Gdynia, Poland

The municipality of Gdynia is a city in northern Poland located on Gdańsk Bay on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Gdynia has a population of 246,348, which makes it the twelfth-largest city in Poland. The city belongs to the Metropolitan Area Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot with more than 1.5 million citizens. Gdynia is a centre of maritime economy, international trade, science, culture and tourism. The city is focused on green investments by local governments in the development of blue and green infrastructure, sustainable transport, closed-loop economy and sustainable construction as well as educating and involving citizens in participation and deliberative processes. In April 2019 the city adopted the Climate Change Adaptation Plan 2030.

The city of Gdynia has extensive experience in citizen participation. The Social Innovation Laboratory (inter-city project coordination unit) conducts social research, social consultations, manages the participatory budget and implements many projects for activating the residents. It runs several permanent projects, among others, the UrbanLab Gdynia – an open forum for dialogue and discussion about the city, a space for working out solutions for increasing the quality of life in the city. The city has just launched a large project co-funded by Horizon 2020 called REACHOUT – Resilience in Europe through Activating City Hubs reaching Out to Users with Triple-A climate adaptation Tools (LC-GD-9-2-2020). It develops end-user products and services for all stakeholders and citizens supporting climate adaptation and mitigation. REACHOUT will advance climate services for urban environments in seven City Hubs across Europe, developing adaptation strategies integrated in climate resilient urban development. In a series of City Hub workshops, it helps to build up narratives through engagement with municipalities within the region, citizens and the private sector. REACHOUT brings together a highly experienced transdisciplinary team with comprehensive knowledge on climate change adaptation and climate services, experience in working in cities.

REACHOUT enables broad synergy effects with the CONTRA project. The role of the municipality of Gdynia in CONTRA has evolved since the pre-application stage of the proposal from Cooperation Partner to Co-Applicant because of broad involvement of the city in project preparation on the Polish side and possible synergies with the REACHOUT and e-consultation tools implemented in the city.