Although Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot have been operating as a one urban area sharing infrastructure e.g. common public transportation system for many decades, it is quite surprising that the term Tricity appeared in official documents for the first time only in 2007!Here is some interesting trivia about the Tricity.
Tricity Charter
Despite the fact that the Tricity is often treated as a single urban area, in reality the term was used merely as a vernacular word for decades. Even though the cities of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot have always collaborated , a formal declaration to use the term was signed only in 2007. The Tricity Charter, as this is how it was called, was signed on 28 March 2007 and it included postulates concerning a common public transportation card, a common plan of cultural events, coordination of road repair works, promotion of tourist attractions or development of a network of schools which could address Tricity job market needs. The document was signed by mayors of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot as well as by the Head of Pomerania Province.
Tricity, meaning what?
What exactly is the Tricity? The simplest, the most intuitive and exact answer is that this is an urban area comprising three cities, namely Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot. This is, however, not so simple because the term Tricity is sometimes also used to describe the whole metropolitan area, i.e. little towns and satellite villages surrounding the three big cities. You can easily justify such use of the term as e.g. the Tricity public transportation services cover a wider area than the three big cities, Gdańsk and Gdynia operating as the Tricity metropolitan area centres in terms of job market, employment, education or entertainment. The population of Tricity in the broadest sense may even exceed 1.5 million.
History of the Tricity area
Until the establishment of the 2nd Polish Republic and the development of a Polish harbour in Gdynia, it was difficult to talk about any harmony and collaboration between Gdynia and Gdańsk. The situation changed only in 1939 when both cities together with Sopot came under the rule of one state, namely…. the Third German Reich . The term Tricity as such started to appear in the Polish press at the end of 1940s and the beginning of 1950s, which might have reflected its common use in the vernacular.
In the same period Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot started intensive collaboration in many areas, which resulted in a common system of public transportation launched in 1946. A few years later, in 1950, the ports in Gdańsk and Gdynia were united under one board of management. At the beginning of 1960s Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot authorities established a joint Tricity Cultural Division.
Currently, visible manifestations of intensive collaboration, which prove very convenient to Tricity inhabitants, include. the Rapid Transit Railway project, the Tricity bypass road and the common public transportation system. What is interesting, also the origins of the University of Gdańsk go back to each of the three cities, as it was established as a result of the merger of universities located in Sopot and Gdynia. The collaboration is likely to become even tighter, which is shown in the fact that the cities have been implementing a common promotion policy, which aims at attracting new inhabitants and investors to the Tricity area. These actions are also supported by provincial authorities.
