Personal and institutional relations
The world today is based on relationships. Whoever has them can do well in professional and private life. They provide access to knowledge, information, services and other resources. For this reason, I build and care for my relationships, in particular with experts, public authorities, scientists, voters, students and various institutions.
Relations with other experts
I work with public governance experts: lawyers, marketers, space planners, NGO activists, smart city specialists, etc. I use their professional support and recommend them to public authorities.
Relations with authorities
I met many mayors, governors and other public officials. I gained their trust and kindness with a good job. Today I can turn to them for advice and opinions on local / regional government matters.
Relations with researchers
Working at the university since 1994, I have close contact with scientists researching self-governments & local development. I use their support and participate in their research for local & regional governments.
Relations with institutions
I work with Polish and foreign universities, consulting companies, NGOs, agencies, offices, etc. I participate in their projects and refer them to local & regional governments seeking support.
Relations with voters
In the past, I have won the elections 2 times. Through social media, to this day I am in contact with my voters from several dozen towns. I have good insight into public opinion on various public affairs.
Relations with students
I have contact with my students, i.e. young people with their own attitude to new technologies, social phenomena, culture etc. I listen to them – they are the future. This is necessary in development planning.
I am training my artificial intelligence model based on GPT-4o, whose task will be to advise municipal/city authorities in making strategic decisions.
Some municipal leaders (and not only them), when talking about implemented investments and other projects, often emphasize how much they cost or will cost, and ignore other aspects.
An interview with Leonel Correia da Silva, Mayor of Câmara de Lobos, one of the municipalities of Madeira, made me realize that the rapid influx of tourist traffic&investment can be a challenge even on remote, oceanic islands, as long as they are attractive to the world and sufficiently connected to it.
This time I trained in strategy the authorities and top management of the Pielgrzymka Commune. Welcoming, committed people, with whom I enjoyed working. And we had a good laugh at some examples from local government life 🙂 And how is development created here?
Training on the construction and implementation of the development strategy of communes, i.e. on the strategic governence of the development of communes, is the most important training for their authorities.
Thanks to my experience in local & regional development strategies, this year I was appointed for the second time as an expert of the European Research Executive Agency.
“Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” said the Red Queen in “Alice in Wonderland” by L. Carroll, a lecturer of the Oxford University. And she was very right.
Work is underway on the Wroclaw Development Strategy for 2050. This is a SUPER-IMPORTANT plan that will determine not only the directions of Wroclaw’s development, but will also influence the development of the Wroclaw metropolitan area and even the region.
When in February 2023 I was finishing a two-day training on strategic governance of city development for the authorities and management of Miasto Jelenia Góra, the Mayor Jerzy Łużniak asked me: “Will you support us in building a new Strategy?”
Can public strategic governance be learned? Or do you have to be born with a talent for it?
We ALL need educated public authorities and officials, at all levels, from state to municipal. And it’s not about some education, but about good quality education, appropriate to the duties, real, modern, practical, solid and regularly updated. Private and professional life, prosperity, environment, space and safety of EACH OF US depend on it.
“Manage the public affairs as if you had no private interests” and “Liberty can not be sold for all the gold of the world”. These two mottos, visible (to this day) on historical buildings of the authorities of the Republic of Ragusa (today’s Dubrovnik), together with excellent strategic governance, brought it centuries of prosperity and undisputed power.
During the European Economic Congress Katowice, Poland, I will have the honor of presenting awards to the winners of TOP Municipal Investments. This is a Poland’s nationwide competition for the most pro-development, bold, strategic investments of municipalities, counties and regions. We, as the Consultative Board, have already chosen our favorites, but your opinion also counts
One of the conditions for developing a good strategy is to listen to residents and entrepreneurs, especially leaders and decision-makers.
I don’t just develop city development strategies. Mayors also let me review their projects. I’ve done two recently. The idea is that I find their imperfections, the authorities correct them and the strategy becomes better – for residents, business and the environment.
A draft amendment to the *Environment Protection Law* has just been submitted to the Polish Parliament, obliging the authorities of all 2477 communes to set not only social, economic and spatial strategic goals in their strategies, but also “climate and environmental” ones!
Roseto is a small city in the USA (PA) that surprised scientists in the 20th century. The mortality rate of its inhabitants, Italian migrants, was approximately 1/3 lower than the average. This phenomenon could not be explained for a long time.
The recent amendment to one of Polish legal acts determined that the MASTERPLAN takes into account in particular the spatial policy of the commune specified in the commune’s development strategy or the supra-local development strategy of communes.
As part of my travels in search of local development and inspirations for local & regional governments, I had the honor and pleasure of talking about Maltese local governments with the Acting President of Malta Prof. Frank Bezzina and with the Director General for Local Government in the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta, Natalino Attard
A lot is happening in politics, law, economy, technology, society, environment, etc. How can you find your way in this with your commune/city? What its development strategy you should develop, adapt and implement?