
Łódź EXPO 2022. A Fascinating Cooperation
Expo 2022 Łódź Polska is a paramount project presenting how Poland is changing and redeveloping, and therefore inspiring many countries around the world – claim Jai-chul CHOI and Vincente LOSCERTALES who headed BIE’s recent evaluation mission to Łódź.
Jai-chul CHOI:
I am pleased with my visit to Łódź, with this evaluation mission and a meeting with representatives of the state administration, local government, business and academia. We can see how much support is given to Expo 2022 Łódź Polska, how much you are committed for this project to be granted to Łódź.
Above all, we can see how much dynamism, how much passion is there in Łódź. Revitalisation of some sites counts as the latest success, for residents and city authorities. Once we submit the evaluation report to the International Exhibition Bureau, you will be off to the races.
Vicente LOSCERTALES:
Expo 2022 Łódź Polska is a Polish nationwide project, supported by the state administration, local authorities, as well as inhabitants of Łódź. The cooperation of all: here is one of the major success factors of this project.
But there is more: the community of goals, the cooperation of city dwellers, their solidarity in a joint effort towards winning the Expo bid. It does make an impression on members of the evaluation mission. For I cannot imagine organising such a big event without the involvement of residents, or against their will. For residents, with residents – that is the way it works in Łódź.
The third crucial thing in seeking the right to hold Expo is the application itself, its refinement. We talked with the people in charge of planning Expo 2022 and responsible for this project.
The leading theme chosen by Łódź is revitalisation. This is an issue of common concern for many countries across the globe. Łódź is a great example of this not least because such is the city’s idea for raising its profile through the Expo, but also because revitalisation, a genuine revitalisation, with many interesting ventures, is already taking place there. Łódź has the right to talk about its accomplishments: designated persons have been long dealing with revitalisation both in theory and in practice. The revitalisation project is carried out with great optimism and great energy.
Now you will have to convince most of the BIE’s 168 member states that Łódź is the best choice to host the Expo; that it is here, in Łódź, in Poland, in this region of Europe that the international community should meet – at the invitation of the Polish government – for Expo 2022, whose leading theme, chosen by Łódź and Poland, is so important.