The plans included an attractive neighborhood with modern architecture, but so far only individual buildings have been built, and the rest of the landscape is made up of demolished halls and investment gridlock. The Young City in Gdansk stands, still far from a compromise between investors and the preservationist.
Apartments, offices, restaurants filled with people, cafes and boulevards along the Dead Vistula River... Modern architecture, skyscrapers, renovated post-industrial halls... Plans for the development of the Young City - a district to be built on post-shipyard sites in Gdansk - have been bold from the start. For now, however, the vision of a vibrant piece of the city remains mostly on paper.
The Young City is a new district planned for the post-shipyard areas,
A characteristic element of its skyline will be shipyard cranes
photo: Ewa Karendys
great plans, meager effect
The area where the Gdansk Shipyard, the cradle of Solidarity, operated has a turbulent past, and its development has aroused many emotions from the beginning. At the same time, it is an extremely attractive piece of Gdansk, located just a twenty-minute walk from Dluga Street and Dlugi Targ. It stretches from the Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers and the historic Gate No. 2, at which Lech Walesa announced the end of the strike on August 31, 1980, to the Dead Vistula River area.
The monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers, with the controversial towers of the Bastion Walowa housing development in the background
photo: Ewa Karendys
The plots have changed owners several times, ending up in the hands of foreign investment funds and developers. The swallow heralding new investments was the European Solidarity Center, built in 2014 with funds from Gdansk and an EU grant. The rusty lump resembling a ship's hull initially provoked discussions, but its bold architecture blended well with the city's skyline.
Great emotions were aroused by Fr. Popieluszko Street (formerly Nowa Walowa Street) running through the post-shipyard area. Money for the construction of the artery was put up by one of the developers and the city. Although it was intended to communicate and revitalize the district, it cut the shipyard area in half. Experts called for splitting the wide artery into three human-scale streets, but these voices were not heard.
In 2014, Fr. Popieluszko Street was created, cutting through the post shipyard area
photo: Ewa Karendys
"no" to demolitions
And private investments? Only by the ECSbuilding has a small office building sprung up recently. Developers for years tempted with nice visuals, but the vast majority of projects have not been realized. Instead, many valuable post-shipyard halls began to disappear. Among other things, the former pattern shop and the director's villa were erased from the city's landscape, because... they interfered with the construction of a new artery.
recently, an office building by the RWS Group company was built next to the ECS, one of the few new private investments in the area
photo: Ewa Karendys
Activists and residents began to push for greater protection of the post-shipyard heritage, and there was even an initiative called "No to Demolition of the Gdansk Shipyard," defending the old halls from demolitions that investors were behind.
"First and foremost, our goal was to support the provincial historic preservation officer in recording the shipyard buildings and saving the most valuable ones. We don't want to make the former shipyard sites into an open-air museum, but we want a modern waterfront district to be created there, making use of the historical heritage." -said activists from the initiative "No to Demolition of Gdansk Shipyard" [cf. "GW Trójmiasto", 09.04.2015].
However, it was not only demolitions, but also imprecise local plans that hit the ambitious visions of the Young City. The zoning plans adopted by city councilors in 2004 gave investors a free hand, and in many places planners did not even set a height limit for buildings. The effects of such freedom can be seen in the example of the Bastion Walowa housing development. Right next to Solidarity Square, controversial fifty-five-meter towers have sprung up. A wave of criticism descended on them for their appearance and urban planning solutions.
The towers of the Bastion Walowa housing development
Photo: Ewa Karendys
In a letter to the investor, people of science, culture, art or urban activists appealed for a change in the project. Unfortunately, without result.
"The architectural and urban planning solutions, although in accordance with the local zoning plan, are more suited to the modernist suburbs than to downtown Gdansk," they wrote. - they wrote.
Imperial Shipyard and the Road to Freedom
How the area of the so-called Imperial Shipyard could change was shown in 2018 by architects and urban planners from Danish studio Henning Larsen. In the master plan they developed, they proposed high-rise buildings reaching up to one hundred and thirty-three meters at the ends of the plot, and in the heart of the site, among the adapted shipyard halls, they planned lower buildings.
Apartments, office buildings, cafes... New buildings next to renovated halls - this is how the Imperial Shipyard area could change
© Henning Larsen
The Road to Freedom - a representative promenade overgrown with an apple orchard - also looked good in the visualizations. The international competition for its design was won by architects from Warsaw-based Group 5 Architects. The city's investment was supposed to begin in 2015, but did not take off until today.
"Road to Freedom" project, proj.: Grupa 5 Architekci
© Group 5 Architects
Under protection?
Major investments have stalled. Instead, a change of course on the part of the provincial conservationist has been evident in recent years. In 2018, the then-conservator of monuments announced that she would tighten protection and enter the Gdansk Shipyard grounds in the register of monuments within the boundaries up to 1989. Not only that, but the conservator ruled that buildings under construction within the Young City should not exceed thirty meters in height (that's how tall the ECS is), and her successor upheld this condition. This has confused investors, who - according to the local zoning plan - were also planning tall buildings. The move is related to the government's efforts to inscribe the post-shipyard area on the UNESCO World Heritage List. For now, most investors question the legitimacy of the inscriptions, claiming that they will tie their hands and make it difficult to develop a part of the city that has been waiting for development for years.
The latest decision on the entry was made on January 7 this year, and concerns another part of the Gdansk Shipyard - the former Schichau Shipyard (the conservator had also previously decided to enter the Imperial Shipyard). Thirty-seven plots of land and seventeen structures were protected, including a sheet metal building, two ironworks, workshop and storage facilities.
"The special value of the site is its connection to the recent history of Poland, Europe and the world due to the spontaneous social movement that resulted in the establishment of the Solidarity Trade Union in 1980 [...]. Lech Walesa and Anna Walentynowicz had their work stations at the Gdansk Shipyard site," - justified the restorer.
desirable compromise
The protection of the most valuable post-shipyard buildings is most needed. The snag is that these decisions are made too late, at a time when a series of demolitions has already taken place. There is also discussion about extending protection to those plots of land that are currently vacant. It should be borne in mind that the area will not gain new life without private capital. It is the investors putting up buildings who will also renovate existing halls and adapt them to new functions. Therefore, a compromise is necessary. And this is from both sides.
The plot next to the ECS is waiting to be developed
photo: Ewa Karendys
Perhaps its example will be the new investment planned next to the European Solidarity Center. One of the developers has bought a nearly three-hectare plot of land there and is trying to build residential, office and service buildings. He wants them to be between sixteen and thirty meters high.
no vision
A district with modern architecture and respect for the material industrial heritage should be created in the Young City area. The trouble is that although dozens of debates, workshops or seminars have been held on the post-shipyard areas, publications have been issued, and even a Young City Stakeholder Council has been formed, the effects in the space are not visible. There is a lack of a coherent vision accepted by all parties: residents, developers, city authorities and the conservation office. It is still unclear what concessions developers will make in the face of increasing preservation protection, and whether and what kind of development will be accepted by the preservationist.
{AuthorAiB}
journalist for Gazeta Wyborcza Trójmiasto
