Rivers that were canalized decades ago are returning to the space of city centers. This is the case in the world. In our country, the problem is the restoration of the bed of a small river in a recreation area. Although a sensible project of this type has been developed in Poznan, a public investor does not want to implement it. The reason? Ad hoc interest, lack of coordination and a poorly understood concept of cost.
The Bogdanka River is the „backbone” of one of Poznań's green wedges, i.e. wide natural strips cutting deep into the city, connecting with forests on the outskirts of Poznań. On its way to the Warta River, the Bogdanka feeds the artificial Rusalka Lake and the ponds in Sołacki Park. However, in a small section between these reservoirs it flows underground—in a canal on the grounds of the sports complex (formerly Olimpia) on Golęcin.
Master plan for the sports center on Golęcin in Poznań—Situation in the western green wedge
© Urban Planning Studio
For almost a decade, local councilors, community activists and architects have been striving to restore the Bogdanka riverbed at the site and redesign the complex in such a way that it would serve not only athletes, but all residents. However, the municipal company Poznańskie Ośrodki Sportu i Rekreacji (POSiR), which manages Olimpia, is resistant. On Wednesday it turned out that—unfortunately—city planners think similarly to it. They are not using the main principles of the sensible concept developed in 2016 by architects Andrzej Kurzawski and Jakub Gwizdala in cooperation with the public.
Masterplan for the Golęcin sports center in Poznań—Concept of the social side, proj.: Andrzej Kurzawski, Jakub Gwizdała. A wide stream of the Bogdanka River can be seen between the stadium (middle) and the field (bottom). The river also in the visuals on the right side of the board.
© Urban Planning Studio
problems pile up, but not the river
After a long hiatus in the discussion of Olimpia, designers from the Urban Planning Studio presented a master plan for the entire sports complex. It is to be the basis for the local development plan. However, it does not include the restoration of the channelized riverbed. Instead, the planners propose a loose composition of small retention basins mainly surrounding the planned „balloon” covering of the sports field. They argue that—for one thing—in 2020. POSiR has built a new training field with an athletics track in the southern part of the complex, and it interferes with the course of the Bogdanka. Second—they point out that the unearthed river would flow three meters below the surrounding ground. Thus, a deep and unattractive channel would be created.
Masterplan for the Golęcin sports center in Poznań—Comparison of the social (left) and urban (right) concept.
© Urban Planning Studio
Such a position is criticized by social activists (including Adam Raszeja, Tomasz Hejna), the president of the Poznań branch of SARP Wojciech Krawczuk and some city councilors (including Pawel Sowa), who analyzed the concept during a meeting of two City Council committees: spatial policy and revitalization and physical culture and tourism. They point out that the restoration of the Bogdanka watercourse was the highest priority of the assumptions adopted earlier. They emphasize the natural and scenic importance of this measure.
The social side and the architectural community are keen to ensure that Olimpia is not just a collection of modernized and practical stadiums and halls, but also a friendly designed recreation space—a natural link between Solacki Park and the area around Lake Rusalka. During the commission, questions were asked about the possibility of damming up the river current so as to raise the water table. However, the planners replied that they had not thoroughly analyzed such a possibility. Thus, the concept outlined by them is mainly conducive to POSiR's further investment intentions, which hardly take into account the unique character of the complex.
rich in a unique place
Olimpia has a very picturesque and attractive location: surrounded by forest, in a hilly area, and at the same time close to the city center. There are two stadiums here : a speedway stadium and an athletics stadium with facilities, the aforementioned new pitch, a tennis center, courts and a small hotel, as well as administrative buildings. Some of the facilities (including the stadiums) are renovated, while others are awaiting modernization. The worst is the open space with the new pitch (despite as such an improvement since 2020) It is underneath that the Bogdanka canal runs. There are also an internal road and a parking lot, which significantly undermine the quality of this space (fortunately, in both concepts: the current one and the one from 2016, parking here was reduced to zero or minimum).
Masterplan for the Golęcin sports center in Poznań—visualization of MPU's planning intentions, general view from the south
© Urban Planning Studio
The Olimpiacomplex was built gradually, starting in the 1950s, by the Olimpia militia club (more on the history: here). With a large budget, decent quality facilities were erected, finished with good quality materials. In recent decades, however, Olimpia fared much worse, and in 2013 the declining complex was taken over by the City (and put under the management of POsiR). It was then that discussions and preliminary studies began.
However, the Bogdanka was channelized before the construction of Olimpia, during the war, when—with the hands of Jewish and Polish prisoners—the Germans created Lake Rusalka. The river also fed, from the late 1930s, the pools of the city's open swimming pool built in 1938 (designed by Marian Spychalski). The swimming pool complex lies on the southern outskirts of Olympia (not part of it, but also owned by the city) and, closed more than 40 years ago, serves as a carp farm. In a social project, the dilapidated swimming pool (a thoroughfare of high-speed traffic—Witosa Street—has now been running next to it since the 1980s) was to be turned into an outdoor parking lot. However, planners and road engineers decided after analysis that this would be detrimental to the neighboring traffic system, and locate parking lots elsewhere.
Thoughtlessness or premeditation?
However, the issues of parking lots and new cubicles are, as the socialists have already stressed, secondary. The most important issue is that of Bogdanka. Giving up on digging it up is a mistake, made all the more strange by the fact that officials and planners are talking and writing more and more loudly about green and blue infrastructure (reservoirs on Golęcin are a good idea, but as an addition to the river, not a replacement). After all, it shouldn't be a problem to dam up the current of the river, or to correct its course so that it bypasses the newly built treadmill. The construction of the latter, by the way, is a fait accompli . After all, the investment was already carried out after the 2016 plans.
Masterplan for the Golęcin sports center in Poznań—The course of the Bogdanka according to the social concept is marked in black. In the middle: New athletics, training field.
© Urban Planning Studio
So it was either a thoughtless action (lack of coordination, poor planning), or intentional—so as to prevent more ambitious intentions. As the cases of not only this POSiR-managed facility show, the municipal company shows little sensitivity to matters of space, nature and architecture. Thus, it wins rather clumsy investment thinking, which, by the way, was supported on Wednesday by two city councilors of the older generation (Wojciech Kręglewski and Grzegorz Ganowicz). They raised, among other things, the issue of costs, allegedly higher in the case of pro-nature implementation. About costs or gains for the environment—they said nothing.
However, the Olympia area, as a component of the western green wedge, is too valuable and has too much potential to condemn it to an ad hoc, „compromise” project. The costs in this case should be considered in the perspective of at least several future decades, during which Poznań residents will benefit from a revitalized Olimpia. The example of cities in Europe and Asia, where riverbeds have been restored (while eliminating wide streets running in their place) shows that such investments are worth big money. It is therefore necessary to take a step back and revise the plans shown on Wednesday. This is still possible, although, let's admit it, POSiR (and other investors present in the area) needs to be constantly watched. After all, the method of accomplished facts may repeat itself.
