Styles of Communication, Vol 1, No 1 (2009)

Abstract

The transformation of Europe – and, particularly, one of its narrow scopes – a socio-urban transformation has undergone an enormous shift, the illustration of which can be found in separate and collective alternating narratives. Those alternating narratives understood as experience based opinions embedded in individual observations contribute to a better understanding of a given urban setting. Wrocław, one may state, is a very individual city or, rather one should say, a city that is perfect for individuals. This work aims at exploring the concept of Wroclaw from various possible (but still selected) angles within the meaning of Europe. Not only linguistics and semantics will be the axes of reference in this particular case but also bordering sciences such as: anthropology or sociology. Moreover, people in contemporary Wroclaw learn to identify not only themselves but also the space. The light is shed on selected meanings being constructed by people from the inside, as well as, from the outside; therefore one should also adhere to its citizens and visitors because empty space loses its meaning to a large extent. Recent twenty years (1989-2009), most probably, will be described as a period of constant rapid changes. This particular period in wroclawians’ mentality was (and still is) full of actions taking the "re” prefix to denote and stress far-reaching initiatives, initiatives that go far beyond the imagination of fossilized mind so common in the bygone political epoch.