Vliv textilního průmyslu na populační vývoj ve vybraných evropských městech

Abstract

The paper analyses and discusses development trajectories of the textile industry in selected European cities where textiles have played a decisive role in influencing socio-economic and urban development as well as population changes. The British city of Manchester is recognized as the birthplace of cotton manufacturing in Europe and served as an example for building textile factories in other European cities that were later also called ʻManchesterʼ. The research paper identifies key moments of textile industry development in Manchester, Łódź and Brno. Case studies are linked by historical context, appropriate location, the importance of textile production in city development and population growth followed by depopulation of the core city. The results show that the textile industry has had a very significant impact on the cities analysed in terms of the economy, social environment and population changes. Both Manchester and Brno were identified as relatively successful in transition to modern post-industrial cities. In contrast, Łódź as a city almost completely dependent on a single industry is beginning to cope with the textile industry decline through brownfield regeneration and urban change, but very robust shrinkage in the cityʼs population size, which is also reflected in economic development, is still a major problem.