The work of the team developing the current development strategy for Zgierz has begun. This document, which is crucial for the future of the city, will contain the directions of activities undertaken in the coming years in order to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants.
The document is titled as follows: “Development Strategy for the City of Zgierz for 2023-2030 with a perspective until 2040”. It is accompanied by a second study entitled “City development program based on the Smart City concept”. Since the scopes of both projects are complementary, one working team was appointed to prepare both documents.
The development perspective for Zgierz is to include the Smart City concept, i.e. a smart city that uses modern information and communication technologies for better investment in human and social capital, with raising the awareness of residents in order to wisely manage natural resources.
The meeting inaugurating the work of the team, composed of representatives of individual units of the Zgierz City Hall, was attended by an expert in the field of urban development, Michał Kudłacz, PhD, representing the College of Economy and Public Administration of the Cracow University of Economics. He will develop the texts of both documents, using the opinions of cooperating team members – and at a later stage also from public consultations.
As Mr. Kudłacz informed those present, work on the preparation of both documents will begin with a diagnosis of the current state of the city through a SWOT analysis. The next steps in developing the strategy will then be outlined. The activities of the team appointed to carry out the task are planned until the end of September 2023.
Currently, the commune development strategy is not an obligatory document. However, if changes to the provisions of the Act on Commune Self-Government come into force, from 1 January 2026 each commune in Poland will be obliged to develop such a strategy. Having it makes it easier for the local government to obtain external funds for the implementation of its own tasks. In these times, financially difficult for local governments all over Poland, developing an up-to-date version of the development strategy is a key task.
Development of the Social Development Strategy for the City of Zgierz 2040 and activities related to its implementation (PRI. 2.1) as well as Audit and preparation of a smart city development program (PRI. 2.4) are projects implemented by the City of Zgierz in the project “Zgierz – a modern city after hours” co-financed by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 under the “Local Development” program.
