Where will we meet?
- In Gdansk.
- After all, we are in Gdansk!
- I mean downtown.
- The Old Town?
- No, the Main City!
This is a fairly typical conversation between Danzigers and those less versed in Danzig geography. The linear arrangement on which the districts of the so-called Lower Terrace, located between the line of moraine hills and the shore of the Gulf of Gdansk, are threaded makes the Downtown colloquially known as "Danzig." The district identity is very strong here. Standouts include the historic, villa-like Oliwa with its cathedral and park, Wrzeszcz - a very well-connected "center," the seaside resort town of Jelitkowo or the picturesquely neglected New Port with its 19th-century tenements. Even the blocks of flats are unique: Zaspa or Przymorze with its eight hundred-meter-long wave building. And all this between the moraine hills, inhabited by wild boars and foxes that visit the city, and the coastal strip and beach. The Upper Terrace is also developing intensively - thanks to new streetcar lines and the Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway, it is increasingly easy to reach clusters of workplaces from here.
Downtown itself includes several historic districts: the most touristy Main Town with the adjacent Old Town and Old Suburb, the revitalized Lower Town with a string of preserved bastions. Just wander through them and you'll find yourself in Olszynka, an idyllic neighborhood with more of a rural than urban character. There are more such places, allowing one to escape from the city, within Gdansk, there are, among others, beaches on Sobieszewska Island or Stogi. After more than two decades of planning, a new district - the Young City - is beginning to emerge on the post-shipyard areas.
Main City street
photo: Monika Arczyńska
Bourgeois and rather dormant Gdansk has in recent years become a center with metropolitan ambitions. What most influenced the pace of change were the investments changing not only the situation, but also the landscape of the city: office space, transportation and culture. After years of lagging behind Warsaw, Krakow or Wroclaw, Gdansk suddenly flourished. The rate of return on real estate and the fashion for a second (or another apartment) on the Coast translated into a jump in apartment prices, resulting in them reaching Warsaw levels. This means that Danzigers, especially young ones, can no longer afford to live in Gdansk.
Here, certain things just work out. Local plans cover most of the city's area, there is a Tempo 30 zone on more than 60 percent of the roads, huge public-private partnership projects are being implemented, and a landscape resolution that has been in effect for two years removes fences and protects against advertising chaos. Neighborhoods without fences have been built before, the best example being the Garrison in Wrzeszcz on the site of the former barracks - now one of the most convenient places to live in the city, as well as a cultural and gastronomic hub.
Life is quite slow here, the cultural and entertainment offerings are far from Warsaw or Cracow, and the job market has only developed as large companies have moved into new office buildings. However, Gdansk is becoming an increasingly attractive place to live. It is attracted by its quality of life: the cleanest air among large Polish cities, beautiful beaches and green recreational areas, proximity to Sopot and Gdynia, as well as Zulawy and Kashubia. It's easy to have a work-life balance here, although rising real estate prices will become a serious barrier for those wishing to live here. For now, the city is developing in all respects, and despite rarely appearing in architectural magazines, it is climbing the quality-of-life rankings along with other Tricity centers.
A keyword and subjective guide to Gdansk
Main City
- the historic part of the center with the Crane, Neptune and St. Mary's Street, often incorrectly referred to by tourists as the Old Town or the Old Town. The Old Town, in turn, is the adjacent district, with the Great Mill, the Polish Post Office building or the Old Town Hall.
Lower Town
- a revitalized district with preserved pre-war tenements, modernized Łąkowa Street, the Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, a ring of bastions and the LPP headquarters in a former cigarette factory (being expanded according to a JEMS design).
The Young City
- also a historic district, associated today, however, mainly as post-shipyard areas, where new developments are beginning to emerge after more than two decades of planning. Efforts are underway to inscribe the site of the former Gdansk Shipyard on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Wrzeszcz
- a service-oriented, well-connected "center" from which it is easy to get to any part of the agglomeration. Among others, there is the Gdansk University of Technology, several shopping centers, which, due to their proximity, had to specialize (Manhattan, for example, houses a popular branch of the city library), many companies have their headquarters here.
MEVO city bike
- the most modern urban bicycle system in Europe, which, admittedly, after a few months had to discontinue its operation due to the bankruptcy of the operator, but it was operating (and will hopefully be relaunched soon) from Tczew to Wladyslawowo, and all the bikes were electric.
Granary Island before the development
photo. © Monika Arczyńska
Granary Island
- during the former glory days of Gdansk, built up with granaries, after the war it was haunted by their neglected ruins. Nowadays, hotels, apartment buildings and eateries are being built here; sometimes called "Booking.com Island" - apartments for short-term rent prevail here.
