STRATEGIC CONDITIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRI-CITY . CONFLICTS AND COOPERATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE METROPOLITAN ACT

The aim of this work is to present the conditions for the development of Tri-City as the main metropolitan centre of northern Poland. The article is also an attempt to evaluate the current process of cooperation and conflicts between metropolitan cities and the possibility of introducing a metropolitan union in Tri-City. Tri-City has been presented against the background of the main urban centres in the country and the area has been subjected to the delimitation test. Successes in the field of joint investment projects of cities were presented. Criticisms have been made of the existing integration forms of communes established in the metropolitan area. The conducted analysis confirmed strong integration processes and the possibility of introducing a Metropolitan Union in Tri-City as modelled on Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolia (GZM). This paper presents a research method a case study, in which comparative analysis was used. Quantitative and qualitative description methods, statistical data, and analysis of documents regarding integration initiatives have been applied.


Introduction
Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot are cities with poviat rights, which constitute what is known as Tri-City.In the immediate surroundings of Tri-City, there are cities such as, for example,

Determinants of Tri-City development
By delimiting and identifying metropolitan areas in Poland, Tri-City can be classified as a polycentric region with medium-sized cities whose populations range from 200,000 to 500,000 (Smętowski, 2007, p.209), with Gdansk and Gdynia counted separately.W. Dziemianowicz and P. Świaniewicz, who described the hierarchy of the size of regional centres in Poland, listed 13 such areas (Jałowiecki,2000, p.24).The population potential of Tri-City places this area in the group of the most populated six urban centres in Poland, whose population exceeds 500,000.The delimited area includes, among others, the communes belonging to the Metropolitan Transport Union of the Gulf of Gdansk, a purpose-related union established to integrate public transport in the metropolitan area.The association consists of 14 local government units.However, this is not the only approach to classifying the agglomeration of this metropolitan area.The Pomerianian Voivodship's spatial development plan for the Tricity Metropolitan Area (Uchwała, 2009), adopted by the parliament of Pomeranian Voivodship1 , covers the area run by as many as 31 local government units (Auksztol et al., 2011).This only shows the region's aspirations to build a strong metropolitan centre.The area of 31 municipalities is a functional area of the agglomeration.In the same plan, the Tri-City of Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot is called the centre of the metropolis (Auksztol et al., 2011) and is the most dynamic area of economic development on the Gulf of Gdansk.The Spatial Development Plan for the Gdansk Metropolitan Area (OM) Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot 2030 goes beyond the boundaries of the functional area of the voivodeship centre and corresponds to the spatial extent of the area within the boundaries of cooperation within the Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot Association (OMG-GS), or 49 communes and 8 land poviats (Plan, 22.06.2018).Therefore, in taking advantage of such a concept, the Tri-City Metropolis can include from 3 to 57 units (Plan, 22 June 2018).
The concept of the Spatial Development of the Country 2030 adopted on 15 June 2012 by the Sejm (Polish parliament) raises metropolitan issues indicating that the most important points of the metropolitan network in the future will be: Warsaw, Upper Silesian Agglomeration (Katowice together with cities forming the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union), Lodz, Krakow, Tri-City (Gdansk -Sopot -Gdynia with the main urban centre in Gdansk), Wroclaw, Poznan, Szczecin, a newly-created Bydgoszcz -Torun duopoly and Lublin (Law on metropolises, 24 March 2018 ).In general, the classification of Polish metropolises is as follows: Warsaw with the dominant position, followed by Poznan and Krakow, followed by Wroclaw, Lodz and the Tri-City (U.Markowska-Przybyła, 2006, p.221).The importance of these urban centres for the development of regions and the whole country is also determined by their economic potential.Economic activity in Tri-City, compared to other large cities, is not high.The highest index refers to the city of Warsaw, then to Poznan and Wroclaw.However, as far as the GDP per capita indicator is concerned, the situation looks a little better.Tri-City occupies the 5 th position in the country among provincial cities.The per capita GDP of Tri-City is high, but other sub-regions, such as Wroclaw, the Katowice sub-region, and Poznan are developing faster than the Tri-City.These municipal centres will have the largest budgets that will allow for the implementation of key infrastructure projects to enable our country to integrate into the global circulation of people and capital.Figure 2 shows that the income of Tri-City local governments is high and indicates a significant wealth of residents.This enables the implementation of many public investments independently or in cooperation with other local government units.On the other hand, high incomes 2 support the development of an autonomous development policy by cities, and ultimately integration.Table 1 and Figure 1 show that both in terms of economic activity and per capita GDP, Tri-City takes a less prominent place among large Polish urban centres.Such a situation should cause reflection and perhaps lead to the deepening of integration.
The conditions for the development of the individual cities within Tri-City have been shaped by history.Each city has a different historical baggage.The different ages of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia (1000, 100 and 80 years, respectively) show the discrepancies that shape their current development strategies based on strong local identities.The population potential of the individual cities also indicates a large disparity between them.Gdansk with approx.460,000 inhabitants is 12 times larger than Sopot and also much larger than Gdynia, which has a population of about 250,000 (GUS, 2018).All the cities owe their creation to the sea, with Sopot developing as a place of tourism and seaside recreation, while Gdansk and Gdynia have focussed more on industrial development.Gdansk and Gdynia strongly defend their independence.They have separate seaports and airports.There are plans for using all the available airports in Pomeranian Voivodeship to create an air hub (Ruciński, 2011, p. 37-41).
The functional dualism is visible and extends to many areas of activity of the cities.Nevertheless, based on the developed strategic documents (Strategia Rozwoju Gdańska, 14 April 2018;Strategia Rozwoju Miasta Gdyni 11 April 2018, Plan Strategiczny Miasta Sopotu,11 April 2018), it can be said that Gdansk seeks to be the actual leader of the agglomeration, with a developed cultural function, modern innovative economy and maritime economy, while Gdynia is trying to be an alternative to Gdansk in at least a few areas.Sopot, on the other hand, consistently develops tourist and spa functions.The spa function, while 2 The revenues of Sopot per capita in 2016 amounted to PLN 8076 and reached the level close to Warsaw.In Gdańsk, per capita income amounted to PLN 6035 and was higher than in Poznań, while Gdynia recorded PLN 6506.As can be seen from Table 2, the function is evenly distributed.Residents and companies from Tri-City revolve in the same functional space, as they compete and cooperate with each other.The residents of the whole agglomeration live, work, run businesses and relax in each of the cities.This fact is conducive to deepening the integration of the cities.The competition between the cities of the seaside agglomeration is mentioned by B. Jałowiecki.He emphasises that the factor conducive to cooperation is the bandwidth agglomeration system (Jałowiecki, 2000,p.24),which determines the first important level of cooperation i.e. the integration of public transport.This area is the most important cooperation achievement so far, which is emphasized in the joint document -Strategy 2030.The aim of Strategy 2030 is to create mechanisms to strengthen the cohesion of the Metropolis by coordinating activities, intersectoral cooperation and obtaining compromise solutions for better development of each of the entities forming the Metropolis (Strategy, 17 May 2018).However, improving the quality of life in cities requires finding the happy medium between the need for economic development and the protection of natural and cultural resources (Wołek, 2015, p. 2), so strongly emphasized in the strategies of individual cities.

Characteristics of the main integration projects of Tri-City
A characteristic feature of joint initiatives is that cities undertake integration activities in areas that require large financial outlays.The problem of financing very large expenditure is a strong integration factor.In terms of the forms of cooperation, an inter-commune agreement and an association of local authorities can be distinguished, i.e. a more permanent institutionalized form of cooperation, creating a separate legal entity.The first large joint integration project was the construction of the Płonia-Wschód (Encyklopedia Gdańska, 10 April 2018) sewage treatment plant.For Gdansk, this is a priority investment which brings improvements in the cleanliness of the water in the Gulf of Gdansk.For Sopot, which did not have sufficient field reserves for the construction of its own treatment plant, cooperation with Gdansk meant a problem of sewage disposal.At the same time, for a city that aspired to be a seaside resort, clean water in the Gulf of Gdansk is important.Therefore, consistency of goals turned out to be crucial.
Another undertaking was the organization of public transport in Sopot.The city did not have its own, and because of the limited field reserves in the city, it is extremely difficult to build a depot for the rolling stock.Sopot solved this problem by agreeing with neighbouring municipalities and subsidising passenger transport on Sopot lines served by carriers.Both cities showed understanding for Sopot in terms of cooperation on public transport, but the subject of public communication went far beyond solving the problem of one city.This applied to all cities of the agglomeration.Thus, the next stage of integration was to establish the Metropolitan Transport Union of the Gulf of Gdansk (MZKZG, 18 May 2018) responsible for the implementation of one metropolitan ticket for public transport in the Tri-City and neighbouring municipalities.The first phase of integration has already been achieved.The metropolitan ticket in paper form exists.The next step was the introduction of an electronic ticket.
Another area of cooperation is the functioning of the rapid city transit railway system -Szybka Kolej Miejska (SKM).SKM is the transport backbone of the metropolitan area.It connects municipalities from Lebork in the north to Pruszcz Gdanski in the south.Local governments decided to take shares in PKP SKM w Trójmieście Sp. z o.o.(SKM, 10 April 2018) and thanks to this, were able to modernise and repair railway stations in individual cities.In addition, it is worth mentioning that a very important project connecting the Tri-City and the surrounding communes was the construction of a new railway line called Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway, creating a new transport corridor west of the metropolis (PKM, 15 August 2018).
Infrastructural projects also concerned the construction of a new passenger terminal at the airport in Rębiechów.Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot and the Regional Government of Pomorskie are shareholders in Lech Walesa Airport (Port lotniczy, 28 April 2018) and provided joint financial support for the development of the passenger service infrastructure.Even Gdynia, which built an independent alternative airport in Kosakowo, lent some support by constructing a modern terminal.However, this example shows that Gdynia has its own independent policy.The second airport could be competition for Gdansk airport, just as the seaport in Gdynia is competition for the sea port in Gdansk.
A significant investment venture was the construction of a sports and entertainment arena on the border of Gdansk and Sopot, which was one of the first projects in Poland to build such a large sports and entertainment facility.In the case of this investment, an important role was played by the idea of extending the tourist season in the Tri-City for the winter months.The roofed building gives the opportunity to conduct all-year-round events with an audience of approx.15,000.(Hala Gdańsk-Sopot, 14 May 2018) At the same time, it is worth mentioning that Gdynia did not take part in the above-mentioned project and decided to build its own arena for 4,000 people.
Another example of Gdynia's ambition is its support project for SMEs evident in the construction of the Science and Technology Park (PPN-T, 11 May 2018).There are over 150 companies based in the park.At the same time, Gdansk developed its own Science and Technology Park, the extension of which was completed in 2013(GPN-T, 15 May 2018).
A good example of cooperation in the northern area of the agglomeration is the establishment of an association of the local authorities of Dolina Redy and Chylonki.The task of the association is to run a waste dump for municipalities from the northern part of the metropolis.The union includes Sopot, Gdynia, Rumia, Reda.
Joint road projects can be seen primarily in the construction of the so-called Green Road co-financed by Gdansk and Sopot.This road runs along the border between the two cities and leads to the aforementioned sports and entertainment hall.It should be noted in this context that the cities have divergent directions of road infrastructure development.Gdansk is developing a road network in the southern and western directions, with the aim of connecting the sea and airport via dual-carriageways with the A1 motorway and at the same time create the so-called Obwodnica (Ring Road) around the city.Gdynia is developing its network towards the west, aiming to achieve the same goal of connecting the port with the A1 motorway.However, the integration directions of either city clearly ignore Sopot.There was no joint project to build a tunnel near Sopot.This observation leads to the conclusion that the road system in the individual cities is clearly being developed according to the internal needs of the cities rather than along the north-south axis, which would serve to move people within the Tri-City.There are, however, examples of positive integration projects in the area of communication infrastructure such as the joint construction by the cities of the intelligent traffic management system 'Tristar' (Tristar, 19 April 2018) and the implementation of the Metropolitan Railway project, implemented primarily in Gdansk but ultimately integrating the entire Tri-City and connecting it with Kashubia.

Characteristics of the main integration entities
The question that arises here is whether to set up a special institution supporting or even forcing integration, such as the metropolitan union, or to leave the bottom-up type of integration that is taking place at the moment.
The current path of integration began in the 1990s and took place as part of a broad discussion on local government reform and the territorial division of the country (Inicjatywy metropolitalne, 22 March 2018).An important event was the establishment in 2003 of the uninstitutionalized Gdansk Bay Metropolitan Council, composed of representatives of the larger metropolis, i.e. presidents, mayors and council leaders of Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot, Pruszcz Gdanski, Żukowa, Kolbudy, Kosakowa, Reda, Rumia and Wejherowo and the Marshall of the Pomorskie Voivodeship.The Marshall of the Pomorskie Voivodeship became the chairman of the Council, and one of the main goals of the council was to agree to conclude an agreement to introduce a metropolitan ticket.After about 10 years there was another integration stage, which unfortunately ended unhappily.The two integration formulas created in the metropolitan area are mutual rivals.The first of them is the Gdansk Metropolitan Area Association, which was established in September 2011.Currently, its name is the association Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area (Metropolia Gdańsk, 3 May 2018).
The second of them is the Metropolitan Forum of Council Leaders, Mayors and Presidents of NORDA established in September 2013, whose main goal was to implement the construction of the Northern Bypass of the Tri-City Agglomeration.In this respect, cooperation in the so-called Small Tri-City of Kashubia, or the cities of Rumia, Reda and Wejherowo (NORDA, 22 May 2018).
The creation of two organisations as forums for discussion on the development of one agglomeration clearly indicates a significant problem in terms of the possibilities in coordinating one body of cooperation for the entire metropolis.The method of operation of both the association and forum (which is not an association or a union) show that the main driving force of integration is the Association of OM GGS.The participants of the Norda forum are members of the OM GGS, but as a powerful interest group they strongly emphasise the necessity to develop the northern part of the metropolis.
Another strong link in the integration of the Tri-City is ZZIT, i.e. the Union of Integrated Territorial Investments of Pomeranian Voivodship, which operates as an association of communes and poviats.ZZIT creating a spatially and functionally homogeneous metropolitan area, acted until June 2015 under an agreement.Its main task is to perform primarily the function of an Intermediate Body (IB) for the Regional Operational Program of the Pomorskie Voivodeship for the years 2014-2020 (RPO WP 2014-2020).In order to obtain the allocated financial resources, the union developed a strategy which definesbased on an assessment of development barriers and potentialsthe objectives, directions of development, principles of cooperation and the most important projects to be implemented.
The scope of intervention of the Regional Operational Program of the Pomorskie Voivodeship focuses on the economic sphere, employment, integration, health, conversion, mobility, energy, i.e. the use of specific potentials of particular areas.Funds in the amount of EUR 259.281.039, or 13.9% of the program, were earmarked for financing (Metropolia Gdansk, 3 May 2018).As part of the Enterprise's priority axis, support is provided for business environment institutions.Integration includes socio-professional activation, development of social services and support for social economy entities.There are plans for comprehensive revitalization projects in the cities as part of the Conversion priority axis, .As part of the Mobility priority axis, it is planned to support urban transport and regional railway infrastructure.The largest allocations under ITI are for mobility (28.71%) and energy use (24.25%), followed by (16%) and urban regeneration (Conversion), 15.95%.The final results of the implementation of projects should be awaited.Undoubtedly, ZITs are continuing and supporting cooperation between the cities of OM GGS, also in new areas such as health policy, energy, social policy and professional support.

Cooperation or conflicts
In the development of the Gdansk agglomeration, two opposite development trends can be noticed during the whole period of economic transformation.The first of these can be called the internal process of formulating strategies and convergence, dictated by the need for a break with the communist economy.After gaining freedom, cities began to develop public services very dynamically.The authorities in this period were taken over by the circles that had been holding it continuously since the first local government elections in 1990.The consequence of this state of affairs are the huge ambitions of these communities to continue the policy implemented over the years, which led to a high level of urban development, but at the same time liberated considerable forces to compete with each other.Therefore, according to T. Markowski, the cities simply compete with each other, trying to gain a direct and indirect advantage over other cities (Markowski, 1999, p.103).Despite many verbal allegations of a lack of integration, Tri-City has successfully implemented numerous joint investments.They are, however, trying to cooperate and join forces in many areas.The previously implemented ideas have been successful, especially in the case of public transport and communication infrastructure.
On the other hand, it does not seem that the cities are willing to deepen integration.In areas such as promotion, secondary education, social welfare, integration could be deeper as a result of the combined Tri-City market, although the first examples of cooperation using the ZIT formula can already be seen.
The question arises as to whether the reconciliation of the interests of cities could take place through the introduction of a law on the metropolitan union.Imposition by the state would be an administrative solution to the problem, but it is not known whether with unsatisfied ambitions of individual cities, excessive centralization of tasks for the sake of development coordination would cause major conflicts between cities and ultimately reduce the competitiveness of the entire system.
A similar view was given to the entities that took part in the survey of the Ministry of Administration and Digitization in 2013.Most of them opted for creating intercommunal associations, possibly commune-poviat associations, ultimately supporting the formation of metropolitan poviats.The process of integration and formation of metropolitan systems should be bottom-up, and intercommunal associations should be created for a specific purpose, that is, for specific tasks such as creating joint spatial plans, preparing development strategies for the entire area, or improving public transport (Prawo o metropoliach, 24 March 2018).
In this spirit, a law on metropolitan unions was introduced in Poland in 2015 (Ustawa 2015).On the basis of this law, however, no metropolitan connection was established.It was quite a loose concept because it required the consent of the majority of municipalities in the given area.The law was therefore dead.The municipalities could not agree.In the end, a new law was implemented, which focused exclusively on selected municipalities of Upper Silesia.By repealing the previous act, a metropolitan union called Górnośląsko-Zagłębioska Metropolia (GZM) was established (Ustawa 2017).The tasks to be carried out in in this respect are: 1) Shaping the spatial order, 2) The social and economic development of the metropolitan area, 3) Development of public transport 4) Metropolitan passenger transport 5) Cooperation in determining the course of national and provincial roads in the area of the metropolitan union 6) Promotion of the metropolitan union and its area 7) Other tasks performed by agreement From the existing areas of Tri-City integration, it can be seen that they can be one of the tasks of the association established for Upper Silesia, those assigned by law and potential ones such as tasks in the field of physical culture and tourism, counteracting unemployment and promoting the activation of the local labour market, water supply, sewage, removal and treatment of municipal sewage, disposal of municipal waste, energy policy and a common system of security for residents and health care (Metropolia Silesia, 26 June 2018).It is worth noting that the popular ranking of quality of life in cities placed the individual cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot in the lead for quality of life (Indeks Jakości Życia, 15 August 2018).It can be noticed that their potentials and quality of life are similar, therefore it is a factor conducive to further integration.

Conclusion
From the above analysis, it can be seen that projects that have been developed so far with the good will of Tri-City's local governments and also within the ZIT can be largely implemented further by the established association similar to GZM.The metropolitan union for can count on a 5 percent share in PIT.The territorial range of Pomeranian metropolis remains unknown, but it should be as wide as possible, as suggested by the strategy of the Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot Metropolitan Area.The conclusion that arises based on the implementation of joint projects shows that the Tri-City is ready to implement the law adequate for the Silesian metropolis.Integration achievements are significant and a strong argument in favour of the establishment of a metropolitan union for the Tri-City and the surrounding area on the model of Upper Silesia.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Gross Domestic Product in selected sub-regions per capita in 2014 in PLN million.Source: Gross Domestic Product, Regional Accounts in 2009, Central Statistical Office, Katowice 2011, p.100-104.Own study according to GUS data.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Budget revenue per capita in selected cities in 2016 Source: the author's own study based on GUS data, Local Data Bank protection requirements, causes a collision in the development concepts of neighbouring cities.

Table 1 : Economic activity in selected voivodship cities
Source: the author's own study based on GUS data, Local Data Bank