Urban Regeneration in Gdańsk, Poland: Local Regimes and Tensions Between Top-Down Strategies and Endogenous Renewal

Abstract

Based on case studies of the Polish city of Gdańsk, the authors  identified problems of post-socialist urban governance that hinder both the development of strategic, long-term approaches to regeneration as well as a reflection of “locale” in urban-regeneration strategies. The paper begins with a description of the demographic, economic and political processes negatively affecting the inner city and that have given rise to response strategies. Three revitalization case studies will be discussed in detail as examples of decidedly top-down approaches. At the same time, the authors also draw attention to more spontaneous processes of regeneration in the form of in-migration of middle-income households to pre-war tenement houses as well as attempts to involve local residents in “community-building” projects. More progressive urban policies that improve key local services, such as the quality of schools, might support endogenous social-regeneration processes even with relatively limited financial resources. Our findings suggest that the regeneration (not only) of post-socialist cities requires flexible policies and comprehensive approaches that make use of synergies emanating from “spontaneous” processes of revitalization. This, however, is contingent upon a gradual change in the “strategic mindsets” of key players.

Notes

The Tricity agglomeration, which consists of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot, has a total population of around 750,000 inhabitants.

In this sense, Gdańsk is much more fortunate than cities of Eastern Poland, where fiscal constraints are compounded by a severe lack of economic potential and investment.

Including the infamous block of flats called ‘waver’, occupied by over 2000 inhabitants.

The empirical research in Nowy Port and Wrzeszcz Dolny was carried out for the purposes of the conDENSE project (Socio-spatial consequences of demographic change in Central Eastern European cities. Potentials and limits of an exchange of experiences from Western Europe and Eastern Germany) financed by the Volkswagen-Foundation.

Among the other eight households there were three singles, one cohabiting couple, two DINKs (double income, no kids), one single mother with children and one patchwork family (consisting of members of remarried parents with children from previous relationships).

See the website of the MY Generation network, supported through the EU's URBACT programme. Gdańsk is one of the member cities of the network.