Considered moving to Lublin

These days quality of life is one of the most important factors determining the choice of a given location for further business development. More often than ever before opening a new branch requires a change of a place of residence which is faced not only by management, but also specialists. So, what it’s like to live in Lublin?

Assessment of the quality of life was one of the elements of a recently published “Report on Polish Metropolitan Cities: Lublin” prepared by PwC and a report entitled “Investment Potential of Lublin” based on a Business Environment Assessment Study carried out by Antal in collaboration with Cushman & Wakefield and Vastint. Both reports present a very positive image of Lublin, and the quality of life of citizens is one of its key advantages.

To better understand the current situation of Lublin, it is important to have a look at the changes and the transformation the city has undergone within last 10 years. To a great extent, this transformation was possible because of European Union funds which have been pumped into projects crucial for the growth of the metropolis. According to data of the Central Statistical Office of February 2019, Lublin is one of the leaders in terms of implementation of EU co-funded projects. With over 4 billion euro it was ranked 5th among all 2,478 communes in Poland. As PwC experts claim in the aforementioned report, the city stands out from other Polish metropolitan cities for its huge expenditures for culture and national heritage protection. A ring-road, Lublin Airport, revitalization of green areas, development of the Lublin Subzone of Special Economic Zone EUROPARK Mielec, as well as social and cultural projects are just some of initiatives targeted at the improvement of citizens’ quality of living.

Development of infrastructure, including sports facilities, allowed for the effective promotion of the city during football events broadcasted in tens of countries worldwide, for instance UEFA U21 Championship Poland 2017 and FIFA U20 World Cup Poland 2019, during which Lublin was one of host cities, also because of the availability of a modern football stadium Arena Lublin. Recent years also witness a rebirth of the Lublin’s speedway traditions marked by the promotion of Speed Car Motor Lublin club to top-flight PGE Ekstraliga. Here, it is worth mentioning the special atmosphere at the matches of “Goats” which is appreciated not only by Lublin riders, but also by members of other teams who are warmly welcomed and cheered by speedway fans in Lublin. What is more, popularity of this sports discipline made Lublin’s authorities implement the plan to build a new speedway stadium, which will be constructed in the years to come. Also fans of athletics and swimming benefit from state-of-the-art athletics stadium and Aqua Lublin complex with the most modern Olympic swimming pool in Poland, while supporters may experience sporting emotions during games of current Polish champion SPR Lublin handball team, Start Lublin basketball players, footballers of Motor Lublin, or make use of a multitude of sports halls, pitches, courts, swimming pools or take part in a series of runs called “10 to Marathon” so popular these days among running amateurs in Lublin.

Lublin is also a city of culture. It is notable that Lublin’s application and attempt to be recognized as the European Capital of Culture in 2016 not only added momentum to cultural events organized in Lublin to date, but also gave rise to a number of new initiatives that now attract tens of thousands of tourists to the city each year. The most important ones include Carnaval Sztukmistrzów (Magicians’ Carnival), Jagiellonian Fair, Night of Culture, Theatre Confrontations Festival, East of Culture – Different Sounds Art’n’Music Festival or the European Festival of Taste. Additionally, the cultural base of Lublin was lately expanded by one of the most modern facilities in Europe, namely Centre for the Meeting of Cultures which hosts and organizes plenty of music, theatre or film events. The cultural offer of the city is also enriched by 9 cinemas, 6 theatres or 11 museums including real gems like the Lublin Museum with its unique on the European scale Holy Trinity Chapel, or the Lublin Open Air Museum, while the historical memory and remembrance are taken care of by the State Museum at Majdanek, which is a must for all foreign tourists visiting Lublin. When talking about the high quality of living in Lublin, it is worth to underline the compactness of the city. Lublin, with its surface area of 147.5 km2, is densely developed and has a well-structured road network allowing for easy and fast transportation in the city. Thanks to the above mentioned ring road, from almost every single spot in the city it is possible to get to most distant places within 30 minutes. Over 100 cars and vans in a carsharing scheme, electric scooters or a city bike system consisting of more than 950 bicycles available at 97 stations all prove that transportation in Lublin is not only robust, but also environmentally friendly. This is also demonstrated by consistent modernization of public communication fleet and the purchase of trolleybuses, zero – and low emission buses, construction of Park & Ride car parks, as well as continuous expansion of the smart traffic management system. Shortly the public transportation will be further boosted through the construction of the Metropolitan Station which will integrate train and bus communication facilitating connectivity within the city, between Lublin and suburban communes and other Polish cities. Completion of this key investment, scheduled for the end of 2022, will not only contribute to better functioning of communication, but will be also an important part of sustainable revitalization of degraded areas around the current Train Station, and it will underline the metropolitan nature of the city improving connectivity with neighboring communes. The city’s authorities and dwellers are proud that the concept of the station designed by Tremend Design Office was honoured and made it to the grand finale of the prestigious competition World Building of the Year as part of the World Architecture Festival. What should be underlined is that Lublin is one of only a few Polish cities boasting a Smart City certificate issued by the Polish Standardization Committee, which was possible thanks to compliance of assessment methods with the Polish Standard ISO 37120 achieved for 96 out of 100 indicators divided into 17 categories, i.e. economy, education, environment, finance, health, safety, transportation, recreation or energy.

As the capital of one of the greenest and most natural regions in the European Union, Lublin enjoys the opinion of a clean and green city too. According to PwC, “the overall condition of natural environment in Lublin is very good – in terms of cleanliness and air quality the city is one of the top locations among all analyzed metropolitan cities”. Lack of historic encumbrances with heavy industry, lots of green areas, the Bystrzyca river flowing through the city, as well as the Zemborzycki reservoir located within the city boundaries all make it possible for the citizens of Lublin to commune with nature on a daily basis. Moreover, to further improve the quality of environment, the Lublin’s authorities keep revitalizing municipal parks (Saski, Ludowy), and establish new ones, also on degraded areas, like in case of the Zawilcowa Park situated on a reclaimed municipal landfill site. Other recreational opportunities are created by the proximity of the Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland, which seasonally is visited by lots of Lublin’s dwellers.

High quality of living in Lublin is also much to the credit of a participatory model of managing the city manifesting itself in the implementation of bottom-up initiatives submitted by citizens under the Civic Budget, Green Budget dedicated to protecting habitats and revitalization of municipal greenery, as well as in public consultations of activities and projects planned by the Lublin’s authorities. Projects carried out thanks to Civic Budget funds are not only purely investment measures like renovation of roads, revitalization of sports facilities and development of technical infrastructure in different districts, but also social and cultural projects. The participatory management of the city is also reflected in the activity of a so-called civic panel, which is an advisory body consisting of randomly selected citizens of Lublin. Its task is to come up with recommendations for the city’s authorities concerning the most important aspects for the city’s functioning. As noticed by the PwC experts, impressive activity of citizens is also reflected in the number of votes cast for urban movements during elections, as well as in the actions taken by NGOs not only in the city, but also in the entire metropolitan area.

Inhabitants, tourists and experts alike emphasize that Lublin is also open and safe. As stated in the PwC report, feeling of safety results mainly from a low crime ratio, which is two times lower than in some other competitive locations under scrutiny. The highest level of internationalization of Lublin’s universities in Poland, as a consequence of the presence of over 6,300 students from 106 countries, mainly from Ukraine, results in people from different countries, representing different cultures and speaking different languages become an integral part of the city landscape. They are attracted to Lublin not only by the outstanding offer and prestige of universities, but also by this unique openness of the city and its citizens, high level of safety and friendliness of public institutions. According to the report drawn up by Antal experts, in the category “Quality of living assessment” Lublin was awarded a very good score of 7.8 based on indicators like security (8.5), educational offer (8.0), cultural offer (7.5), health care system (7.5) and commercial offer (7.0). Finally, the city stands out in terms of low costs of living. As stated in the Antal’s report, Lublin is characterized by the lowest average cost of a new flat among all 8 cities analyzed as part of the study. Also the costs of public communication, hotels and taxis are low in comparison to other locations of comparable size. Moreover, both availability and costs of crèches and nurseries are really competitive. All this, together with the dynamics of the city’s development create a bright perspective for Lublin’s further rapid social, cultural and economic growth, and foreign investors are said to be an important part of this growth.