Eight new viewing stands with descents on the banks of the New Motława are being built in the Lower Town area of Gdansk. Yes, aesthetics will improve, but the scale of the changes, planned for the waterfront as part of a major public-private partnership with the city, is quite conservative.
The Lower Town in Gdansk is undergoing a renovation of the descents and viewing stands on the New Motlawa River. The work is part of a public-private partnership agreement, covering as much as 11 hectares, that Gdansk has entered into with GGI Dolne Miasto, a company owned by Euro Styl. The developer - on valuable urban plots of land in Dolne Miasto - will build commercial developments, including as many as 740 apartments. In return, it will carry out public investments in 17 locations, estimated at PLN 51 million (in which, however, the city will participate).
facelift without momentum
The renovation of the viewing stands and descents is the first stage of the revitalization of the areas along the New Motława, along Kamienna Grobla and Dobra streets, on the water side. Aesthetics will improve, but the changes, of this waterfront, attractive public space, are quite conservative.
Visualization of one of the stands
GGI Lower City
First of all, it was decided to renovate rather than extensively rebuild or build a representative promenade. This place begs as much, to make the most of the potential of the waterfront public space and introduce significant areas of greenery. Nor has a more aesthetically pleasing form or alternative to fencing been found (fencing in the city is now being abandoned thanks to the Gdansk Landscape Resolution). The cost of this investment is less than PLN 1.8 million ( of which 375 thousand will be contributed by the City anyway).
Despite this, officials assure that the effect will still be richer than the contract envisaged.
- The Private Partner (the company GGI Dolne Miasto), which is carrying out the investment, decided to take a more comprehensive approach to the revitalization of these areas. As a result, the scope of the work has increased to include such elements as trees/hedges and platforms for people with reduced mobility. The design of the greenery and new plantings was created in consultation with Joanna Rayss, a well-known and experienced designer, says Joanna Bieganowska of the press office of the Gdansk City Hall.
city: there was no greenery here
And she adds that a flowerbed is planned for each of the stands, and trees will be planted in large holes made in the concrete.
Existing condition. Looking at the scope of work, it's hard to talk about a revolution
GGI Lower City
- It is planned, on each of the stands, to plant: three willowbark pear trees and - in the flowerbeds - bee-friendly grasses and flowers. Until now there has been no greenery on the stands," says a city representative.
In the next stages, it is planned to renovate the pedestrian and bicycle path on the crown of the embankment, along Kamienna Grobla Street, and its extension on the other side of Torunskaya Street, along Dobra Street.
- An avenue of trees, the so-called linear park containing, among other things, tall greenery, will also be created in these sections, Joanna Bieganowska reports. - A total of more than 50 new trees will be planted in the next stages - small-leaved lindens, small-fruited pears and white willows. There will also be many new plantings of low greenery. There will be created urban flower meadows resistant to drought and flooding. In addition, recreational islands with water-facing benches and bike racks will appear in these areas, which will be surrounded by greenery.
Earlier, under the PPP, a multi-purpose field at an elementary school was built in Lower Town.
