The Advanced Water Sport and Leisure Centre Project at The Water Edge of Dabie Lake in Szczecin (Poland)

Szczecin is the town located in the Middle Ages in the 60 km distance from the Baltic Sea coastline. It is the unique town in Poland having in its limits over 30% of lake and river waters. The great potential of this fact has been used since ever for communication and transportation routes, for shipbuilding and port facilities. The XIX-century Szczecin was a significant industrial center, thanks to the location at Odra River and Dabie Lake. The negative result of industrialization was the heavy water pollution. In the recent years the inner - city waters are on one hand partly subject of protection as an Odra River Natural Park, Natura 2000 restricted area, but on the other hand more and more used for leisure and water sports. European Funds contribution made possible a severe limitation of water pollution by installation of ecologically advanced sewage purification plants. It was also possible due to the elimination of the old-type industry in the town and its surroundings and increase of ecological consciousness. Better quality of the water in the Dabie Lake and Odra River, on the edge to the city of Szczecin, attracts therefore touristic and leisure development and the growing welfare in Poland and Europe makes recreation facilities a new, attractive income source. The water-city edge project is aimed to transform the deteriorated brownfield at the Dabie Lake Waterfront into the place for health care, leisure and sport activities on the higher level of quality and proficiency. The paper describes the project ideas and visions. This project, still in development, shows the possibilities of alternative leisure developments to sea-coastal ones at the Baltic Sea Coast. It represents the method of combining different positive features of the climate and waterfront locations with the investment opportunities, what could contribute to a success of the one common, overall idea of leisure and sport center on the city edge. It shows an example of the investments in the hotel/sport/recreation/health care branches. The conclusion of the paper aims to prove, the necessary changes in the town planning goals structure, taking more seriously into account: the preferences of active people (spending free time for leisure, recreation, nature observations, health care and water sport), economic opportunities (foreign and domestic investors) and overall climate change in the Central Europe Region.