Eleven academics from the University of Gdańsk have supported the idea of creating a metropolitan association in Pomorskie Voivodeship. They put their signatures to an open letter addressed to MPs in the Polish Parliament, appealing for the support of the metropolitan law. The appeal was initiated by prof. dr hab. Iwona Sagan from the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography at the University of Gdańsk.
Our region has been trying to establish a metropolitan area for years. This formal structure would make it possible to obtain additional funding for regional development, some of which currently goes to the central budget.
- As academics and experts who deal with regional development in their professional capacity and feel co-responsible with local government officials for solving our country's problems, we support the initiative to establish a metropolitan association in the Pomeranian Voivodeship and call for immediate legislative work on the bill passed by the Polish Senate (...) Only strong metropolises can ensure Poland's sustainable economic development - benefiting the residents of cities, towns and villages alike. Avoiding action in this matter would de facto be acting to the detriment of our country while consenting to a long-awaited change would be a positive signal - reads the open letter of the academic community of January 21, 2021.
Prof. dr hab. Iwona Sagan from the Department of Oceanography and Geography at the University of Gdańsk was the co-initiator of an open letter from the scientific community in favour of creating a metropolitan association in Pomorskie Voivodeship, addressed to MPs in the Polish Parliament.
- The need to formalise the metropolitan structure is extremely important because of the necessity to increase the efficiency of joint actions, which is a particular challenge in the case of polycentric metropolitan areas, to which Tri-City belongs. The existence of a stable co-managing structure is always a condition that makes the efficiency and swiftness of actions increase incomparable to loose forms of cooperation in the form of associations and unions - says prof. dr hab. Iwona Sagan. - In addition, the existence of a stable metropolitan structure in the legal sense opens up the possibility of applying not only for central funding but also for funding dedicated specifically to territorial metropolitan structures in the European Union's cohesion policy. A legally established structure for managing this area is a prerequisite for the future functioning of urban areas on a metropolitan scale, and thus for guaranteeing a development dynamic that is commensurate with their potential.