Kraków has announced plans for a “multifunctional green city” that will house up to 100,000 “new Cracovians” once it is complete.
The almost 700-hectare area will accommodate culture and sports facilities alongside residential and businesses spaces. It will feature 65 hectares of parks and forests, as well as a hospital.
“We are trying to design the district to meet the challenges of the present day, such as counteracting climate change, environmental protection, and eliminating so-called heat islands,” said Jerzy Muzyk, Kraków’s deputy mayor.
The “New City” will be located in the southeast of Kraków, 18km east of the main airport and 9km from the old town. The area is currently used for warehouses and industry.
While local law does not permit high-rise buildings to be built in many areas of Kraków, they would be allowed in the new zone, said Muzyk. There would be an allowance for 22 buildings of up to 90 metres and four up to 150 metres.
The plan currently has 2.3 million square metres earmarked for services and 2.1 million square metres of residential spaces. “Up to 100,000 new Cracovians will live and work there,” says the city. Kraków’s current population is around 800,000.
Kraków has been named the world's fifth greenest city in an international ranking
Some local activists expressed scepticism at the index, which is based on analysis of satellite images. They argue that much of Kraków's green space is actually inaccessible https://t.co/C52snfvV6t
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There will also be a park along the Drwina stream that runs through the district. Combined with the forested area at the end of distract near Plaszów, there will be 65-hectares of green space, larger than the 48-hectare Błonia meadow in central Kraków.
There will also be 5.5 hectares of sports facilities and 4 hectares of cultural facilities. According to Muzyk, the project is the city’s first urban development plan to comprehensively cover so many functions in a single area
In connection to the plan, the city also wants to extend its public transport network to enable travel between the district and the other parts of the city. Current investments already include the extension of a tram line as well as a network of new streets connecting to the area.
Kraków has announced plans to build a "premetro", a partially underground rapid transit system.
The line, due to open in 2033, would link western and eastern districts through the historic city centre, at an estimated cost of at least 5.8 billion zloty https://t.co/pji36TFHth
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The city is also planning two other modernisation projects, which will involve developing the area around Balice airport and modernising the communist-era Nowa Huta district.
The plan will become publicly available later this autumn and is on schedule to be adopted by the end of 2021. Businesses currently operating in the area are to be covered by a 10-year adjustment period.
Main image credit: “Nowe Miasto” w Krakowie/Kraków PL/Facebooktw
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
