VASAB

28/08/2026

🎉 🥁 DAY 5 of VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026!

The final day of the Summer School showcased the outcomes of an intensive week of collaboration, discussions and creative thinking. Participants spent the final day refining their ideas and preparing for the final presentations — a moment for each group to share their work with the jury.

👏 🥳 Congratulations to all the teams contributing to the creation of spatial development concepts on local, regional and Baltic Sea region levels. Six different perspectives were presented today.

Jury (Mārtiņš Ulāns, Kazimierz Musial, Kinga Stańczuk-Olejnik,
Karolina A. Krośnicka, Britta Bockhorn) made a hard decision and selected the group that made the strongest overall impression with the presentation entitled ‘Containing Resilience - A Modern Counterpart To A Historic Icon’!

The team members: Efia Faschina, Ugnė Bačinskaitė, Polina Dovzhenko, Wiktoria Jędrusik, Hubert Wulbach
Team mentor: Tīna Šipkēvica

This October, the winning team will have the opportunity to present their proposal online at the First VASAB Directors-General Meeting.

All final presentations, the summary and photo gallery will be available soon. Stay tuned to explore the results of the Summer School!

Many thanks to all participants, experts, mentors, organisers, supporters and jury. You all made this 3rd edition of the VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School possible!

This project is co-funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States(CBSS).
VASAB
Politechnika Gdańska Wydział Architektury PG
Ministerstwo Funduszy i Polityki Regionalnej
ARL - Academy for Spatial Development in the Leibniz Association
Estonian Association of Spatial Planners
Port Gdańsk
Pomorskie

27/08/2026

👏 DAY 4 of VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026!
Reflection on Initial Concept & Action plan.

This day is dedicated to work further on concepts, refine solutions and recommendations, create maps, illustrations and visual materials. Together with mentors, groups are getting ready for tomorrow’s final presentation to the Summer School’s jury.

Today we also had another round of skills session with inspiring expert presentations:
✅ PL-Living Lab: co-creation of the port-city buffer zones by Karolina Krośnicka
✅ Integrated coastal zone management as a tool in resilient planning water-sea interface by Miłosz Marciniak
✅ Effective and climate adaptive urban design by Katarzyna Zielonko-Jung

Explore the gallery with today’s highlights and team&mentors photos.
Group mentors: Magnus Qvant, Margarita Vološina, Tīna Šipkēvica, Siim Kuusik, Jana Baldy and Jacek Zaucha.

Tomorrow is the concluding day of the Summer School, let’s wish to all teams a strong and convincing performance during final presentations!

This project is co-funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).

VASAB
Politechnika Gdańska Wydział Architektury PG
Ministerstwo Funduszy i Polityki Regionalnej
ARL - Academy for Spatial Development in the Leibniz Association
Estonian Association of Spatial Planners
Port Gdańsk
Pomorskie

More: https://vasab.org/support-for-planners/young-planners-summer-school/summer-school-2026/

26/08/2026

📖 DAY 3 of VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026!

Today is all about creating a Vision, Concept and Action Plan.
Group work centred around visioning exercises, scenario discussions, future storytelling and identification of desired outcomes.

We were inspired by expert presentations and input that helped participants to design their ideas, about spatial planning tools, use of AI, and digital tools as well as real case studies from the Baltic Sea Region:
✅Towards energy transition. Evidence from Gdansk by Mariusz Sadłowski
✅New Tools in Designing Resilient Cities and Buildings by Joanna Badach
✅GIS Application Supporting the Integrated Spatial Planning Process by Justyna Wieczerzak & Weronika Mazurkiewicz
✅Northern Tallinn Master Plan: Challenges and Opportunities by Siim Kuusik
✅Resilient Spatial Development & Working across Borders by Britta Bockhorn
✅Scenarios for Europe’s eastern border: Navigating uncertainty in a fragmented world by Kai Böhme (online)

Day continues with a group work to transform the vision into a realistic and innovative planning concept with a list of actions, and will conclude with part 2 of the MSP Challenge game led by Andrea Morf.

This project is co-funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).@
Politechnika Gdańska Wydział Architektury PG
Ministerstwo Funduszy i Polityki Regionalnej
ARL - Academy for Spatial Development in the Leibniz Association
Estonian Association of Spatial Planners
Port Gdańsk
Pomorskie

25/08/2026

🎉 DAY 2 of VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026 in Gdansk!

🚍 🚃 Day started with 4 study visits to nearby areas, each of them connected to one of four Summer School challenges. Study visits help to understand the current situation and identify the main spatial challenges and opportunities on local sites, as participants will prepare solutions for these areas throughout the whole week.

After the site visits, group work is continued – today’s aim is to understand the Status Quo of each challenge by defining current situation, main drivers, barriers and opportunities, key stakeholders and existing good practices.

Day will end with the MSP Challenge, an interactive game that simulates maritime & coastal spatial planning in a transnational setting. Working in teams, participants will negotiate competing interests, explore cross-border planning challenges, and experience how planning decisions affect the environment, economy, and other sea users.

🎥 Don't miss the yesterday's live recording - it is now available for reviewing on our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/live/JhpOE7ErCsM?si=dQ1_bo75VrLZvjmR

This project is co-funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).
VASAB
Politechnika Gdańska Wydział Architektury PG
Ministerstwo Funduszy i Polityki Regionalnej
ARL - Academy for Spatial Development in the Leibniz Association
Estonian Association of Spatial Planners
Port Gdańsk
Pomorskie

25/08/2026

Highlights from the opening day of the VASAB Young Planners' Summer School:
📖 Read the article by Gdańsk University of Technology Politechnika Gdańska ⬇ (in Polish)
🎥 Watch the recording of opening session: https://www.youtube.com/live/JhpOE7ErCsM



This project is co-funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).

Na Politechnice Gdańskiej trwa VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026 „Navigate Planning Through Changes”. Przez kilka dni 30 młodych specjalistów i studentów z państw regionu Morza Bałtyckiego oraz Ukrainy będzie wspólnie pracować nad rozwiązaniami dotyczącymi najważniejszych współczesnych wyzwań planowania przestrzennego.

🎯W latach 2025–2026 Polska sprawuje przewodnictwo w VASAB – międzyrządowej współpracy państw regionu Morza Bałtyckiego w zakresie planowania przestrzennego i rozwoju. Jednym z najważniejszych elementów szkoły są wizyty studialne i praca nad rzeczywistymi problemami przestrzennymi Trójmiasta i regionu. Dzięki temu Gdańsk i Gdynia stają się dla uczestników praktycznym laboratorium współczesnego planowania.

Analizy obejmą m.in. odporność Stogów i Rudnik na zmiany i sytuacje kryzysowe, w tym zagadnienia związane z rozwojem przemysłu 5.0, transformację energetyczną Portu Gdańsk i adaptację do zmian klimatu, powiązania przestrzenne i społeczne między dzielnicami oraz efektywne wykorzystanie przestrzeni w rejonie gdyńskiego Międzytorza.

24/08/2026

VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026 "Navigate Planning Through Changes" starts today!

👉 Follow the livestream and join us virtually for the official opening of the Summer School and expert presentations!
🔴 LIVE today 9:30 – 15:00 CET on VASAB Youtube https://www.youtube.com/live/JhpOE7ErCsM
Livestream agenda:http://vasab.org/wp-content/uploads/livestream-agenda.pdf

What to expect from this week?
30 young professionals and students from across the Baltic Sea Region and Ukraine meet today in Gdansk, Poland, to prepare for the work ahead. During the Summer School, participants will work in 6 international and interdisciplinary teams to address one of four thematic challenges in the Baltic Sea Region:
✅ Preparedness and resilience
✅ Climate change adaptation and mitigation, including green energy investment
✅ Connections between people and places
✅ Effective use of space, incl. no net land take and multiuse concepts

The week-long event will conclude on Friday, when teams will present the outcomes of their work to the jury, demonstrating the developed spatial planning concept and how it addresses the assigned challenge.
Throughout the week, group work will be guided by Summer School mentors, inspired by expert presentations as well as complemented by study visits to nearby areas.

Stay tuned and join us for the start of an exciting week of planning, exchange and new ideas! 🚀

More about Summer School 2026: https://vasab.org/support-for-planners/young-planners-summer-school/summer-school-2026/

This project is co-funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).
VASAB
Politechnika Gdańska
Ministerstwo Funduszy i Polityki Regionalnej
ARL - Academy for Spatial Development in the Leibniz Association
Estonian Association of Spatial Planners
Port Gdańsk
Pomorskie

19/08/2026

🎉VASAB Young Planners’ Summer School 2026 is almost here!

Next week 30 young professionals and students from across the Baltic Sea Region and Ukraine will come together in Gdańsk, Poland, for a week of learning, exchange and collaboration, to explore emerging spatial planning challenges, share ideas and shape solutions for the future of our region.🌍

We already took the first step together on 10 August, when all participants and mentors met online for a preparatory workshop. It was a great opportunity to get to know each other, discuss the week ahead and start building the connections that will shape the Summer School. And already next Monday we will meet in person.

📣 Join the opening day LIVE!
On 24 August from 9:30 – 15:00 CET, VASAB invites you to join the official Summer School opening and expert presentations live from Gdańsk, Poland:
🔴 JOIN HERE 👉 https://www.youtube.com/live/JhpOE7ErCsM

The live stream will begin with the official opening of the Summer School, then will be followed by spatial planning and development perspectives from the Baltic Sea Region, Pomorskie Voivodeship, Gdynia – Gdańsk metropolitan area and Port of Gdańsk. The programme will also feature expert perspectives on Summer School’s four thematic challenges in the Baltic Sea region – Preparedness & Resilience, Climate Change, Mobility, Effective Use of Space.

More information: www.vasab.org/ypss

Follow for more updates and news from the Summer School here on VASAB page next week!

This project is co-funded by the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS).

09/07/2026

On 8-9 July, Egija Stapkēviča and Tīna Šipkēvica from the VASAB Secretariat, together with Kinga Stańczuk-Olejnik, representative of the Polish Chairmanship of the VASAB Committee, participated in the Macro-regional and Sea Basin Strategies Days 2026 in Brussels, also representing EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region Policy Area Spatial Planning.

The event explored challenges shared across Europe’s macro-regions and sea basins: security and civil preparedness, risks to critical maritime infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, the social dimension of the green and digital transitions, and support for EU candidate countries.

For VASAB, the event provided an important opportunity to strengthen links between the Baltic Sea Region and other European cooperation frameworks. Challenges such as climate adaptation, security, sustainable mobility, the green and digital transitions, and balanced territorial development extend beyond national and macro-regional borders.

Dialogue among representatives of the Baltic Sea, Alpine, Danube, Adriatic-Ionian, Black Sea and other European regions can therefore help identify transferable approaches, potential project partnerships and shared policy priorities.

Read full article 👉 https://vasab.org/linking-land-sea-and-cooperation-across-europes-macro-regions/

01/07/2026

👏 VASAB is represented for the first time at the World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC) in Finland.
🤝 Meet us at the round table discussion "Learning Across Regions: Building Successful Cross-Boundary Governance from AlpPlan to the Baltic Sea"
already tomorrow, July 2, at 11:00 where we will present and discuss VASAB’s perspective of macro-regional cooperation of spatial planning professionals.

The WPSC is a major international event for urban and regional planning. Held every five years, it brings together scholars, educators, and professionals from around the globe to discuss research, share teaching experiences, and debate current challenges in urban planning and practice.
Find the event page here: https://event.eventos.fi/wpsc2026

26/06/2026

Super-short survey!
Just 10 minutes - your knowledge and opinion will help drive climate-neutral planning!
Northern European Sea Basins project (NESBp) invites MSP practitioners and stakeholders from across the Baltic Sea Region to participate and share their perspective on how Maritime Spatial Planning can support climate neutrality and climate change mitigation goals.
The survey takes up to 10 minutes ⏱ and you are very welcome to answer only those questions that fall within your competence.

👉 Go to survey: https://forms.office.com/e/VuAREbyPQB

The survey covers topics such as offshore renewable energy development, protection of marine and coastal habitats, successful climate-related initiatives, and future planning tools and measures needed to achieve EU climate objectives.
Your input will help identify ways to strengthen the role of MSP in supporting climate neutrality across the region.
The survey is conducted by Baltijas Vides Forums and VASAB Secretariat within NESB project Work Package 2 "Ocean Governance"

📣 Please share this survey with your network. The more responses we receive, the better we can support climate-resilient coastal planning in the Baltic Sea Region.

🙏 Thank you for your time and valuable contribution to making Baltic Sea coastal communities more resilient to climate change!
More about 👉 www.NESBproject.eu