206B - Avoiding Mordor: Observations from Warsaw

September 30, 2020

12:20PM - 12:35PM

What do Mordor and planning have in common? Well, hopefully nothing! However, residents of Warsaw have taken it upon themselves to rename the community and employment area of Służewiec district in Warsaw as Mordor because of the difficulty of getting there. "One does not simply walk into Mordor," as Boromir famously said, and this rings true here, as the employment area sprung up quickly after large lots of land went up for sale at low prices because warehouses and industrial businesses were going bankrupt. International investors bought up the land because of its proximity to the airport, goods movement corridors, and the new subway, and it became the largest employment area in Warsaw with high-profile companies, such as Aviva, Honda, etc., moving in. However, with a lack of master planning, Służewiec became notoriously known as an island monoculture of offices surrounded by fences, poor transit service, and illegally parked cars.
 
Find out how Mordor came to be (by accident) and understand the key changes by the City of Warsaw to create a more successful Shire-like employment area, where people want to work and won’t compare themselves to Orcs. If you are not well versed in Lord of the Rings, not to worry, my presentation will be very understandable to non-Middle Earth folk as well.
 

Speakers