Szczecin [ˈʂt͡ʂɛt͡ɕin] is the capital city of West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country’s seventh-largest city and the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. As of the 2005 census the city had a total population of 420,638.
Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Lagoon of Szczecin and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the southwestern shore of Dąbie Lake, on both sides of Oder and on several large islands between western and eastern branch of the river. Szczecin borders with Police – a district town situated at an estuary of the Oder River.
The city is on the European Route of Brick Gothic.
Szczecin’s architectural style is mainly influenced by those of the last half of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century: Academic art and Art Nouveau. In many areas built after 1945, especially in the city centre, which had been destroyed due to Allied bombing, social realism is prevalent.
Urban planning of Szczecin is unusual. The first thing observed by a newcomer is abundance of green areas: parks and avenues – wide streets with trees planted in the island separating opposite traffic (where often tram tracks are laid); and roundabouts. This makes Szczecin’s city project quite similar to that of Paris. The reason is, Szczecin (like Paris) was rebuilt in the 1880s using a design by Georges-Eugène Haussmann.
This course of designing streets in Szczecin is still used, as many recently built (or modified) city areas include roundabouts and avenues.
Within Szczecin’s boundaries is part of the protected area called Szczecin Landscape Park in the forest of Puszcza Bukowa.
source: wikipedia
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