The contemporary importance of the Old Canal area for the centre of Bydgoszcz and its influence on the city’s cultural landscape

European cities are centuries-old connections of social and cultural interrelations in which the history and heritage of generations have formed a specific model of collective life and culture. The nature, prestige and signs of urban life in these cities are best indicated by their public spaces and their structure and inclusion in the urban tissue. Being presentable areas as well as places of social intercourse and activity, public spaces form multipurpose areas which establishe the city’s cultural landscape. Simultaneously, the game for urban areas in the city and related economic interests, and market all activities promoting the city’s image and interfering with the city’s structure, pose a threat to the sensible development of the most valuable parts of the urban space. Globalisation processes contribute to the unification and standardisation of any forms of life, including space. The need for maintaining the continuity of urban tissue requires that its historical traces be cultivated. In this context, the contemporary role of the Old Canal area for downtown Bydgoszcz and its influence on the development of the city’s cultural landscape are part of the current strategies for the culture-forming regeneration of urban space.