City Corporation Activities for Creating Sustainable Population Development in the Opinion of University Students in Gdansk (Poland)

Abstract

Nowadays, urban areas very often attract the poor and the unemployed, leading to the creation of neighbourhoods of poverty (slums) and other economic and social problems. All over the world, cities include sustainable goals in their development strategies, but the question is, do these city development strategies also foresee activities devoted to human capital growth? The purpose of the study was an analysis of city corporation activities and of students’ perception of a city corporation’s activities that aim to encourage educated young people to study and settle in their city, using the example of Gdansk, Poland. The study was conducted in 2021–2022, based on desk research and an Internet survey. The research group comprised students at the University of Gdansk (Poland). The main conclusions from the study are: (1) cities’ sustainable policies are slightly integrated with actions meant to encourage highly educated people to settle within; (2) Gdansk students’ decisions to settle are not correlated with city corporation activities, and (3) from Gdansk students’ perspective, preferential accommodation costs are the most expected city corporation actions.