the past until the breakthrough in 1989 when Poland became a fully independent nation.
The new building of the ‘Muzeum Slaskie’ complex also has an Observation Tower, located 40 meters above the ground, which offers views of the entire Culture Zone and the city skyline. The former Warszawa II shaft, which was used earlier to take miners underground for mining activities, has been refurbished for providing visitors with a skyline view.
Katowice is also known for preserving its heritage well. The next stop of the Press Tour was Nikiszowiec District. It is a heritage housing settlement, which was built in the late 19th and early 20th century, where over 1100 mining workers lived in decent living conditions in the backyards of their place of employment, the large smoke-churning Wieczorek coal mine run by a Silesian Mining Corporation George von Giesches Erben. The housing complex is still in its original form. The red brick buildings with red coloured framed windows look aesthetically appealing and ancient at the same time. The housing complex was self-sufficient and had a church, school, hospital, public bath, playground, public laundry, shops, and bakeries within the complex. The narrow streets joining these blocks and facilities have beautiful arcades.
The settlement has six four-sided three-story building blocks with inner courtyards. The courtyards were earlier used as community cattle sheds. Now, these are used as community parks. The housing was designed by the architects Georg (1871-1958) and Emil (1870-1937) Zillmann from Charlottenburg. The housing complex is a good example of how a public housing complex should be. The city was way ahead of its time by having housing provisions for mining workers. Many cities do not have such elaborated and decent housing facilities event now. According to an officer of the City Hall of Katowice Krzysztof Smetkiewicz and our Tour Guide, Nikiszowiec has designated a national historical monument in 2011.

City of Music

The city has traveled long from being a city of heavy industries to a city of creative industries. In 2015, the city was honored with the title of UNESCO City of Music. According to an article published by UNESCO, the city gives grants of over 45 million Euros every year for promoting creative economy, especially focusing on the renovation of cultural spaces, largely dedicated to the music industry. The city has a rich legacy of amateur choirs and orchestras from diverse genres ranging from rock, jazz, electronic, rap, and baroque. More than 25 musical festivals are organized in the city. Out of these, three major world-renowned musical events—OFF, Tauron, and Rawa— contributes over 2.7 million euro to the local economy. It shows that cities can reinvent themselves, and fuel their economy from unconventional sources by making informed choices based on their strengths.
The organizers of the WUF had planned a musical evening for the delegates. An Orchestra show for the delegates at NOSPR was organized. It was a delightful experience to listen to the musical presentation of renowned Polish musicians. The NOSPR concert has excellent acoustic, state-of-the-art design, and comfortable sitting for over 1800 people. It is to be noted that when the NOSPR was built, it was criticized that the government is spending a huge amount of money on the leisure of the elite. However, later it was found baseless as it is one of the happening concert halls and used by all.

Cuisines and Culture

What is a city without its local delicacies! You have a lot many options to devour. Restaurants, pubs, and bars offer a variety of regional Silesian delicacies and international cuisines. If you are in the City Centre, you can gorge on delicious Polish food at Aioli Café which is right in the center. It offers some delicious food items, beers, and cocktails. There are international food outlets like available in every big city but if you love to try local food items, there are many options on Mariacka sw. Jana, Warszawska, Stawowa, Wawelska and Staromiejska streets. Some of the local cuisines that you must try are Silesian potato dumplings, sour soup, Burrata Cheese Pizza, Lemon Spasza, and a lot more. After you are done with your dinner, you can consider enjoying dance performances by local youth on the beats of Polish and English songs. You can join them too. Couples, friends, and knowns and unknowns join the dance. Some people lie down on recliners on an artificial water stream or dip their feet in the stream sitting on the sides.
In the end, the city is walkers’ paradise. The city is safe to walk to even at late night. The streets are walkable. You get public transport at night too. Police officers are found patrolling the streets. I am not sure if it was because of the International Conference in the city or if they usually do. Policemen are courteous and ready to help. Data also suggests that city is safe. There are hardly any cases of mugging, looting, or any other violent crimes. The city offers a lot of learning for many small and intermediary cities of India. Indian cities have a large population but smaller cities can develop a similar model based on their strengths. Of course, finance could be an issue of concern but as the famous proverb goes, seek, and ye (you) shall find.