Tomasz Achrem, Marek Bańczyk, Metropolia Magazine, 12.12.2006

We find ourselves exposed to a word rarely used before – metropolis. It has some positive emotional payload that many refer to, because it's worth referring to. We are not museum employees dusting pieces that no one is interested in, but curators of future ideas. Anyway, there is no use in quoting the definition. To forge your own – that's what is useful!

We find ourselves exposed to a word rarely used before – metropolis. Candidates for Mayor of big cities use it in their programmes, be it Maria Pasło-Wiśniewska's „Poznań 2010. Metropolitan strategy.” or Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz's „Warsaw – european metropolis”. The Ministry of Economy ordered an expertise „Conditioning and development chances of polish metropolises”. Plans are made to even build a mall named Metropolis in our city. Thus, the name has a positive emotional payload that many refer to, for the sake of it being worth referring to.

We could start from the etymology of the term. We could say that it derives from greek, where μητρόπολις = metropólis, which means „capitol, chief city of a colony”, from μήτηρ = méter "mother" + πόλις = pólis „city”. We could give a whole history outline, eperts’ opinions. But what for? We're not interested in it. We're interested in here and now, the present. What does metropolis stand for now. We're interested in the future. What will metropolis stand for tomorrow. We're not museum employees, dusting pieces that no one holds interest in, but curators of future ideas. Anyway, there is no use in quoting the definition. To forge your own – that's what is useful!

Metropolis stands for a multitude of needs. Some say that there are people working round the clock. We all know a couple of those. In rare moments of free time they long for a cottage near the woods, with pleasant pastures around. Yet just after a weekend at the climbing wall, or just two gems of squash, they thank themselves for living at the heart of a big city. Besides, living in cottage at the woods has billions of advantages. As long as the both woods and the said cottage are located in the suburb of a metropolis, that is. Cause what does happen in a big city? What makes a metropolis? It is the place where the life of the modern world is lived. This is where the revitalizing ferment takes place. Where opinions are exchanged and lifestyles clash. And, above all, where you can work creatively, being involved in matters more interesting than selling livestock. Here you are being better paid for your work. In a small provincial city there are no white-collar workers – in metropolis there are legions of them. Good pay translates into lots of possibilities. This is why the free time industry works here. Metropolis is flourishing with clubs, restaurants, galleries, cinemas, theaters, operas. Metropolis is a place where you have “places to go”, where there is „something to do”. In metropolis you're not bothered by the conviction that nothing is going to change 'till the day that you die, that you'll keep taking the same tram to the same office each day. We prefer metropolis, because it's dynamic, 'cause things get done here, 'cause you'll get things done. Here even the most niche business will find its place. New ideas sprout in metropolis and, just like on the Tibetan Mali beads, flow through the metroweb – from one metropolis to another. It is after some time, once it passed through the meat grinder, sweetened and smoothed, they find their way out of the metroweb to the province. What was worn in London the day before, will be worn in Warsaw by the stars, and those dancing with them.

Metropolis is the multitude of people. Punks and Alla Pugachova's fans. Newcomers from Saigon and Swindon. Businessmen and bums. Squatters and AIESEC members. Loyal visitors of art galleries and loyal visitors of shopping malls. Metropolis gets them all. It gets those from another county, looking for a better school. It gets those from another province, looking for a better university. It gets those from across the country, looking for a better job. It gets tourists from the far ends of Europe. It gets corporations from the other side of the globe to open new branches here. Even in Zurich, which one could call hermetic and dull, it's not hard to meet different people. Just like in a United Colors of Benetton ad – short and tall ones, black, yellow and white people. And it's not just about the race. Free flow of basically everything as well as vacancies is not just a toy for those political asylum seekers. In Geneva you can meet a Pole, a Basque, a Frenchman and a Scot. Swiss in all shapes and sizes as well. Lisbon, on the other hand, has many shades of brown and black. There one can meet Angolans, AfroPortugalese, Mozambicans, Brazilians and many other interesting mixes. You can meet slackers and dedicated experts of different age. The smart and the dim. Probability tells that you'll meet some of them sooner or later, whether you like it or not. At first at school, then at work. You meet them as life in general goes by. Somebody will hand you the keys you've dropped. Somebody will mess up addresses and come knocking at your door. You'll meet somebody after having a fender-bender. In a small, closed community it all also happens, but you're handed your keys or are mistakenly called by more or less the same people who laugh and swear in the same way. In the metropolis the number of types of people with which you will meet, if only for a brief moment, or perhaps for a number of years, is far greater. Because of that from the first moments of your childhood you're learning how to understand others’ arguments, and how to defend your opinion. You gain a wide array of experiences. In an autarkical city, where everybody is identical, theoretically you can accumulate substantial riches. In metropolis you're not always living on a higher level, but you live a life that's for sure more interesting. You're more 'You'. And you're ready to act in new situations, while taken by surprise. Your neurons are constantly treated with something new and just tend to work better.

And what about Poznan? Are its academic functions spreading beyond the borders of locality?

Over one hundred thousand people are studying in Poznan, but nearly all aren't foreigners. We are not encouraging Ukrainians, Germans, Lithuanians, Russians, Austrians or Hungarians to tie themselves to Poznan. Wroclaw made the first step - December 2006 it starts an advertising campaign in western Ukraine. In cooperation with polytechnic institutes and biggest employers they will be encouraging Ukrainian students to learn and live in Lower Silesia. Are we using such chances?

Metropolis is the multitude of lifestyles. Here nobody is surprised by an oddball. Metropolis is the multitude of architectonic styles. A pseudo-historical cupboard can stand right next to a modern jewel, and nobody feels the urge to bomb it into oblivion. There are multitudes of martial arts that can be mastered under many senseis. Copenhagen has its architecture and interiors. The royal dignity and the sharp, black diamond of the present. A youth hostel designed in such a manner, that it is a magnet for hordes of tourists. What would it be if Philippe Starck were the head of the Polish Tourism Association?

One of the first things that strike you after arriving at, let's say, Canberra are various new scents and tastes. Lebanese mutton, Indonesian rice paste, Turkish kebabs, and kangaroo steaks. And let’s not forget the scents: Indian incense, sandalwood and Christian Dior. Burned crust from street grills and air conditioning in banks. Metropolis has a taste, a taste and a scent, of many different kinds. It's not only about food fads. It's also about food for thought. In metropolis thoughtfood stands are almost as common as kebab shacks. Let us consider Düsseldorf. It may be Rhine-Ruhr Region. It may be highly industrial, yet its modern art galleries, K20 and K21, are amongst the finest in the world. You just can't be bored, even if you're not a fan of this type of entertainment. In Copenhagen we can choose from the best theaters, museums and a world-class amusement park. In Helsinki there is Kiasma, the new art temple, and an interest in uncommon music. A fledgling rapper might say that it's tha taste, tha colors n'so, tha rhytm dat's hittin' y'all. Robbie Burns could have said that it's one of rare schemes that won't gang agley. The fruits of metropolitan cultural and ethnic mix are unique, pure and fresh. And ripe for the taking, just pick it and savor. We could add religious diversity to that, but we won't. Architecture is covered at some other point, and we won't bother God with our contemplations.

Critical mass and elementary particles

Having fed our senses and other, more complex needs, we often lose ourselves to apathy. The only cure for it is to find and engage in some new thrilling idea. Everybody has to come through it sooner or later. At that point we seek anything, just to feel needed, to find a meaning. Human beings have the need to get high on the idealistic drug. Sometimes it is voluntary work, some kind of humanitarian rally or action, all it boils down to is simply doing-something-that-feels-right. Does metropolis help with it? After the fusion of Lech and Amica, which de facto marked the end of the latter, sport observes, even those not really biased in our favor, were happy that football comes back to big cities. At this point, the stubborn neurons might have backfired and we could ask: why? Why the 'great sport' has to be in biggest cities? Not only sport, what about science? Why can't we open a university in, let's say, Chichester? Or in Painswick? There is no data that football players from the countryside are worse than their metropolitan counterparts. The same with intelligence – people from villages aren't less intelligent than people from the city. So why isn't it all the same for us? Shouldn't we be supporting Chichester University and Painswick Institute? Just to even things out? Shouldn't we be protecting all the Amicas from all the Lechs out there?

The answer is: no. Why? Because of neutron flux, that’s why. The reasoning is strictly nuclear. There is no small atom bomb. Either you have two pounds of uranium and there is chain reaction, or you don't and there is no chain reaction at all. It’s not about 'to little' or 'not enough'. It just won't go off. This is a universal mechanism – if the critical mass hasn’t been reached, stuff just won't happen. Such institutions like universities or football clubs need geniuses from time to time. In small cities the chance of finding one is just too small. If a genius is born out of every 10000, then the reasoning is simple: the more people we have the better. But it's not just that, 'cause if it is, then the biggest cities would be winning everything, which is not true. The key is in the metropolis' ability to act like a magnet for ideas. It changes their flow, and it’s not just about their carriers, human beings. Ideas can come from people who are living far from the metropolis, but keep in touch with it for some reason. Intensive exchange with the environment, which is the flow of people going in and out, makes up for lack of citizens for smaller metropolises. And besides that, diversity helps – the higher differences between lifestyles, the higher the chance of coming up with a great idea. That's why metropolises are the source of world progress. That's why great civilizations are often associated with great cities. With the exception of Egypt, which erected great necropolises we know from postcards instead, in what can be considered the black metal way of urban development planning. Anyway, that is the reason why research companies rarely locate themselves in villages, even though it would guarantee peace and quiet necessary to concentrate. Only in a big enough melting pot of ideas a truly great one can be brought up, ripen, and truly start to shine. Rivalry, that's what you need. Survival of the fittest. To provide it, you need a metropolis. After all, Erasmus was from Rotterdam, and Alfred Nobel, the dynamite guy, was from Oslo.

Enclosed centers form a vicious circle - they feed upon themselves, isolating themselves even more. That's why not losing the chance to become a metropolis when the city's future isn't a foregone conclusion is so important. If you do blow it, then it's just the beauty of positive feedback mechanism – the more something happens, the more something happens. The worse the situation, the harder to develop it is, therefore situation gets worse. People move from the city because of lack of options, and there will be no new ones, because people moved. Companies leave the city, so other ones don't move in, and the infrastructure that thrived on supporting them has to fall. And it does. And the opposite is equally true – the better the situation is, the easier it is to be develop, to grow, to invest. Success acts like an invitation for new people, corporate branches, companies, institutions, and so on. It's worth fighting for.

Ok, but even if metropolis' are growing faster, so what? Why the hell would the city grow anyway? Does it have to? An eccentric STD collector known as Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was keen on laughing at the trend of stitching the term 'development' to various phenomena. He saw it as an anthropomorphism. Does the fact that people are born as wriggly, wrinkled little pink infants, and then grow to the size of, let's say, Wladimir Klitschko has to mean that cities have to do the same thing? Well, maybe they don't. The point is that people are prone to subconsciously link themselves to such urban development mechanisms.

Let's make an overlay of all the defining metropolitan features we have just outlined, one on another. Those different scents, tastes, colors, fragrances, hustle and bustle, lifestyles, architectonic styles, interiors, forms, ideas. It all forms a complex multidimensional space. This space is composed out of an almost infinite number of points, where each point is a way of honing, enriching and developing one’s true self. Just like in Michel Houellebecq's „The Elementary Particles”. Only when applied to such an image the term „freedom” starts to make sense. One is truly free only if able to become whoever you might want to become in a given time. Metropolis, of course, can't guarantee that, but it gives you a better chance of succeeding. Even if the number of possible options is far beyond our processing ability, we still want them. Economics has proven the existence of so called 'option values'. We want to visit a city with a hundred possible attractions, not just ten, even if we have time to check out only five of them. We pack our bags full to the brim with clothes, not just with the minimum amount of clothing we will need for a four day travel. We want alternatives, options. Metropolis is a step towards a world full of alternatives. Bear in mind what can happen to Bloom in just one part of Dublin. And there are dozens of such parts, and not even Joyce knows what do they hide.

The Metroweb and the fetish of power

It's truly a shame, that all that's beautiful is a thing of metropolises. Megalopolises like São Paulo, where skyscrapers are filling the horizon. In Poland we won't sound ridiculous calling Warsaw a metropolis. Maybe it’s a bit shoddy, with a few traces of the gentle soviet touch, but nobody will question it being a metropolis. Yet, it was a success at the expense of metropolitan aspirations of other cities – Poznan, Cracow and Wroclaw being prime examples. Countries grow and develop through great cities. Regions need strong capitals. Poland could have had six metropolises as for today, maybe even eight. Most of county capitals won't become one, because they aren't able to compete on the international level. Cracow, Wroclaw and Poznan are into such competition. Yet they are severely handicapped, 'cause the administration reform was pulled off mostly at their expense. Poland was reformed under the banners of decentralization, but in fact almost all metropolitan features were moved to Warsaw. We could see how Poznan's, Cracow's or Gdansk's airports were marginalized in favour of Warsaw's Okecie airport and the „national airlines”. Nationwide media are moving to Warsaw. „Wprost” ran away from Poznan, „Przekroj” moved away from Cracow. Local media are dwindling. This Byzantine scheme is best visible when compared to Germany. Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne have metropolitan functions complementary to those of Berlin. Two most popular daily newspapers are from Frankfurt („Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”) and Munich („Süddeutsche Zeitung”). The popular TV station RTL broadcasts from Cologne. The Constitutional Tribunal is located in Karlsruhe, and the reserve bank is located in Frankfurt. Important trade centres are Hanover, Düsseldorf, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and after that – Berlin. In Poland we have Warsaw, and then there is long silence, with an occasional tumbleweed sweeping through the screen. Main government facilities are located in Constanti... oh, sorry, Warsaw. Big companies locate themselves in Warsaw, because only there they can „get things done”. What the media doesn't show, doesn't exist. And media are located almost exclusively in Warsaw. What happens in the capital is important. There is an in-depth coverage of Warsaw's mayor elections, where more interesting campaign in Poznan is ignored. It's amazing that the „Press” magazine which monitors polish media is still located in the capital of Great Poland.

Majority of budgets of Polish towns are subsidies – the centralized country is still wary of local governments. Rather than just leave them more money from taxes, it takes it all away, and then kindly distributes it al around. If a factory is located in Lódz, for example, and the company president and accountants in Warsaw, then Warsaw earns their taxes. It'd be a good idea to let the local government get its share in excise tax and VAT. Where there is consumption, there the money will stay. Such a model is successful in Spain. Cities like Barcelona, Valencia or Bilbao are prime examples of development. Of course there will still be the International Fair in Poznan, Cracow will still be the cultural and tourism center, and there will be a port in Gdansk, as well. Thanks to excellent economic results, the fast growth of its industry, and the Poznan International Fair, the city is often called the economic capital of Poland. Yet, it all is based on an archaic base – with industry being dominant, rather than the services.

Speaking of which – why not? Is it that Poznan wasn't, isn't, and possibly won't ever be a metropolis? We'll defiantly stand our ground, and prove to anybody willing, that on the contray: it was, is, and will be. Poznan WAS a metropolis. It was here that Mieszko I was baptized, and the city became his capital. Here in 968 Jordan, the first bishop of Poland, founded his seat. It was also the seat of Premysl II, who revived the Kingdom of Poland. It was one of royal residences of the Prussian rulers. After World War I there were over 480 restaurants and hotels in Poznan. It was, as the poet said, a city of brothels, bars and cabarets. Unfortunately, the communism era had hurt the city real bad, and Warsaw's policy immediately following it have done no less wrong. Poznan IS a metropolis. A metropolis in the making, but still. Our magazine is a proof to that. Especially if you're browsing it while sipping a coctail in Coffee'llya, listening to Luomo in SQ Club, or while downing a freshly brewed beer at Brovaria. But seriously – Poznan fulfills many functions that go beyond regional boundaries, as a centre to trade, industry, science, learning, culture, and as a communication nexus on top of that. Our city is the only one in Poland with a proper suburban area, diversified in its functions and, what's really important, on par with the city regarding wealth. Poznan and its suburbia are indeed a single entity, which incorporates about 850 thousand people. Statistically more detached houses per thousand people are being built in Poznan than in any other city in Poland, including Warsaw. We have a rich and diversified cultural sector, including a growing young artist's scene. Thanks to the annual Malta Theater Festival Poznan is an important location on the European cultural map. On the stadium on Bulgarska Street the atmosphere is on par with the Champions League. Yet Poznan is just GOING TO BE a metropolis. To become one we need “Kolejorz” in the Champions League, a nationwide newspaper, a radio or TV station; design fair on the PIF; and last but not least – we need to have good positions in rankings and be a valid location for investors.

Since we are reaching the end of this article, it's time to call and lay all the cards on the table. We've explored areas of metropolitan life, based on examples of big European cities. It all was a con. That is – these cities aren't really so big. Let's at last slit the throat of the main urban myth: the size fetish. Population isn't what makes a metropolis. To some extent it is true, of course. 500 people metropolises don’t currently exist anywhere. With all due respect, cities in India, Russia or China housing over 700 thousand people can be regarded as oversized villages, and Frankfurt, which is of the same size, is a metropolis at the peak of development, with only few of comparable size and influence. There are differences between them, even though they're the same size. City's function and its connection with other cities in the world are important. The latter is important when we consider the speed and frequency of the flow of people, money and ideas. A far fetched analogy can be drawn between this and football – a swift and organized minor team can win with a sluggish team of champions. The metroweb is like full scale offensive from the first pass. Champions League. Cities which we have featured in this article are metropolises of various levels. Metropolitan analysis taken from such an angle incorporates various scientific fields, from classic urban planning, through spatial economics, geography economics, cultural economics, territorial marketing, law, macroeconomics, ethnology and sociology. The most advanced analysis of metropolis is currently done by a group of university research branches, called Globalization and World Cities.

That's why placing Poznan in the metropolitan group isn't silly at all. If there are still people out there who want to cling to the “size matters” theory, let’s give them a slight shock, just to check the circuits. All those Zurichs, Frankfurts, Lisbons and whatnots, that usually make us go bright red and mumbling „oh, but they're big cities”. Much bigger than Poznan? Frankfurt is bigger, but in the same class, the same with Stockholm. Rotterdam is a bit bigger. Düsseldorf is smaller than Poznan, Helsinki and Lisbon even more. What about Copenhagen? What's your bet, you've been there? Na-ah. It’s also smaller. Zurich? Smaller. Dublin? Significantly smaller. The same goes for Canberra, Australia's capitol. Ok, so what about Geneva, the city where the world centrals of worldwide organizations are located? True that, Geneva isn't smaller than Poznan. It's MUCH smaller, almost three times, to be precise. There's really nothing to fear. We're talking about the population within city limits of course. How these cities radiate, how they attract people, industry, capital and ideas is a different story. This gravity is a metropolitan thing. Something you can gain and build up. That kind of gravity is what we want to give to Poznan. It's possible, and it's easier now than 30 or 300 years ago. However, it still requires a clear and ambitious vision, and rekindling the fire of the appetite for a more interesting life. That's the only way to give motivation for a long, hard work.

That's the city we want. We say „metropolis”, we think „Poznan”. We say „Poznan” and we think „metropolis”. That's the city we will help to build with our magazine. What is the METROPOLIS magazine? METROPOLIS is studying everyday life through design, architecture, interior design, products, urban planning, protecting our heritage. These issues stand for a lot of terms: from the network of urban connections of big cities, through the intimacy of the interior of a city condo, to the miniscule detail in a graphic project. In search for an answer why design happens in such a way, and not in another, METROPOLIS will look at the economical, environmental, sociological, cultural, political and technological contexts. Thanks to our innovative layout and editorial, and our provocative stance, METROPOLIS shows in how many different ways we can design our world. We don't see city as a landscape, we don't see design as a fashion show, and we don't see art as just another vernissage for wine-sippers. We go in deeper. We get to the point.

Antidote for fear

What awaits us at the finish line? We could sum up all those styles, tastes, broadened borders, freedom of self-fulfillment. But the biggest asset of metropolis can be brought up without summarizing previous paragraphs. Metropolis, with its space for multiple different entities gives us the ability to live multiple times. It’s just like a film, only this time it's real. Jim Morrisson said that the key to cinema's success is the human fear of death. Everyone wants to live as much as possible, even if it's a econd-hand peeping Tom's life. Metropolis works on a similar basis, but it's more gritty and real. In one metropolitan life we can do as much as in a dozen lives of a village guy. That also makes metropolis more dangerous than films, you can't simply turn it off. But in metropolis, oh the irony, time flows slower, and we have more of it to do as we please. It's the same phenomenon that was brought up by two groups independently – Albert Einstein and his fellow physicians, and the people from Lonely Planet: the faster you go, the younger you stay. Time dilutes. Einstein was into abstract thought experiments in space, Lonely Planet is more into hiking with your trusty backpack through the far ends of the world. More things happen every second, minute, hour, that's why an hour loaded with experiences takes more space in your memory, and that's why after a week of hiking we feel like it was a month or more. It's that simple. During the boring work at [you name it] we don't remember if something happened seven, eleven, or twenty four weeks ago. Hours are just blips on our radars, unrecognizable, packed up tightly on the shelves of our brain. The same goes with a place that offers nothing interesting. In such places, your life is about five minutes long. In metropolis your lifespan is adjusting to the volume and variety of your experiences.

Metropolis is about taking the subway instead of a bike. Metropolis is the antidote for the fear of death. It's about living multiple times, a step towards immortality. Thus, Metropolis outruns death.