New Study for Warsaw now officially public

Kacper Kępiński

07 of June '23

Study Graphics

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This time it's official—the draft of the new Study of Conditions and Directions for Spatial Development of Warsaw has been published. After the fallout from the RDOŚ' s public release of the draft document, the city authorities are directing the finished project to consultations with residents. What does the Study provide for and how to submit comments?

The Study is a vision of the city's spatial development, called a „spatial constitution” by the Warsaw authorities. The textual part and drawings show how the city should develop over the coming decades. Based on the Study, more detailed local plans are drawn up for individual areas of the city. The local plans must comply with the Study. However, this system will soon change.

priorities for action

A new Study has been in preparation since 2018. Meanwhile, in March 2023, a government bill amending the Law on Spatial Planning and Development and some other laws was submitted to the Parliament. The draft concerns simplifying, unifying and speeding up spatial planning procedures by, among other things, introducing a new planning tool, enacted obligatorily for the entire municipality, with the rank of a local act—a general plan, which will replace the Study. Municipalities will have until the end of 2025 to do so.

planned polycentricity of the city

The new Study will therefore be in force for a short time, but the information and opinions gathered during its development and agreement will provide valuable material for the development of the general plan. Also, the instability of the planning system in Poland should not affect the work already undertaken—whether the law will come into force is still uncertain.

We want Warsaw to be a friendly, open-minded city that is resilient to various crises. Sustainable spatial development is essential to realize this vision. The aim of the Study is to create a development framework for a good, healthy and functional space for living in Warsaw. Among other things, there are guidelines for development, green areas, the functional organization of the city, the transportation system—Warsaw City Hall.

development typologies

In creating the new document, it has already been consulted twice with the residents of Warsaw. At the very beginning of the work, in 2018, almost 25,000 proposals were collected. The most important turned out to be greenery. Based on the submitted proposals and numerous analyses and studies, the assumptions for the draft of the new Study were created. In 2021, these assumptions were again publicly consulted.

read also: The draft of the new Study of Warsaw has leaked. How will the capital develop?

existing and planned green areas

At the stage when the Study was being reviewed by external institutions, the documents were leaked. One of them made the contents of the document available upon official request. We are talking about the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection, which is the last office in line to agree on the "spatial constitution."

In our opinion, this is not the best practice, the RDOŚ should have referred the applicant to the City Council, which is the author of the document," Monika Beuth, spokeswoman for the Warsaw City Hall, assessed at the time—However, I do not have a clear legal opinion on the matter, it is probably debatable.

area of the center of the capital

The publicized draft of the Study was not the final document, but a working version. There were many changes in the draft itself, introduced on the basis of requests and consultations with institutions.

In mid-March we received a letter from the Regional Directorate of Environmental Protection refusing to agree with the draft Study. The Bureau of Architecture and Spatial Planning of the City of Warsaw immediately established close cooperation with this institution to work out solutions and make possible amendments," explains Marlena Happach, Director of the Bureau of Architecture and Spatial Planning.—The draft Study released on May 9, 2023 by the Regional Director of Environmental Protection in Warsaw is an outdated version of the document, functioning in a working mode in contacts with the RDOŚ. The postulates and comments that began flowing to us immediately cannot be used formally in any way. Some of them, moreover, concern issues already corrected in the newer version of the draft. Any comment that can be taken into account by the Mayor in the course of a decision, in accordance with the law, must be submitted in the formal procedure for the submission and collection of comments on the draft Study.

The currently displayed draft of the Study is the official document after all agreements. However, the assumptions that were read out in the document published by the RDOŚ have not changed. These include limiting the height of new skyscrapers to 180 meters, five subway lines, new Vistula River crossings or streetcar lines. Also remaining in the draft Study are controversial solutions that have raised questions about their economic viability, such as the tunnel under Powązki or the grandly drawn planned covering of Wisłostrada with a park.

Detailed information on the city's „spatial constitution” is available at konsultacje.um.warszawa.pl and the city's map service. You can get acquainted with both determinants and directions of development, drawings and texts, as well as studies that are not directly the content of the Study, but serve as supporting materials. Among them are typologies of urban development, prepared by the Office of Architecture and Spatial Planning, ranging from single-family housing, through modernist estates, open quarters to compact urban development, regulations on the formation of public spaces or those related to the dimensions of buildings and distances between them.

scale of development

The submission of the Study document is carried out on the basis of the Law on Spatial Planning and Development. Under this law, we are obliged to ensure equal access to information for all interested parties, to do it with due notice and at the places and times stipulated by the legislator," explains Marlena Happach.

An exhibition at the Zodiac—Warsaw Architecture Pavilion, which is part of the official display of the document, also talks extensively about the Study. The exhibition will be open until September 29, 2023. During its duration, consultation meetings are also planned for each district separately (announced for June this year). The main public discussion will take place on June 21 in the Marble Room of the Palace of Culture and Science. In addition, the discussion will be broadcast on the YouTube platform. It is worth remembering that the participation of residents in the preparation of the Study must be formalized. Comments can be submitted electronically and in writing, as well as during the public discussion.