Sustainable urban development requires that the intensification of land use should not take place at the expense of environmental conditions, and air quality is one of the clearest points at which these dimensions meet. Mean annual concentrations of five air pollutants – benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), benzene (C6H6), NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 – were determined for Gdańsk in 2018–2024 together with reported emissions, selected meteorological conditions and the structure and intensity of the city’s development. Annual concentrations from the State Environmental Monitoring network, emissions reported to the National Centre for Emissions Management (KOBiZE) and building data from the Database of Topographic Objects (BDOT10k). Relationships and trends were assessed by Spearman rank correlation with Benjamini–Hochberg correction, and the height structure of development was described using the pseudo-usable floor area. In 2024 the concentrations of all five pollutants were lower than in 2018, with the largest decrease for BaP (−86.7%). After correction for multiple testing, neither the concentration trends nor the emission–concentration and meteorology–concentration relationships were significant. With only seven annual observations the tests have limited power, so this should not be read as evidence that no relationship exists; it does mean that the locally reported emissions alone do not account for the measured concentrations in a coastal city with efficient natural ventilation. The height structure is distinguished by a substantial contribution of very high-rise buildings (1.98% of the pseudo-usable floor area), concentrated within a belt situated transversely to the sea breeze.