History of the strategic planning process in Gdynia

The resolved in 1990 The Act on Territorial Self - government threw open the door to a transfer of some administrative power from the central level to newly established local municipalities. Taking on the responsibility of democratic management in market economy conditions, the municipality of Gdynia has been confronted with the urgent need to express desirable objectives and directions of the city's development, in order to facilitate the decision-making process in the local administration activities.

Gdynia City Hall initiated work on a strategic plan of local socio-economic development in 1992, through the Baltic Gateways project under the umbrella of the Ouverture programme. The project, financed by the European Common Market, aimed at establishing of a co-operation network between the port cities of North Tyneside (Great Britain), Esbjerg (Denmark), Rostock (Germany) and Gdynia. Taking full advantage of the project's international experts, specialising in maritime economy, economic development, and strategic planning, Gdynia City Hall launched a preliminary strategic planning process.

For the preparation of the Baltic Gateways Conference, four local working groups of 32 members were combined. These working groups included civil servants, councillors, and representatives of major enterprises, scientific and research institutes, and economic chambers. At the conference, the working groups summarised their findings related with physical, social and economic values of the city, vision and aims of its development. They also presented characteristic features of planning for a maritime economy, municipal development, strategic procedures, and ownership transformations.

On June 24, 1992, followed by the resolution of the City Council no. 317/XLV/92, a new Finance and Economic Strategy Commission was founded, with the scope of responsibilities comprising: spatial planning, communal real estate management concepts, economic programmes, ownership transformations and municipal budget. This new commission has been contributing to the strategic planning process through collecting results and pronouncing opinions and motions to the successive working stages.

Two years later, the City Board and the City Council of Gdynia adopted the Strategic Plan for Gdynia - Conditions and Aims of Development as a legal local act (resolution of the City Council no. LXX/682/94 dated April 27, 1994). The document was produced by a team of officials from the City Hall of Gdynia under the guidance of Dr Stanisław Szwabski from the City Board. The team was supported by Prof. Jerzy Kołodziejski and Dr Marek Dutkowski as external consultants. Parallel, a diagnosis on Gdynia's economy was issued (Dutkowski M., [Ed.], 1994, Gdynia 1990-93. Transformations and Development).

The next stage of local strategic planning involved a much broader scale of work for external consultants. Six branch teams were appointed, dealing with the following sectoral policies: economy, housing, education, transportation, social problems and ecology. The consultants were expected to identify local development problems, verify conditions and aims of development contained in the resolved document, and to elaborate scenarios on threats and opportunities for development. The results were presented at specially organised workshops to the councillors, officials from the City Hall, and guests from the outside.

Outcomes of the discussion which took place at these workshops solidified the diagnosis of the city's development (Strategic Plan for Gdynia - Sectoral Policies. Diagnosis) and recommendations flowing from development conditions and scenarios (Strategic Plan for Gdynia - Scenarios and Recommendations). That stage of the work was concluded with a series of six sectoral seminars, attended by civil servants, councillors, external experts, and representatives of local enterprises, and research and scientific institutes. The seventh, overall seminar was directed at providing the team elaborating the Study on Conditions and Directions of Spatial Management of the City of Gdynia with concrete guidelines.

All these previous documents discussions and consultations provide a basis for a newly synthesised Strategic Plan for Gdynia. This present document is a link between the experts' recommendations and future tasks of City Hall departments. It will also prepare a firm ground for the municipality and local enterprises on more fruitful co-ordination of development plans.

This Strategic Plan for Gdynia - Development Objectives and Executive Tasks comprises a current diagnosis of the socio-economic state of the city screened through the latest statistic data, followed by enumeration of the strong and weak points of the city, and the threats and opportunities for its development. This document also presents conditions of the Gdynia's development on the local, regional, and national scale, as well as in the context of the Baltic Sea Region and European Union. The declared mission of the municipality, revealed in the following pages, leads to the enumerated development objectives of the city. The objectives have been set in a hierarchy, starting from the overarching goal, through general and detailed goals, and ending with executive tasks. Each task has a designated City Hall administrative unit or department that is responsible for its completion within a specified time horizon. The financial feasibility analysis then prioritises those tasks whose implementation is crucial for the stable development of Gdynia.

This present document does not constitute the final stage in Gdynia's strategic planning, since it requires constant updating to respond to changing conditions. Further stages should lead in the following directions: