Meeting of the authorities of the city and of Fahrenheit Universities | Gdańsk University of Technology

The College of the Mayor of Gdańsk is a weekly meeting of Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz with her deputies and officials representing individual departments of the City Hall in Gdańsk. It aims at undertaking current activities and interventions in the everyday functioning of the city, as well as accepting reports on larger projects, e.g. infrastructure.

Colleges are held outside the city hall building every few weeks - and this was the case on Tuesday, 26 March 2024, when a meeting of the most important officials of the City of Gdańsk was held in the Senate Hall of Gdańsk University of Technology, with the participation of the Gdańsk Tech authorities and of other universities belonging to FarU.

The city authorities were represented by: Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, mayor of Gdańsk, Piotr Grzelak, deputy president for sustainable development and investments, Piotr Borawski, deputy president for entrepreneurship and climate protection, Monika Chabior, deputy president for social development and equal treatment . In turn, Fahrenheit Universities were represented by: prof. Adriana Zaleska-Medynska, director of FarU, Krzysztof Wilde, rector of Gdańsk Tech, prof. Michał Markuszewski, MUG Vice-Rector for Science, Anna Maria Jurkowska-Zeidler PhD, professor at UG and vice-rector for international cooperation. Among the Gdańsk Tech authorities was also present prof. Dariusz Mikielewicz, vice-rector for organization and development, and university chancellor Mariusz Miler.

Speech by Gdańsk Tech Rector

The College began with a speech by Prof. Krzysztof Wilde, Rector of Gdańsk Tech, who presented the current activities and initiatives of Fahrenheit Universities (MUG, Gdańsk Tech and UG), as well as the challenges facing the University Union in the future and the most urgent current needs. The Rector emphasized the special role of the universities in building the economy and development of the city, encouraging even closer cooperation between Gdańsk and FarU, which met with the support and enthusiasm of the city authorities.

The most important projects to be implemented by FarU with the city's support include: the purchase of a quantum computer that could be installed in the Gdańsk Tech STOS Competence Center, or the revitalization of green areas between Gdańsk Tech and GUMed, where an additional FarU conference center and a parking lot for hospital patients and employees of both universities could be built.

“Railway to the South” competition

Then, the floor was taken by Magdalena Podwojewska, PhD, Eng. Arch., vice-dean for students and promotion at the Gdańsk Tech Faculty of Architecture, main coordinator of the "Railway to the South" competition organized together with the Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway. She discussed the assumptions of the competition, in which students of the Faculty of Architecture of Gdańsk University of Technology were invited to the first stage, and their task was to prepare an architectural and urban study of the development of a passenger railway on the agglomeration section of the PKM Południe (south railway line) planned by the Pomeranian local government.

The concepts were to take into account not only functional, spatial and technological solutions, but also social and environmental aspects. The final of the first stage was already the beginning of the second stage, as detailed concepts of innovative environmental, social and economic solutions were to be developed for eight selected projects to strengthen the attractiveness of passenger railways for users. This task was carried out by interdisciplinary teams - all teams had to have at least one representative of each of the universities constituting the Fahrenheit Universities: the Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology and the University of Gdańsk.

The winners of the second stage were selected in February 2023. The competition participants talked about the course of work, assumptions and main elements of the developed concepts. The universities also prepared an exhibition of the winning projects.

In the last part of the meeting, the current status of preparatory work for the PKM line construction project was presented by Edyta Damszel-Turek, director of the Gdańsk Development Office.