The coastal part has beautified, has become more modern, cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing. The well-defined characteristics of a city by the sea have played out - all other Baltic localities are either seasonal fishing villages, for two months turning into holiday towns straight out of a tourist gold rush, or large coastal metropolises not devoid of pollution and disadvantages of large agglomerations. Of course, the aforementioned Sopot as also a resort does not complain of lack of interest, but today probably more as a beautiful living room with a beach than simply a spa.
...And from street level it looks like this:
photo: © Author
Meanwhile, Kolobrzeg is also a bit of a Kolberg again. Among the guests, lots of Germans, quite a few Danes and Swedes. The expansion of the city continues, Kolobrzeg's success overall is unprecedented. In full season it is difficult to find a free place here, but even more important is the Kolobrzeg peculiarity, which makes the tourist business here revolve all year round.
This could be the end of this text, but the years are flying by, the strategy has been implemented - a new one had to be created. I was pleased to be asked to do it again, but if something worked, it's simply worth continuing, as "Mysterious Lower Silesia" does, for example. Working with Kolobrzeg again proved to be a unique opportunity to take a critical look at the processes that have taken place in the city, that is, at my own work. Polish reality in recent decades has been changing at an express pace, urban realities have been changing, development needs have been changing; I know how today's priorities can differ from those of twenty years ago.
So what did I see when I looked at the city again? Something similar to Bielsko-Biała: what was most striking was the murderous architectural barrier that is the railroad. It practically cuts off the part for residents from the part for tourists. There are no intuitive, collision-free connectors, at best elevators and stairs, and in key places - quite often closing barriers, making the tourist district a well-defended fortress against the residents, with the rails as a moat.
RE:GENERATION - this is how it should look like
photo: © Author
What has emerged is a picture of a city divided: with the seaside part, lavish, for those who can afford it, and the part cut off from the sea and these luxuries, inhabiting gloomy apartment blocks and equally gloomy gazing from their balconies - above the railroad - at this "Weather for the rich" on the other side.
As President Jacek Karnowski once told me in Sopot: "we didn't know how to share the success," and he meant the whole country, because that was the context in which we were talking at the time. These are wise words, because such situations gave birth to a new Poland A and Poland B, which made life easier for political populists. Fortunately, Kolobrzeg has this specific sensitivity and ability to listen, which allowed us to see the opportunity for the Welness & SPA concept earlier. When creating the new strategy, we knew from the beginning of the work that it was time to share this success. After all, in elections, it's not the tourists who vote, but the residents, so in this case, politics created a win-win situation for the strategy, which is not often the case.
retroversy-controversy-a bit like in Glogow....
photo: © Author
So we decided to continue the successful direction of development of Kolobrzeg's tourist offer - but this time not to forget about the residents. To justify myself here, by the way, I have a simple conclusion about the times and priorities: at the time, Kolobrzeg in general needed a success that it could share today. I had a similar situation with Krakow - at one time it was a matter of satisfying a pressing need, which was "as many tourists as possible." Therefore, in the second stage, Krakow changed its priorities from "quantity" to "quality." And today it is also focused on the residents - having previously achieved success that can be shared.
successive visions, strategies, signs, symbols overlap; putting Polish space in order is quite a challenge, especially since many key processes require the goodwill of political competitors
photo: © Author
But how to unite a city, brutally separated by a railroad line that cannot be eliminated? How to share with the rest of the population the success achieved by a de facto group of large investors? This is what we pondered, creating another strategic concept for the city in a series of workshops, discussions and meetings. What emerged was a continuing but socially sensitive strategy, whose banner became the word "RE:GENERATION." In addition to further developing the specialty of Welness & SPA, which is current, the idea is to strengthen the prestigious character of the brand, a worthy heir to the legacy of the top Kolberg. The main task that has been set before the city for the next few years is to expand its leisure offerings - to the point where guests no longer have to leave (along with their wallets) the city in search of entertainment and attractions other than those offered by hotels in the event of bad weather. And the truth is that children get bored when it rains, and that's why it was easy to spot offers for trips to Gdansk on the walls of resorts and hotels in Kolobrzeg - even though it's quite a long way.
retroversy-controversy-a bit like in Glogow....
photo: © Author
Kolobrzeg has plans to build many new attractions to keep these visitors at home. This will increase the profitability of the tourist business. For although Kolobrzeg is a real "City by the Sea," it is not a big city. It doesn't have a philharmonic, a theater, a metropolitan-style walking tour - and a mere shopping mall with a multiplex isn't enough. An expanded portfolio of leisure time attractions is also a quality of life for residents - two birds with one stone are baked here.
It is worth remembering at the same time that stays in Kolobrzeg are - for the tourist industry - extremely long. Lots of people come here for seven or fourteen days, many stay longer. This is a very favorable situation, which should be helped by expanding the cultural and entertainment offer. We'll see in a few years what of these - in places very ambitious plans - can be realized.
But let's get back to what is particularly important in Kolobrzeg's new strategy: the residents. One of the key ideas was to create a Resident's Card, a program that will provide residents with favorable access to the city's tourist attractions (and not only tourist attractions, of course). The card was created and seems to be doing well - more than a hundred companies provide discounts under it for those registered and paying taxes in Kolobrzeg. It's nice to be able to go to the hotel's aquapark, available at a decent discount (outside the peak summer season, of course). It's an interesting approach to make fuller and more comprehensive use of the existing infrastructure.
Seaside-Poland trash - Rome wasn't built in an instant....
photo: © Author
Another important element of the strategy was the aestheticization of settlements of blocks of flats made of large plates. A few years after the creation of the study, I appeared in Kolobrzeg on a site visit, hoping to see some realizations in this field, hopefully successful. I was particularly concerned about these housing estates, it was a nationwide problem, most often somehow bizarrely difficult to bite. Cycling into the city, I even had mild trepidation about the issue - what if nothing got done? Or worse, if something was done, but came out wrong?
When I saw those aestheticized blocks of mine, a stone dropped from my heart. It seems that, thanks to thermal upgrades combined with designer involvement, it worked! Some of these blocks look decent today, and some even look very good. Combined with the usually sensible urban planning during the communist era, this means the transformation of once downright shabby neighborhoods - referred to as "Slums Attack" by some of my former interlocutors - into nice, livable, thoughtful neighborhoods. I find such Kolobrzeg inspiring.
seaside-polish trash - Rome wasn't built in an instant....
photo: © Author
I did not feel surprised by the development of the seaside part - here everything is getting more and more attractive according to the plan. Boulevards along the beach - beautiful, bike paths - wonderful, the yacht harbor - full of life. Lots of new investments related to the orientation of the city and many ongoing construction projects - no surprise.
Also not surprising, of course, is the still thriving trade in trash and the wide access to entertainment of the kind of mottled, punch-measuring boxers - but as they say, what country, such Hollywood. As long as there is a demand for it, there will be an offer, too. It is somewhat comforting to know that the closer you were to the city center, the less trashy it was - you can see a direct correlation between the price and quality of accommodations and the quality of public spaces. This means, of course, that "nicer" is for the richer, but this is, after all, by no means some new socio-economic observation.
seaside-polish trash - Rome wasn't built in an instant....
photo: © Author
Among the many ideas for breaking down the barrier separating the two Kolobrzegs, those that will make it easier to physically get from one part of the city to the other are particularly significant. An ambitious vision has emerged to create a large, year-round, covered common area between the two halves, a building allowing outdoor sports, literally connecting Kolobrzeg into one. Whether such a huge investment operation will succeed, I don't know, because big money is involved, as well as the need to come to an agreement with PKP and more than one ministry. Difficult? Difficult, but Kolobrzeg has more than once shown that it can do great things. And then there's the European Union and its plans to build Rail Baltica - the story is certainly not over yet.
New investments stretch to the horizon
photo: © Author
There are also plans for new boulevards along the Parsęta River and a host of smaller or larger initiatives to meet the increasingly sophisticated needs of a city very consciously catching the balance between tourism and social policy today. This is a mature approach to being a modern city. It is pleasant to have successes - those of Kolobrzeg are among the most spectacular in Poland, and thus in the world.
Mateusz Zmyślony
photo: © Author
* Batardeau - an interesting structure, a fortification used to dam up the waters of the Parsęta River when necessary, which in practice - in case of danger - turned Kolberg into an island. Unfortunately, the rare monument was destroyed at the end of communist Poland.
