It was supposed to clean up commerce and aesthetics in downtown Gdansk and prevent depopulation of the district. Unfortunately, the Cultural Park in Gdansk, which has been in preparation for several years, will not happen.
One of the tenements on Ograna Street in the Main Town. Of the 12 units, only three have permanent residents. The rest of the apartments were rented to tourists for a long time, then shone empty in the pandemic. Now the owners want to bet on long-term rentals. With mixed results. There are many such apartments without permanent tenants in the center of Gdansk. Because the short-term rental boom and high prices. Because problems with parking, night noises and nuisance activities of go-go clubs and discos.
Many will probably shrug their shoulders: „those who live in the center must reckon with the noise”. The trouble is that this has unpleasant consequences. Although Gdansk is gaining residents, the Downtown is losing them. In 10 years, as many as 20 percent of the district's residents have disappeared (figures as of the end of December 2021).
The Cultural Park was supposed to protect the historic center of the city
© Gdansk.pl
goal: impose high standards
The announcement of the creation of a Cultural Park in the Downtown area gave hope for sorting out issues that are a salt in the eye of residents. It was to protect the historic center, or more precisely the area between Wapiennicza, Grodzka, Podwale Staromiejskie, Targ Drzewny, Wały Jagiellońskie, Okopowa, Podwale Przedmiejskie, Szopy, Szafarnia, Na Stępce streets. The idea was unanimously applauded by the Gdansk City Council in May 2021. The resolution on the intention to create the park was adopted almost unanimously, with only one councilor abstaining.
The needs of residents are not the only concern. The Cultural Park was supposed to make the City Center tidier and simply nicer. And the monuments better exposed.
On the Royal Route we have a big problem with seasonal services such as tattoo painting, cross-dressers, ladies with umbrellas soliciting for nightclubs. Establishing a Cultural Park will allow us to impose standards so that the space is elegant, cohesive and livable," explained Monika Nkome-Evini, manager of Downtown Gdansk [Magazine Line 7 (3) 11/2021].
Currently, the municipality has no influence on what happens in non-public space, or this influence is very difficult. The Cultural Park is a tool to regulate noise, littering, consumption and sale of alcohol," said Lukasz Wysocki, president of the Gdańsk Tourist Organization, during a debate on the shape of the planned park [official portal of the city of Gdańsk].
Last year Gdansk was visited by more than 3.7 million guests
photo: Ewa Karendys
city resigns
Debates, industry meetings, workshops—the city boasted of extensive public consultations. But when the work was nearing completion and the draft resolution ready, Gdansk Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz announced: "There will be no Cultural Park for the timebeing."
It imposed a lot of restrictions and new expenses for entrepreneurs, who are already heavily burdened financially—Aleksandra Dulkiewicz reasoned, referring to the effects of the pandemic, galloping inflation and high energy prices. And she added that due to staff shortages in the police, the regulations will not be able to be effectively enforced anyway.
One can only guess that this is the aftermath of a statement issued in late February by business and employer organizations in the Pomeranian region (including Employers of Pomerania and the Gdansk Business Club). In it, they stressed that some of the proposed provisions on the Cultural Park "are too restrictive in nature." They added that none of Gdansk's business and employers' organizations had been informed of the consultation.
Abandoning such advanced work is an image shot in the foot. And a blow to the aesthetics of Downtown. After all, officials, who repeatedly assured the need for the park, could have extended the consultations, addressed specific comments, made corrections to the provisions, and where necessary extended the period to adjust to the changes. And re-plat the project.
The decision in Gdansk may come as a surprise, since the city has considerable experience in cleaning up urban space. April marked the five-year anniversary of the Gdansk Landscape Resolution, which, no doubt, curbed the advertising free-americanism in the city. The capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship was one of the first cities where such provisions began to take effect. Other cities may envy it: more than 500 illegal large-format media disappeared from the space, facades were exposed. However, the road led uphill, because the provisions were protested by the advertising industry, and the governor sought to invalidate the resolution. But the city defended the provisions. Effectively.
The Cultural Park was also to include the Granary Island area
Photo: Ewa Karendys
sustainable tourism
Yes, the interests of downtown entrepreneurs are also important. There is no doubt that a bustling city and bustling food gardens have their own charm. Tourism—yes. But a sustainable one that respects the community that lives here year-round.
Closing the food gardens at midnight Friday through Sunday and at 10 p.m. the other days. These are the proposals that have caused great controversy among pub and restaurant owners. But the very attempt to regulate this issue should not come as a surprise. Other cities are deciding on similar solutions. In the area of the new Kazimierz and Stradomia Cultural Park in Krakow, gardens can operate until 10 pm from Sunday to Thursday and from Friday to Saturday until midnight, while it is worth discussing—what hours will be the best solution. Compromise, though difficult, is possible. In the Old Town in Poznan, the gardens are open until midnight during the week and until 2 a.m. on weekends (residents called for closing at 10 p.m. on weekends, while restaurateurs called for closing at 5 a.m.).
At the end of the year, when the draft resolution on the Cultural Park was put on the table, representatives of the city noted, „In the next stage of consultations, we will work together on such a shape of the resolution that will reconcile the expectations, needs and interests of all parties involved in the best possible way” [official portal of the city of Gdansk].
It's hard to understand why the city went from announcing reconciliation of interests to shelving the project.Because, there is no fooling ourselves, even if the topic of the Cultural Park returns—the next few years will have passed. And by then, more apartments will have been converted into Airbnb units.
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The draft resolution on the Cultural Park proposed, among other things:
- a ban on door-to-door or door-to-door sales,
- a ban on erotic service activities (including go-go clubs, escort agencies, erotic dancing, striptease),
- prohibition of off-site "solicitation" (this applies to both restaurateurs and go-go clubs),
- seasonal trade stands for visual artists and artisans, available only to those with an ID obtained from the city,
- restriction of the operation of food gardens: on Fridays and weekends until midnight, on other days until 10 p.m,
- prohibition of placing commercial stands in the light of the passages of the gates, including the Crane, Green Gate, Golden Gate, St. Mary's Gate, Stągiewna Gate,
- prohibition of parking vehicles within 10 m of the outer walls of the most important monuments (including St. Mary's Basilica, Great Armory, Jacek Tower).
