Analysis

Zabrze launches ErgoCity initiative

The Polish city of Zabrze launched ErgoCity, a new and friendly philosophy which merges life and work in city agglomerations and creates cohesive urban narratives.

“The city is building an entirely new district with modern houses and innovative solutions, a concept that hasn’t been done yet in Poland. We hope to be the first to develop it,” Marcin Bania, head of the Investors Service Centre at Zabrze city hall told Emerging Europe, at MIPIM, the world’s largest property market.

The “ergo” solution means creating an intelligent neighbourhood for everyone, which provides a high quality of life where urban pro-social and pro-ecological programmes are designed in accordance to global trends. Not only through smart houses but also focusing on transportation, putting electro-mobility and ride-sharing at the heart of the city’s functionality.

“Over the last 12 months we had more than a dozen of companies invest in our city. Zabrze is part of a larger metropolitan area, with more than one million inhabitants, which is more than Warsaw,” Mr Bania added.

“This is a great advantage, especially if we want to put Zabrze into the Chinese One Belt One Road initiative.”

The Taiwanese automotive company Iron Force has already chosen Zabrze for its new European plant, primarily because of the access it provides to well-developed infrastructure and well-educated staff.