The city of Łódź has been selected by National Geographic Traveler as one of the “Best of the World 2022” destinations. The annual list of the 25 must-see destinations, profiles inspiring places, communities, and experiences. Framed by five categories—Nature, Adventure, Culture, Sustainability and Family—selections on the 2022 list honor national parks and wildlife, outdoor activities and experience, green travel and destinations going it right, and multigenerational destinations and journeys.
Łódź was chosen as one of the seven best sustainable destinations for 2022 and beyond. Named a UNESCO City of Film in 2017 for its rich cinematic culture, Łódź, a city with a population of around 700,000 in central Poland, was a major textile manufacturing hub in the 19th and 20th centuries. Now Poland’s Hollywood is flipping the script on its industrial past to create a greener future.
Łódź is a leader in sustainable living, embracing innovative ecological solutions, such as using pre-RDF (refuse-derived fuel) and biomass energy to heat homes. In 2021, the city partnered with the European e-commerce delivery platform InPost to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions and traffic in the city centre by installing 70 parcel locker locations and electric car-charging stations.
Nearly a third of Łódź is green space, ranging from new parks to the 2,977-acre Łagiewnicki Forest. In the city’s former industrial areas, abandoned factories are being reborn as parks, cultural centers, residences, and retail spaces. The trendiest spot on the cultural map is OFF Piotrkowska, a buzzing art, design, dining, and club district housed in a former cotton mill. Another massive factory, built by the I K Poznański Cotton Products Company, which employed 7,000 people in its 1913 heyday, was reimagined as Manufaktura, an arts centre, shopping mall, and leisure complex spread across 13 historic buildings. Manufaktura’s Muzeum Fabryki explores the Poznański family’s ‘cotton empire’ and the lives of the factory workers.
From National Geographic Traveler Poland (Martyna Szczepanik)
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