Gdynia Maritime University GMU

The Spatial Policy Laboratory was created in 2013 as a result of a division from the Maritime Institute's Department of Environmental Protection and has been assigned to process the spatial planning policy in regard to maritime areas. Since 2013 the Laboratory has been involved in a formal planning process, launched by the Polish Maritime Administration (Maritime Offices in Gdynia, and Szczecin, and also former Maritme Office in Słupsk) to develop the first spatial development plan for Polish maritime areas. The first phase of this process was the preparation of the Study on the Spatial Development Conditions of the Polish Maritime Areas (2014-2015), next - the preparation of the Maritime Spatial Plan for Polish sea areas, in the 1 : 200 000 scale (2016-2019). The Plan was adopted by the Council of Ministers Decree on 14 April 2021. (Journal of Laws 2021, 935). Recently, the Spatial Policy Laboratory has been involved in the monitoring and evaluation process of the Polish MSP, commissioned by the Polish Maritime Offices.

Furthermore, the SPL creates expertise regarding the use of marine areas. In recent years, the Laboratory has has been expanding its database and has been working on GIS tools to support decision-making and consultations. Also, the SPL is creating a model for monitoring the spatial planning of marine areas and for a seamless implementation of maritime plans.

The Laboratory has been involved in several EU research projects on maritime spatial planning or maritime resources usage, e.g., BaltSeaPlan, Submariner, PartiSEApate, BaltSpace, BalticBlueGrowth, BalticLINes, BalticIntegrid, BalticScope, PanBalticScope, BalticRIM, Capacity4MSP, eMSP, MSP4Bio.