Społeczna percepcja przestrzeni w mieście o wielokulturowej przeszłości. Przykład Białegostoku

Abstract

Social perception of urban space is one of the elements that shape the identity of the city dwellers. In culturally heterogeneous cities, such as Bialystok, each group may have different or even contradictory attitudes toward the urban space. The purpose of this paper is to examine how this space is seen by Bialystok inhabitants and what are the interpretations of the historical center in the official memory of local authorities as well as in the memories of individuals and various communities of memory. The analyzed data indicate differences in social perception of urban space in various ethnic, cultural and political groups. These differences suggest that the city center can be symbolically divided into two qualitatively different spaces, one of which, better known and prestigious, is associated with the past of the dominant Polish-Catholic group, while the other is the space less recognized and valued, which implies the past of other cultures. At the borderline of these two spaces, several conflicts over space occurred in recent years. The results suggest that Bialystok lacks a coherent perception of space and intergroup conflicts over space may be repeated in the future.