Польсько-німецьке святкування на кордоні

The Szczecin project to change the Orła Białego Square has been shortlisted for the final of the "Innovation in Politics" competition in the "Democracy" category.

Our efforts were recognised by the Innovation in Politics Institute in Vienna. The jury of 1032 people considered this process to be one of the 10 most important in its field in Europe, although they did consider 413 nominations.

"Congratulations are due, above all, to the residents involved in the project," says Daniel Wacinkiewicz, Deputy Mayor of the City. “It is them who create this place every day and make it live a new life. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the award is certainly a motivation for further action.

The prototyping of the Orła Białego Square is coordinated by the city planner Paweł Jaworski.

"A very intensive period of research and preparation is behind us, and ahead of us is the complete transformation of this place," he said. “I am glad that prototyping has become a positive impulse which has not only helped prepare the residents for changes in this area, but most of all has created a local community, which is the highest value of this place.

"The new life of the square"

The prototyping process conducted in 2019 has clearly indicated the direction of change expected by residents in and around the Orła Białego Square and the real problems and needs of the area. The main elements of the transformation, which is a result of testing temporary solutions and holding numerous meetings, are the following, which have been introduced so far: the elimination of the former car park by significantly increasing the area of greenery, the improvement of safety thanks to the introduction of a traffic calming project (residential zones and speed rate 30 zone), as well as the exclusion of part of the Old Town roads from the category of public roads, and the simultaneous implementation of new parking rules that allow residents to find a parking spaces near their homes and at the same time enforce the rotation of vehicles reaching the district from outside.

The City of Szczecin has been consistently performing its activities on the basis of the data collected and the coordination urban design project developed with the residents entitled "Four Squares of the Old Town". 2020 was an element of this process and at the same time a preliminary step towards broader transformations – towards a project carried out on the basis of project documentation.

More about the competition: https://innovationinpolitics.eu/.../new-life-of-the-square/

More about the project: https://placorla.szczecin.eu/