The end of the year is a time for summaries and also an opportunity to outline goals for the following year. The year 2024 brought the completion of several important investments for Katowice, with the most significant from the point of view of the scale of the project being the construction of a municipal sports complex. In addition to this, dozens of smaller, but important to residents, investments improving the quality of life in the city – revitalization of parks or road repairs, construction of the first velostrade in Katowice, and implementation of numerous tasks submitted by residents, for example, from the civic budget.
– The common factor in all activities undertaken in the capital of the metropolis of more than two million people is building a city that is friendly to its residents. Life is better in Katowice today than it was 20 or 10 years ago. On the one hand, this is said by the residents themselves, and on the other hand it can be seen from the leading positions Katowice occupies in rankings on quality of life. This is the result of consistently implemented measures in Katowice aimed at improving the quality of life of residents. This is exemplified by the revitalizations completed in 2024 and the creation of new park spaces, the construction of the velostrada, the completion of the construction of the city sports complex or the launch of the MDK on the Paderewskiego estate – emphasizes Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice. – Summing up the passing year, I wish everyone that the coming 2025 will be a time of fulfillment of dreams, both private and professional, and that our city will develop in such a way as to make life in it even better, the mayor adds.
New and renovated parks
The creation of a park on Wantuły Street, the creation of such a space at the intersection of Leopolda and Wiertnicza Streets, and the revitalization of parks in Wełnowiec and the Ślepiotka River Valley are four elements of a major green project that ended this spring. As part of this project, the area on the north side of the Canoe Pond in the Three Ponds Valley was also revitalized, and the total cost of the work in these five locations located in different parts of Katowice is more than PLN 40.6 million. On top of this, the second stage of the metamorphosis of the Valley of 5 Ponds was completed in July 2024. As part of the investment worth nearly PLN 12.9 million, visitors to Morawa Pond gained the opportunity to use a new swimming area with accompanying infrastructure, a nearby parking lot and new alleys in the southern part of the pond.
The first in Katowice, the longest velostrade in the metropolis
At the beginning of December, 2 months ahead of schedule, the acceptance of Katowice’s first velostrade, which connected Giszowiec with Muchowiec and Brynów, was completed. As of this moment, cyclists can officially use the 4.4-kilometer-long elevated bicycle road. As part of the investment worth nearly PLN 12.5 million, its lighting and rest areas for cyclists were also made, among other things, with repair stations, and a bicycle counter was installed at the exit into Francuska Street. In addition, a sidewalk was built on the section from Francuska Street to Kolista Street, and more than 360 maple and lime trees over 2.2 meters high were planted along the entire project.
In total, more than 8 km of bicycle infrastructure worth nearly PLN 29 million will be put into service for cyclists in Katowice in 2024.
MDK on the Paderewskiego housing estate
Since April of this year, residents of the Paderewskiego estate have been enjoying the offer of the “Bogucice-Zawodzie” Municipal Cultural Center, in the section that is located in their district at 27 Graniczna Street. The facility was adapted for the operation of the MDK’s branch department when the entire building was rebuilt and adapted for the Katowice Shared Services Center – a unit that provides financial services to municipal educational institutions. The total area allocated for cultural activities is nearly 220 m2. The facility has a separate entrance from Krasińskiego Street. From this street there is also an entrance to the branch’s property and several parking spaces. The building is two-story, has technical rooms, sanitary rooms, toilets and, of course, conference rooms with a total area of nearly 90 sqm, which for the comfort of users are additionally ventilated and air-conditioned. The cost of the completed works amounted to just over PLN 2.7 million.
Since the launch of the MDK’s branch department on the Paderewski estate, more than 100 events have been organized there, attended by more than 1.2 thousand residents.
European City of Science Katowice 2024
Katowice is the first city in Central and Eastern Europe to receive the title of European City of Science. Barcelona, Munich, Manchester and Copenhagen, among others, previously bore this title. At the end of December 2021, an agreement was signed by the Academic Consortium – Katowice City of Science, whose signatories are: Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, Silesian University of Technology, Silesian Medical University in Katowice, University of Economics in Katowice, University of Silesia in Katowice as the Consortium Leader and the City of Katowice as the Strategic Partner of the Consortium. Thanks to the good cooperation within the Consortium, in 2024 Katowice hosted and co-organized numerous events related to science in its broadest sense. These include the 11th edition of the EuroScience Open Forum, which attracted more than 3,600 participants, the third Inter-University Inauguration of the Academic Year or, finally, the entire program streak of more than 1,000 events within 50 thematic weeks, attended by more than 270,000 people.
Municipal sports complex
After a 19-year break, the Ekstraklasa returned to Katowice in 2024. The city’s club – GKS Katowice – was promoted to the highest level of football competition in Poland. Meanwhile, construction of the city’s sports complex, which includes a football stadium where GieKSa will play its matches starting next spring, was underway. The newly built municipal sports complex consists of two facilities. It is a football stadium that has four stands – three twenty-one-row stands and one twenty-row stand, accommodating a total of nearly fifteen thousand fans. They are connected to each other by slanted corners, under which gates are placed, allowing access to the pitch by service vehicles, but also adequate ventilation of the turf. The second facility is an indoor arena with an auditorium for about three thousand spectators. There are also two training fields nearby. The cost of the construction work for the stadium, arena and training fields is 315 PLN million.
– Most of the investments completed in 2024 are the realization of my agreements with residents – recalls Marcin Krupa, Mayor of Katowice. – The same is true of the projects we will implement in the following year. Often they are a continuation of tasks already started, so in 2025 we will make the MDK on the Witos estate available to residents, among others. Projects such as the construction of the Jerzy Kukuczka Himalayan Center in Bogucice, the furnishing and installation of the exposition of the Katowice Music Education Center “Kilar’s House” and, most importantly, the construction of the Gaming and Technology Hub, which will become another milestone in the development of Katowice, the mayor adds.
Prepared by: the Department of Social Communication of the Katowice City Hall