Sea port as an element of a city sustainability based on city-port of Gdańsk

Abstract

Cities and ports are elements of the socio-economic space of coastal regions and they are integrally interrelated with each other while their development is mutually conditioned. Cooperation of the port and the city usually would bring development of both these elements in the historical perspective. The seaport has always grown and developed along with the city and the region. On the one hand, a port-city performs functions related to maritime economy in the broad sense of the word, i.e. maritime functions, and on the other hand - land functions that result from the city's location in relation to its land base. When the maritime function is overwhelming, the port has a powerful impact on the city, its spatial and economic layout. The very nature of the port has a significant impact on shaping the face of the city and the region. Contemporary cities are currently facing many various problems resulting from their rapid development: debt, commercialization of the public space, degradation of the infrastructure, deteriorating quality of public services, or excessive and inefficient consumption. Since the time concept of sustainable development came into being, it has been adopted as the basis for all activities at various levels of territorial organization, including at the city level. Nonetheless, each tier of development planning has its own specificity, similarly to individual territorial units within a specific tier. This is related but not limited to cities, particularly port-cities, in respect of which sustainable development should be understood a little differently than in other cities, due to the complexity of their relationships and the special role that they play in the economic system. The aim of this article is to indicate such a way of understanding the sustainable development that refers to the specificity of a port-city. Ports and cities interact across many dimensions, however, a more detailed insight how port-cities integrate the port and urban functions is still lacking. The survey conducted among city representatives, businesses and port authorities is to help identify the directions of activities for sustainable development and indicate the common grounds of these activities, where both parties could support each other.