(New) life spaces of young city inhabitants : on the base of the empirical research in Kraków and Katowice

The aim of the paper is to analyse the attitudes of young city inhabitants towards the traditional urban space (city centre, neighbourhood) and commercial space (the mall). When they spend their time, where are the places important for their individual activity and group identities? What role is played in their lives by the urban centre and what by the mall? For teenagers, malls are a "natural" element of the urban space. The empirical research conducted in two major Polish conurbations, Krakow and Katowice, indicates two models of the urban spaces of young city inhabitants: the first one with strong meaning of the city centre (which does not correlate with the everyday practices) and the second with "absent" traditional centre and relatively strong neighbourhoods. It is vital to understand the developing typical relations of young people with urban spaces to see what the "city is becoming".