Tri-Cities. What are the New Bourgeois waiting for?

Mateusz Zmyślony

02 of January '23

The New Bourgeois - a vision of the contemporary identity of the Tri-City resident

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Certainly a sore point in the development of the Baltic metropolis will be (already is) the lack of adequate space for major investments. Cities are squeezed between the hills and forests of the moraine and the sea, land and real estate prices are going up, it's getting tight. In this situation there is no other way out - it is necessary to bet not on quantity, but on quality. Buildings will start going up to pile up the jobs being created. The Tri-City needs to build a narrative that will attract the best workers to the Tri-City - not just from Poland, but from around the world. This is already happening, of course - but we are only at the beginning of the journey. Where does it lead? That is the question we should want to meaningfully answer today. It certainly leads in the direction of advanced specializations and competencies - the Tri-City is not a place for a "factory of Europe", that will develop more nimbly around the super cities of Silesia-Cracow and Lodz-Warsaw. Rather, the Pomeranian agglomeration should have scientific ambitions, build soft power in the high-tech and streaming & gaming sectors, without, of course, abandoning the maritime industries.

An interesting potential resonates in the idea of a Quad-City, sketched out in Elblag's strategy - further integration of this city into the metropolis will bring the agglomeration closer to one million residents, a caliber we need. Development in this direction, moreover, means the much-needed expansion of the metropolitan territory and investment areas.

On a symbolic level, it would also be worthwhile to complete the communication link between Gdynia and Sopot - I mean the completion of the investment in the bicycle and walking path along the beach between Orlowo and the mouth of the Swelina stream, which existed in the past. I dream of cycling along this stretch.

The Tri-City has an extraordinary power within itself. It's time to fully unleash it, for the Kashubian Dragon hides the potential, the possibility of creating an international, super narrative not only about itself, but also about the whole of Poland. Therefore, a serious responsibility falls on Gdynia, Gdansk and Sopot: the development strategy for this metropolis must be extremely ambitious. The Tri-City is waiting for concepts on the scale of Singapore, for great architecture, for new global differentiators. For initiatives that will match the momentum of Gdynia's development in the 1930s, for concepts that will put contemporary Gdansk on a par with its 16th- and 17th-century condition. Each of these cities is great in its own right, as a distinctiveness. Teamed together they become a superhero that gains superpowers.

Because this young Gdynia, magically built, and this old-school Gdansk, rebuilt almost from scratch, tied together by the naturally cultured Sopot, have a mandate to say "Poland can do it!" out loud again, redefining this message and stripping it of its pejorative context. Because, after all, as General Gustaw Orlicz-Dreszer used to say in Gdynia with an alluring fantasy: nothing is impossible. If Poland was able in the Tri-City in ten years to build a port in Gdynia from scratch, rebuild the completely destroyed historic center of Gdansk, overthrow communism, efficiently expatriate millions of emigrants or in four days put something from nothing on the rails, creating the armored train Kashubian Dragon - then truly I tell you that Poland can.

I repeat: in itself Gdansk is an extraordinary city, with its powerful history and maritime soul. It is like Bruges, Antwerp, Venice or Genoa - former port trading powers. Strengthened by the atmospheric and somewhat snobbish elite Sopot - it becomes an outstanding metropolis, a bit like pre-war Lviv with its Truskavets resort. The final outcome, however, is determined by Gdynia - a phenomenal enterprise, a story that simply takes your breath away, a pole that starts a powerful Tri-City development engine. One that has no equivalent anywhere in the world. As strong as Krakow with its genius loci, but perhaps even more unique.