Strategic goals for post-industrial cities based on the example of the Zabrze city development strategy

Purpose: Effective social and economic revitalisation of post-industrial cities involves municipal government entities undertaking planning activities. The aim of the paper is to analyze these activities as the entities have to set not only far-reaching goals to be achieved, but also develop a strategy to achieve the intended results, which acts as a basis for the selection of optimal tactical actions. The city planning document needs to refer to broader regional, metropolitan and national strategies and include specific sectoral programmes within the city. In addition, it should include an evaluation model that ensures the verification of the effectiveness of the operations undertaken. Methodology: The Zabrze development strategy was analysed to determine the content of planning documents in the field of development strategy of post-industrial cities. The content of the document, taking into account the specified priorities, was then verified with systematically prepared reports specifying the degree of implementation of plans, budgetary outlays and the schedule of activities. Findings: As a result, it was possible to link the planning assumptions with the facts in the case of the revitalisation of the city, which, several years ago, was a centre of heavy industry with numerous mines, steelworks and manufacturing plants. We focused primarily on the analysis of the implementation of tasks related to social and infrastructure revitalisation. It was agreed that in the case of Zabrze, the development of a new field of economic activity, i.e. post-industrial heritage tourism, played an important role. Value: It has been shown that consistent implementation of the adopted plans by the local government can result in a change of the image of the city