Miasta nadwodne. Problemy rozwoju i strategiczne zarządzanie

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Waterside Cities. Development problems and strategic management

Monograph by Sławomir Doburzyński and Marek Dutkowski entitled “Waterside Cities. Development problems and strategic management” aims to learn and systematize the state of knowledge and directions of further research in the field of the formation, functioning and development of waterside cities, to learn the essence of a waterside city and the relationship between the city and the water body, and to identify factors that determine the importance and development success of waterside cities and this, which determines their success or failure in their internal structure and methods of functioning. The widest possible spectrum of natural, social, economic, historical, and random factors was considered. Their co-occurrence and mutual interpenetration corresponds to the wealth of variants in the order of functioning and development of waterside cities while maintaining key features justifying defining them as a separate class of objects, making comparisons and drawing conclusions and generalizations in relation to them. The use of various sources referring to urban traditions and economic systems from all parts of the world leads to the conclusion that the literature on the subject lacks an orderly and effective conceptual matrix and theoretical instruments for the main question of the work. It was therefore necessary to attempt to achieve – in addition to cognitive goals – also important methodological goals in the form of introducing a uniform research perspective for a wide class of objects based on determining the sequence of conditions for the development of waterside cities, as well as formulating an original method of describing and analysing aspects important for assessing the development of a waterside city in form of a waterside city development model. The research procedure therefore had to consist in collecting and organizing sources and reviewing them within the framework of a possibly universal concept of the city’s development process and its relationship with space. In the course of the work, this concept was expressed in the above-mentioned autonomous theoretical proposal.

The work consists of five chapters. The first chapter synthetically presents the cognitive, methodological, and practical aspects of research on waterside cities. The geographical nature of the waterside city phenomenon and its cognitive and methodological consequences were emphasized. At the same time, however, the practical importance of geographical knowledge for the management of waterside areas was indicated. The next chapter of the work focuses on systematizing aspects related to the creation, functioning and development of waterside cities, with emphasis on the individual character or typicality of cases identified during own observations or referred to in the literature on the subject. The third chapter shifts attention to the sphere of administrative and management practice responsible – to a large extent – for using natural potentials or counteracting threats resulting from the waterside location. The concept of development is seen and systematized here not as a resultant of phenomena and processes taking place in the political, economic, and social space, but as a matter of conscious and directed human activity aimed at specific goals. In this sense, development success is understood and presented as the result primarily of the ability to act effectively, and not a consequence of external events that are beyond the influence of the local community.

The fourth chapter contains a broad discussion of the development factors of waterside cities. The author’s starting point for this perspective is the concept of functional relations as a fundamental paradigm for the functioning of the city, its components, and the urban community of orientation in physical, economic, and social space. Several approaches were proposed that best – in the authors’ opinion – explaining the development paths of waterside cities of various classes and locations and the long-term processes taking place in them: the implementation of the gateway function, the regional dimension of the existence and impact of the city, the phenomenon of metropolisation, participation in the global network of cities, as well as the Polish example relative indifference to the waterside location and the importance of urban centres.

Chapter five discusses the rich experience gained in many countries in the management of waterside areas and cities, both in the context of conclusions drawn from numerous floods and rising levels of the world ocean, and in relation to the growing awareness of the importance and value of valuable urban waterside areas, post-port and post-shipyard areas. Selected practices in this area are presented, resulting from literature searches and the author’s observations. The issue of formulating and implementing strategic management in the context of waterside cities of various classes of size and character was discussed, considering dominant trends such as revitalization, implementation of large projects in the waterside area, and especially the conditions for the functioning of water.