The Development Strategy until 2015, adopted under Resolution No. I/N/1155/02 of the City Council of Szczecin on 6th May 2002, is a document providing for comprehensive programming of city development in all its spheres (social, economic, and environmental and spatial). In the long run, it supersedes all other policy documents in the City. The strategy includes the mission of the City and sets strategic objectives, goals and targets, as well as priorities. At the same time, it identifies implementation tools in the form of 20 sectoral policies for specific areas of City’s activity.
The strategy contains 5 strategic objectives and 16 goals. The latter are divided into 59 targets with specific effects the City would like to achieve in the planning period. The strategy also contains 15 priorities for the development of the city resulting from expectations of inhabitants and the necessity to choose certain options due to limited funding.

Based on a previously agreed set of indicators, external experts from the Szczecin University evaluated objectives, goals and targets and formulated conclusions. Apart from the assessment of the initial status as of 2002, the evaluation was performed twice, respectively at the end of 2004 and 2007. The implementation of the Strategy, both from the point of view of strategic objectives and goals, received a positive assessment.
The monitoring was designed not only to facilitate assessment, but also produce recommendations for possible revision of the Strategy as regards its content and the set of goals. In the past two years, several documents were developed providing a detailed assessment of the socio-economic situation in the city and a long-term branding strategy was completed. Conclusions resulting from those documents as well as findings of the search for key elements of branding for Szczecin clearly indicate the necessity to remodel the Strategy. To this end, at its meeting of 28th January 2008 the City Council of Szczecin adopted Resolution No. XVIII/468/08 on updating the City Development Strategy. This initiated the process of adjusting the document to the changing environment and opened a way for changes aimed at improving the process of preparation and implementation of programmes, which should lead to developing a programming document meeting current needs and ambitions of the City.

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