Both transmission and distribution power lines are fundamental components of the electrical power system, enabling the transmission and distribution of electricity generated in power plants to end consumers. However, their presence is associated with certain land use restrictions, which are described in detail in local spatial development plans that are local acts of law. In the relevant literature, there is a noticeable lack of the proper analysis leading to a conclusion about the character of the mentioned restrictions. Using selected local plans as examples, this study aims to identify limitations on the placement of building objects in the vicinity of overhead power lines.
Among the features of globalization and metropolization of development, a growing number of mega-events can be observed. Among them are large sport events, as for instance UEFA 2012 in Poland and Ukraine (in preparation). What impact may such an event have on development? The main aim of this article is to present available conclusions of research on the cost-benefit analysis of previous events of a similar type. The data presented lead to a conclusion that – like in many discussed examples – the balance of EURO 2012 will be most likely negative.
Monofunctional industrial towns, born during the socialist industrialization and dominated by big industrial plants, faced some important problems during Poland’s economic transformation. Due to changes in the Polish industrial sector, its previous role in the peripherally located towns needs to be redefined. Based on the example of two towns from the Podkarpackie voivodeship, the author analyzes different development concepts of former industry-based local economies, considering the notions of endogenous development and path dependence.
The article describes the forecasts for the 2004-2006 National Development Plan implementation on the performance of Poland`s economy up to 2010. The estimations are based on the Polish version of HERMIN model. Several development paths for Poland are predicted upon varying assumptions on the ability to absorb the EU assistance, and varying efficiency of use of those funds. In general, it is demonstrated that Poland`s accession to EU will bring a significant economic improvement by increasing GDP growth rate and depressing unemployment rate.
This article presents new risk analysis technique. The People and Property Hazard Analysis (PPHA) is probabilistic, semiquantitative technique, uncomplicated and easy to use. It provides more precise estimates of a risk level than preliminary hazard analysis – probably the most commonly performed technique by local governments in Poland. PPHA is applicable to the analysis of all types of communities and organizations. The purpose of the new technique is to provide a tool that can assist decision-makers in effectively allocating limited resources across the vast array of potential investments that could mitigate risk.
Article analyses draft version of the National Development Strategy 2007–2015 adopted by the GoP in June 2006. This is the most important planning document. Its implementation may to a large extent influence competitive position of Poland within a decade. Analysis of presented diagnosis, objectives and priorities and outlined delivery mechanism leads to a conclusion that it is modern and interesting strategy, however not ambitious enough to ensure that Polish economy takes high place among other EU countries.
According to its development strategy and currently defined physical planning policy Warsaw should become the European metropolis, with a good quality of life, high culture, a durable physical order and public areas of high standard. These are the goals of the municipal authorities, but a short walk through the downtown shows that they are far from being reached. The obvious way for Warsaw to meet the ambitions of its authorities is through physical planning – transparent, with a high level of a public participation. That is – completely different from how it is now, what can be confirmed by some spectacular examples. If bad governance will be continued, Warsaw may soon become closer to the cities of the Third World, than to the European metropolis.
In light of setting up strategic documents in Poland for regional and developmental policy after 2006 the article proposes arguments for discussion about state-government regional policy in Poland. Nowadays there is no strategic document devoted to state intervention in Polish regions (voivodeships), which could be named governmental strategy for regional development. The article presents basic thesis for such document, including review of Polish regional problems, which needs governmental intervention, key priorities of state action in regions, basic rules of state-government policy for regional development, and major criteria of state financial support for regional self-governments.
The accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant was one of the largest in human history. It is often referred to as a global event because its effects were felt not only by Ukrainians but also by the populations of Belarus, Russia, Central Europe, the Balkans and the Scandinavian Peninsula. 2022 marked the 36th anniversary of this terrible occurrence, when the history of Ukraine in the late twentieth century was divided into two parts: before the tragedy of 26 April 1986, and after it.
Today, it is important for Ukrainian society not only to recognise the significance of the catastrophe and remember its victims but also to find ways to overcome its grave consequences. This requires comprehensive research useful for developing new approaches to minimising the environmental and socio-demographic problems caused by the Chornobyl tragedy. Thus, this research has practical scientific, humanitarian and socio-political significance. The novelty of the obtained results lies in the study’s critical rethinking of the achievements of predecessors and its analysis of historical sources concerning the environmental and socio-demographic consequences of the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant as they manifested from 1986 to 2022.
The methodological basis of the work is empirical cognition. The use of logical-analytical methods of grouping and typology allows us to classify homogeneous events and coherently present the material of the article. The study additionally uses comparative judgment, historical-statistical and problem-chronological methods. The principles of objectivity and impartiality also play an important role in the work.
The purpose of the study is to investigate the consequences of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident on the environmental and socio-demographic aspects of the population of Ukraine from 1986 to 2022 based on the identified set of sources. From a historical perspective, the level of pollution in the territories of Ukraine is traced, the demographic situation is monitored, and parallels are drawn between the Chornobyl disaster and the increase in incurable diseases and mortality.
In conclusion, the authors note that although 36 years have passed, the echo of this catastrophe remains tangible for the population of Ukraine. Several issues still must be solved. The first is the return to life, namely, the safe living and management of areas that have been exposed to radiation contamination, as well as the continuation of work aimed at restoring agricultural soils. Second, purposeful work must be conducted by the state to minimise social and demographic problems resulting from the Chornobyl catastrophe. In our opinion, the government should increase expenditures aimed at providing quality medical services to the population of Ukraine, as well as conduct constant monitoring of the health of those people who are at high risk in order to better detect diseases in their early stages.
These groups of people include liquidators of the consequences of the accident and migrants. Such measures can stabilise the demographic situation by increasing birth rates and reducing mortality, as well as improve the health and living standards of the population of Ukraine.
The paper focuses on the most significant space management instruments, i.e. local zoning plans. The authors’ purpose is to determine whether and to what extent spatial development is constrained by environmental and nature protection provisions included in local plans. The research has been conducted on the planning documents from the area of the West Pomeranian region. The contents of all local development spatial plans from 2013 have been analyzed, i.e. 92 plans, including 78 adopted in rural and rural-urban communities, and 14 in towns with county rights.
Planned large-scale animal farms are often the subject of protests by local communities due to the nuisance they generate. The active participation of local residents occurs at an early stage of the investment process, namely the proceedings for issuing an environmental decision, because it is at this stage that location and characteristics of the facility are determined. The article analyses 52 cases of proceedings to set the environmental conditions for the construction of animal farms in which there were documented protests of local residents. The aim of the paper is to determine the course of environmental proceedings for animal farms under the influence of residents’ protests, as well as to determine whether environmental conditions are eventually established. The statements of protesting residents are presented by means of references to the category of knowledge in decision-making (Glicken 1999, 2000; Edelenbos 2011). The study showed that despite the binding rule that public opposition cannot be the basis for refusing to set environmental conditions, the protesting residents indirectly influence the final, usually negative, result of the environmental impact assessment. By blocking the realisation of unwanted investments, they have a real impact on the shaping of the local space.
The purpose of the article is to provide political analysis of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), which are being currently established on the Polish-Slovak borderland. First, the author presents the essence and legal basis of this new instrument of the European Union, and describes the origin of the first EGTCs. Second, in the main body of the text, he discusses two Polish-Slovak EGTCs, i.e. Tatra and TRITIA, focusing in particular on their documents of incorporation, internal organization and the planned scope of activities. The article is supplemented with a comparative analysis of previously active euroregions. In the summary, the author offers some conclusions and recommendations regarding further formalization of Polish-Slovak trans-frontier cooperation.
The objective of this paper is to assess the advance of planning works in the area of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The authors determined the degree to which districts were covered by local land development plans at the end of 2007. The assessment was done on the basis of plans which were carried out and those that still await implementation. In the assessment, we used one essential indicator of the demanded covering, which accounted for use intensity and the amount of existing functions.
The marketing oriented approach to planning of local development proofs its high economic efficiency, nevertheless its one-sidedness undermines the conceptual basis of sustainable development. One can put forward two competitive hypotheses. (a) The success of many marketing strategies is due to social and cultural capital, but the marketing games basically are not suitable means to reproduce the social sources of their own prosperity. (b) Under
experimentally controlled conditions (such as economic, organizational etc.) organizations and communities learning by solving their current problems are able to reproduce the social capital they have used up or to contribute to an emergence of new kinds of this capital, that reciprocally foster their marketing orientated strategies of development.
The paper is an overview of selected aspects of sustaining the development of Brussels. The mechanism of multi-level governance of the capital of Belgium and the nature of its problems resulted in the emergence of instruments that give local actors greater control over the urban processes. The paper describes two of such instruments, namely the neighbourhood contracts and the Regional Development Plan. Despite some criticism, both are considered valuable tools of urban policy. The way in which they have been adapted and the results they give confirm that Brussels’ sustainable development is achieved most effectively by the application of system solutions, specifically those used in the smallest administrative areas of the city – neighbourhoods.
The article analyzes the problem of delays in the preparation of local spatial development plans in Polish communes. Data from the annual survey sent to local governments and carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the Statistics Poland were used. On this basis, the categories of communes in which there is highly possible to identify occurring of planning works prolongation (referred to in the article as delays in drawing up plans), as well as its reasons, were identified. No territorial differentiation in this scope was found. The basic differentiation is related to the population of communes, i.e. the larger the commune in this respect, the greater the delays are. The interviews obtained from 16 communes (at 68 over 50,000 inhabitants, where the highest number of delays in preparing plans was identified) show that the main reasons for delays include problems related to public consultations and arrangements of draft plans, changing legal regulations, and staff shortages in commune offices. The article shows how these issues are related to the broader problems of the Polish spatial planning system. Further research directions were also proposed.
The paper analyses the Irish way of implementation of the structural assistance from the European Social Fund within a context of Ireland`s development strategy. Identification of the factors influencing considerable efficiency and effectiveness of Ireland`s performance is the article`s main focus. The paper begins with a review of the Irish labour market situation and, responding to it, human capital development policy of 1990s. Then, implementation and evaluation of the measures supported by the ESF within a programming period 1994-1999 are examined in detail. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations from the Irish case for Poland are outlined.
In the early 90’s public authorities in Poland considered all kinds of planning as a remaining of the socialist economy, unnecessary under the free-market rules. As a consequence, the chaos became a dominant characteristics of the Polish space at the beginning of the XXI century. This applies also to the situation in Warsaw Metropolitan Area, that exists as a real system of functional relations, but not as an administrative or planning unit. In effect, we observe the “wild urbanization” of the suburbs, and lack of development in the central part of the city. Recent centralization of local government in Warsaw has made the situation even worse, by blocking the investment and planning decisions. All these processes may lead to further marginalization of Warsaw as an European metropolis.
In this paper, the author provides a description and an explanation of regional variation in gender wage gaps in Poland, and shows that the gap is especially large in the Silesian Voivodeship (ca 25.44%). He presents several explanations for this phenomenon. First, gender wage discrimination is likely to be especially strong in Silesia. Second, in this region, men typically work in bigger firms than women. Third, the distribution of women between different occupations and industries in Silesia is especially disadvantageous for their relative wages. Fourth, the structure of occupational wage differentials in Silesia is also unfavourable for women, i.e. predominantly female occupations pay relatively less in Silesia than in other regions.
The article deals with the analysis of the anticipated middle-term demand for dwellings in Poland. On the basis of the empirical research this demand has been considered as being determined by the two groups of factors: demographic and economic, together with the level of the state of fulfillment of the basic housing needs. The finale set consisted of eight factors of the diverse wage. These were: the percentage of deficient flats counted as the difference between the number of households and the number of flats, the average space floor per capita, the population growth in 1998-2002, the percentage of people in the age from 20 to 39, prognosis of the number of inhabitants in 2002-2010, the unemployment rate, average wages, and the number of the business entities per 1000 inhabitants. The analyze has been carried out in the commune-scale pattern and can be useful for spatial planners and persons professionally involved in the housing market.
It has been substantiated that the increase in the concentration of heavy metals in the environment has especially aggravated in the conditions of military operations on the territory of Ukraine. The use of woody plants for the purposes of phytoremediation is one of the most effective options for optimising the state of the environment in urban ecosystems, regardless of the nature and source of contamination by metallic elements, which is of significant relevance in the conditions of post-war environmental restoration of Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to explore the peculiarities of some heavy metals accumulation by the assimilation apparatuses of the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plants growing in the recreational areas of the city of Dnipro in order to further optimise tree plantings with the aim of improving the environment. The content of heavy metal elements (Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd) in the biomass of the Robinia pseudoacacia L. leaves and in the soils of Dnipro recreation areas has been determined. The intensity of the accumulation of heavy metals in the phytomass of the Robinia pseudoacacia L. represents the following sequence Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd, which demonstrates a more intense absorption and accumulation in the phytomass of the leafy fraction of Zn and Cu in the phytomass of the deciduous fraction, and less significant of Pb and Cd. With the help of geo-information systems, cartographic material has been developed. It demonstrates the concentration gradient of Pb, Cu, Cd, and Zn in the assimilation organs of the black locust plants in the city of Dnipro recreational areas. Based on the cartographic analysis, it has been proved that the general condition of the soils in the recreation areas of Dnipro is characterised by significant disproportions in the level of pollution. The maps show the existing potential of the accumulative capacity of Robinia pseudoacacia L. to deposit Pb, Cu, Cd, and Zn, which allows for additional city functional zoning by considering phytoremediation functions of the existing and planned green spaces.
The aim of the research was to determine the forms of support provided to energy clusters in Poland. The author sought to answer the following questions: What activities do energy clusters receive support for? Does the support come from foreign (EU) or domestic funds? How do energy clusters fit in the current cluster policy in Poland? The study area was the Lower Silesia Voivodeship – one of 16 administrative regions of Poland. The author selected this region, because it has the largest number of energy clusters in Poland. The following methods were used to achieve the goal of the research: (1) a review of literature and industry reports; (2) a CAWI survey of clusters; and (3) interviews with cluster coordinators. Public support received by the surveyed clusters concerned either the commencement or the continuation of cluster activity. In the initial phase of the clusters activity, the support received concerned documentation work, drafting plans for the expansion of the power grid, and purchasing an energy monitoring and management system. At later stages of cluster development, the implemented projects mainly concerned the construction of ground-based PV farms and photovoltaic installations on the roofs of public utility buildings. Less frequently implemented projects included the thermal modernisation of public buildings, hybrid investments (PV and wind turbine), and energy storage facilities. Apart from the above, educational projects were implemented. The support funds came mainly from the EU funds (Operational Programmes and the Interreg programme). In turn, support from national funds came from the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, from local government funds, or from the Polish Deal, i.e. the government’s programme of strategic investments.
Spatial rent (annuity) makes it possible to estimate the economic value resulting from the use of space for a given type of activity. This article provides calculations of spatial rent in regard to offshore wind energy development and proposes a data-driven approach for optimizing spatial management strategies, ultimately contributing to more informed decision-making processes in marine spatial management. It analyses seven projects that could be developed in the Polish part of the Baltic Sea as part of Poland’s energy transition. The article employs a robust methodology that integrates technoeconomic analysis and financial forecasting to calculate spatial rent by discounting net cash flows. The calculations are carried out for two windiness scenarios, with the results of the weighted average annual energy production ranging from 38.02 GWh/km2 to 40.56 GWh/km2. Such energy production could yield an annual spatial rent of 10.72 million €/km2 to 13.30 million €/km2.
The article discusses issues related to the planning, implementation, and settlement of regional programmes funded by European funds. The value of allocations is converted multiple times from euro to Polish zloty and vice versa, meaning that exchange rate variability significantly impacts the depletion of funds within the programme. Therefore, the article examines the actions taken by Managing Authorities (MAs) to maximise the use of European funds in the 2014–2020 financial perspective. The aim of the article was to identify the activities of the Managing Authorities of regional programmes in the aspect of changes in the allocation of European funds determined by the exchange rate. To achieve this goal, a survey was conducted among 16 MAs in Poland. The research results indicate that all MAs have recognised the risk of not fully utilising allocations, and, as a result, they have undertaken various actions aimed at full contracting of funds.
Ensuring an appropriate level of transport accessibility of peripheral areas is one of the greatest challenges of regional and local policy. Higher accessibility has a positive impact on the attractiveness of a given area as a place to live and creates favourable conditions for running a business. An example of a region located peripherally and at the same time problematic in the socioeconomic sphere is the Jelenia Góra agglomeration. The aim of this article is to examine the validity of implementing urban rail in the functional area of Jelenia Góra and to determine the scope of its operation as part of shaping sustainable mobility in the Karkonosze subregion. A crucial part of the work is the original concept of the ‘Karkonosze Light-Rail’, which is a reference to previously published plans of the Jelenia Góra agglomeration railway.
From the middle of the first decade of the 2000s protests by residents against the siting of wind turbines took place in all regions of Poland. The actions taken by anti-windmill groups were addressed to institutions at all levels of government and argued by the negative impact of windmills on acoustic environment, health, property values, and landscape. The aim of this article is to identify the characteristics of the anti-windmill movement in Poland in relation to the concept of new social movements. Based on analyses of the local press, a literature review, and other sources, the activity of the protesters, their impact on the image of wind energy in the local media, the motivations of the protests, and their consequences were all discussed. The protesters took a variety of actions against the siting of wind turbines from the typically formal to the highly informal, taking care to publicise them, thus shaping a negative image of wind energy in the local media. Locally, there were numerous groups of protesting residents who fought for a solution to a specific problem related to the location of a wind turbine, with different motivations for the protests. These groups gained the support of local residents and intervened with local authorities. On the supra-local level, there were several organisations whose aim was to establish restrictive distances of windmills from residential development. Their activities were supported by conservative party politicians. They negated the EU climate policy and global warming.
The paper explores the application of the gravity model, namely the delineation of the urban predominant influence areas via the generation of the multiplicatively weighted Voronoi diagram, to the socio-economic regionalisation and administrative territorial division of Ukraine, including the existing state of affairs and several proposals on their improvement. The research uses quantitative statistical data on interregional migration and rail passenger traffic within the country, processed via the Statistica analytics software, and a subsequent spatial analysis conducted by GIS. The findings suggest that the gravity model can serve as a tool for optimisation the administrative territorial division, as well as for the delineation of the planning regions and urban hinterlands. At the same time, it has certain limitations and should not be treated as a panacea for regional planning and development.
The article is devoted to the role of the local political elites in the process of local commune (gmina) development. The research was made in three municipalities that differ in terms of economic development and their location on the territory of Poland. The author discusses the relation between the social-economic awareness of the councillors and the commune development strategy. She confronts the strengths and weaknesses of the municipalities in question as perceived by the local decision-makers with their communal development strategies and the course of action undertaken. The analysis of the development strategies of the three communes shows different approaches to strategic planning that result from differing attitudes of the councillors towards the creation of economic progress which, in turn, have a fundamental influence on the functioning of local structures.
The article presents the analysis of spatial planning process in communities at the end of 2004, based on information by Ministry of Transport and Construction and Central Statistical Office survey. Briefly discussed are the most important indicators reflecting the advancement of planning works. As a result of the research carried out, the practical conclusions for the regional politics were formulated. The research helped to identify and judge the state of the preparation of planning works in relation to the forming of spatial structure in the country. The analysis shows that the state of the planning works in the municipalities especially in relation to local plans, is unsatisfactory especially in urban areas. The planning predictions, contained in Priorities and Conditions… should be also critically judged. They are unrealistic, inconsistent with the real socio-economic situation. In the future it is necessary to develop a detailed monitoring system for the spatial planning on a regional, sub-regional and local scale.
The paper presents the principles regarding the protection and shaping of rural settlement landscape, drawn up on the basis of literature analyses. The authors confront the principles with the provisions of local planning documentation and the actual changes in the commune that have taken place since the plan was adopted. Finally, the authors determine the degree of implementation of the provisions. They identify some irregularities and shortcomings in the provisions and some differences between the provisions and actual spatial development. They also indicate the main directions of changes of local spatial policy.
The authors put a hypothesis of positive net agglomeration effect in Polish subregions in 2000–2005. The net agglomeration effect is a relatively new theory explaining spatial differences in economic activity. A production concentration function suggested by Ciccone and Hall is used in analysis. The hypothesis was verified with econometric methods. Multiple scenarios gave ambiguous results. Panel methods appeared to be ineffective, as opposed to pool methods. Cumulated number of patents was used as an approximation of the level of technical development. Among pool scenarios, domestic patents allowed to reduce problems connected with co-relation of explanatory variables. This approach gives conclusions about positive net agglomeration effect.
The aim of this paper is twofold: to demonstrate development challenges of large Polish cities and to assess the extent to which Cohesion Policy in the 2004?2006 programming addresses these issues. The analysis covers different aspects of EU intervention: sums assigned for particular categories, types of beneficiaries as well as types of large cities. The results allow us to formulate the following observations. The thematic structure of the intervention only partially addresses challenges related to contemporary informational economy, which is due to the cities’ relatively low support for innovativeness and their metropolitan functions. In the analyzed period, the bulk of EU Cohesion Policy funds was devoted to the development of basic technical infrastructure (transport and water management), which was the result of huge underdevelopment in these fields in former years. However, EU intervention had some successes: thematic fields were well adapted to types of cities. Furthermore, most funding was allocated to the largest cities because of the strong involvement of their authorities in EU funds projects, while in smaller cities a significant share of the funds was given to large industrial plants.
The article was published in Polish in "Studia Regionalne i Lokalne", 3/2004
Theory and empirical literature relate educational quality to two main explanatory factors: family education (intergenerational transfer of human capital) and the quality of schools. The model proposed in this paper is intended to verify the significance of these factors in explaining territorial disparities in educational quality in Poland. The dependent variable is the test score of sixth grade pupils in 2002, averaged at municipality level. The test results prove to be strongly correlated with human capital stock in the municipality`s adult population, which points to the key role of intergenerational transfer for educational quality. On the other hand, the role of school resources (understood as expenditure on education) is rather small. Average test results differ significantly between Poland`s historical divisions. Surprisingly, the more urbanised and relatively affluent regions, like Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), Pomerania (Pomorze) and the so-called Regained Territories (ziemie odzyskane) reveal a substantially lower educational quality than the territories in the east and south-east of the country, generally less developed and with a significant share of agriculture in the economy. These differences can only be partly explained by an additional environmental factor, related to the prevalence of state-owned economy before 1990 (e.g. state farms PGRs) and today`s high structural unemployment. Interestingly, the dissimilarities between the historical regions are not only illustrated by average test score levels, but also by parameters of the determining functions for these results. It can be concluded therefore that location in a historical region has a substantial impact on the flexibility of educational outcomes with regard to different explanatory factors.
Public space of the post-modern epoch is a conglomerate or blend of discontinuous functions, a collection of loosely connected fragments, increasingly more frequently unrelated to a city. People compose for themselves their own town from individual trajectories that are outlined by means of motor roads. Neo-liberal logic of city development recognizes the rule of spontaneity wherever the interest of big capital groups dominates, pushing onto the sidelines the more important task of contemporary urban planning – the protection and development of public spaces. Due to the crisis it is undergoing at present (commercial pressure), the efforts are taken to regain its social and spatial significance. The purpose of these transformations is bonding public spaces with broader surroundings (with open terrains, waterside zones, promenades, playgrounds, etc). Such recomposition is part of a regeneration process that unites the city and reconstructs the identity of the place where relationships of inhabitants with their urban environment were not completely abandoned.
The aim of the article is to identify in spatial and thematic terms the so-called special areas in strategic and planning documents at the national and regional levels, and a quantitative and qualitative description of spatial delimitations (comprising the communes categorised in particular special areas). The analysis included documents at the national, supra-regional and regional levels, i.e. 10 country-wide strategies (including 7 industry-specific strategies), 5 supra-regional strategies and 16 regional strategies and voivodeship spatial development plans. All the special areas were vectorised or assigned to the relevant municipalities, and then such issues as the number of special areas within them were examined. The analysis demonstrated significant over-regulation of strategic planning (in one of the communes 87 different categories of special areas at the national or regional level were identified). This article expands the issues examined in the project carried out in 2015-2016 at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation PAS for the Ministry of Development, entitled “Identification of the state intervention strategic areas, including problem areas” (Śleszyński et al. 2017a, 2017b).
The article focuses on the beliefs of the regional political elites in Poland about the models of democracy, operationalised as opinions about political representation, direct democracy and elite integration. The empirical basis is a questionnaire survey of 400 members of regional political elites carried out in 2017. The sample consists of 400 councillors of the 2014-2018 term of regional (voivodship) assemblies and town councils of big cities. The data show that an incoherence of views characterises the regional political elite: they do not form a more general vision of the democratic process, and detailed opinions on representation, direct democracy and elite integration poorly correlate with independent variables, including those describing political affiliations, i.e. party affinity or location on the left-right scale. The primary explanation for this incoherent image is the thesis about the lack of professionalisation of the regional elite.
The last decades have brought intensive development of urban areas. In many Polish cities, including Warsaw, such development takes place without obligatory local plans. Thus, administrative permission decisions concerning any investment are prepared on the basis of so-called studies of conditions and directions of spatial planning. The aim of the present paper is to discuss how general plans of spatial development in Warsaw can influence some features of its climate which are important for the quality of life of Warsaw citizens. Special attention is paid to Urban Heat Island.
The article describes a local conflict which arose when the decision on the establishment of the Brzeziny district (powiat) had been waived at the last moment. This resulted in strong protests of the inhabitants, who hoped that the district authorities would be located in Brzeziny. The conflict impaired the local community`s ability to exercise its political function and to execute public tasks. Two opposed groups emerged in the local community: representatives of the local authority and people connected with them on the one hand, and the protest committee, later the Teraz Brzeziny (Time for Brzeziny) association, on the other. The consequence of this local conflict, taken as a model, is mutual adaptation of both opposing sides. In Brzeziny, the adaptation took the form of a compromise negotiations between the government authorities and local community`s representatives, which brought a solution to the problem. As a result of the compromise, the Brzeziny district has been established, however not within the originally planned boundaries.
The goal of this article is to investigate the spatial allocation of human capital investment at the local level in Poland. In particular, this analysis refers to the funds within the Human Capital Operational Programme (POKL 2007–2013). The study is divided into the following parts: extrapolation of the algorithm for allocating the POKL funds between regions to the local level; comparison of the allocation based on the data from the period before the programme with the hypothetical allocation of the same funds based on the measurement done after the end of the programme (the „before-after” method); and a comparison of the intentional allocation of POKL funds with the observed actual absorption of funds at the local level in 2007–2015. The analysis carried out in this article proves that the final effect of POKL allocation at the local level is not a simple extension of the government’s plan of division expressed by an algorithm. The absorption of funds per capita differed between municipalities within individual voivodships, but more funds did not necessarily go to the areas that were particularly structurally burdened (according to the governmental algorithm). The „before-after” analysis leads to the conclusion that, in the period under study, development disparities increased, and development gap between eastern and western Poland deepened. The situation is particularly difficult in the territories of the so-called internal peripherals.
The aim of the work was to analyse the essence of recreational resources as a component of ecosystem services for the planning and development of recreation within the protected areas of Ukraine. This study highlights the features and essence of the ecosystem services concept. The classification, characteristics and possibilities of cultural ecosystem services usage of protected areas are assessed, and the location and importance of recreational services are emphasized. Theoretical and methodological approaches to the recreational ecosystem services assessment of protected areas were performed using GIS tools. The negative consequences of the Russian Federation military aggression on the protected areas of Ukraine and the ecosystem services decline are considered. The main advantages and obstacles of implementing the ecosystem services concept for planning the recreation development of the Ukrainian nature reserve fund are discussed.
The main objective of this paper is to analyze the reasons of development of the Integrated Territorial Investments in the new 2014-2020 period in the context of EU reforms, and to describe the creation process and the threats this experimental approach may encounter in Poland. The Author’s main thesis is that the experimental ITI concept causes additional conflicts between management authorities and beneficiaries who are used to the fact that declared and implemented intervention aims are different. The Author also assumes that there exist important factors that could potentially hinder the radical reforms and re-establish the status quo (or “domesticate” the policy). The main methods (desk research and involvement in preparatory works as a Ministry expert) determine the structure of the sources used. The paper offers some conclusions.
The institutionalized revitalization process is an important tool of contemporary Polish public policy. According to the declarations of local authorities, its programmes are designed to support the development of so-called degraded spaces and the effort against social exclusion of their inhabitants. However, as the analysis of municipal revitalization programmes (GPR) in the biggest cities reveals, planned revitalization leads to gentrification of a urbanized area and is therefore more conducive to segregation than to social inclusion. This paper discusses the relationships between revitalization and gentrification on the basis of the content and assumptions of urban regeneration programmes. It is based on the literature and on selected GPRs.
Theory and empirical literature relates educational quality to two main explanatory factors: intergenerational transfer of human capital and the quality of schools, school composition and economic conditions. Based on these findings a model explaining territorial differentiation of educational quality is proposed. The dependent variable is test score of 6th grade students, averaged at municipality level. As it turns out, educational outcome is highly conditioned on local human capital stock. The role of traditionally meant school quality (resources) is minor (although higher in rural areas than in cities. Average school outcome differs significantly along historical divisions of Poland, not only in levels, but also in parameters of determining function. Legacies of the past and related socioeconomic processes have a substantial impact on the sensitivity of educational quality to different explanatory factors.
This article presents the opinions of residents of the immediate surroundings of three Brownfield Site Urban Regeneration Projects completed in Łódź (Poland) in the years 2006–2016, i.e. Manufaktura (textile industry facilities transformed into a mall), “Lofts at Scheibler” (a former spinning plant transformed into residential buildings with accompanying services) and EC1 (adaptation of a former EC1 power plant for cultural and educational purposes), and their impact on their immediate environment. The article presents the results of questionnaire surveys conducted by the author in 2017 on 587 respondents residing within a walking distance, i.e. up to 500 m from the above-mentioned investment projects.
Integrated forms of planning and managing local development are seen today as essential for implementing a successful development policy. This is emphasized by the high priority of these forms in EU local development approaches. In his analysis, the author contrasts the Polish and the German planning system in order to evaluate the compatibility of the Polish spatial planning system with the requirements of integrated local development planning and management. The analysis concerns the areas defined as having key importance for integrated form of local development, i.e. the organization of planning and participation processes, the role given to planning documents in spatial management, and the availability of operational planning tools. The identified major differences between the two systems lead to the assumption that the Polish planning system hardly sustains integrated forms of planning and managing local development, as it is solely oriented towards regulating spatial development schemes.
Spatial planning is one of key tasks of regional (voivodship) local government in Poland. A spatial development plan for a voivodship includes many aspects which need to be decided upon. However, the implementation of this plan is largely independent of the will of the local government. The theory of planning (including spatial planning) emphasises that implementation of the plan is an inherent aspect of planning. Therefore, the article analyses to what extent regional spatial planning can actually be considered planning.
The aim of this article is to show how regions are created in Poland. The author focused on Warmia and Masuria, which started to become an established region as a result of an administration reform in 1999. An image of a region as an existing phenomenon is planted in its inhabitants’ minds by regional authorities, who make use of their strategic plans, financial instruments, and regional discourse.
Tri-City, with the suburban area, like other Polish urban centres with metropolitan aspirations, has real chances for becoming metropolitan area of European importance. According to some European concepts, Tri-City is recognized as a member of the group of European metropolises and regarded as a link in the zone of high dynamic development in the Baltic Sea Region. The main problem for the functional efficiency of Tri-City agglomeration is cooperation and competition between cities and municipalities. The lack of common activities can be the reason of efforts and effects to squander in the field of spatial planning, programming of regional development and functioning of the whole settlement system of the metropolitan area. Pursuing the integration of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot and thus creating an integrated metropolitan space of the highest ability to compete in the global economy, is a real challenge for the Tri-City.
The article presents a model of functional-spatial structure in the strategy of supra-local development, which is an attempt to translate the assumptions of the new planning paradigm, referred to in the world literature as strategic spatial planning, into Polish ground. In this regard, the new legal regulations set forth in the Act of July 15, 2020 on amending the Act on the principles of development policy and certain other acts were used, which, due to their high generality, allowed the authors’ approach to their interpretation and implementation. The paper presents the various dimensions of integration of strategic and spatial planning undertaken in the Polish legal system over the years up to the present day. In addition, the role of supra-local development strategies in integrated development planning in Poland is defined, and different types of functional areas are described, which are the starting point for differentiating the scope of the functional-spatial structure model. Then the description of the most important elements of the model was deepened, and other elements of the spatial dimension in the new supra-local development strategies were presented. The added value of integrating the spheres of strategic and spatial planning was pointed out, which is important for improving their effectiveness and efficiency, as well as for increasing public acceptance of the measures taken.
Revitalisation, which is defined as a planned process of restoring deprived areas, entails the difficult challenge of achieving long-lasting spatial, economic and social effects. In Poland, the accompanying inflow of European Union funds not only fosters a wide range of activities for entities involved in urban renewal, but also raises a question about the potential dysfunction of investments in deprived areas. Based on the experiences of Kraków, the paper presents some undesirable effects of projects implemented under the Local Revitalisation Programmes (LRP) in the years 2007-2013. The goal of the LRP projects was to promote the rehabilitation of deprived housing areas. The initial results, however, indicate that these projects are characterised by specific pitfalls, which include touristification, uniformisation, gentrification and social polarisation.
The paper’s main objective is to present the importance of the quality of life in the context of one’s emotional attachment to one’s city. The paper offers an in-depth discussion of some aspects of quality of life and place attachment. The relationships between the phenomena are also discussed. The analyses were conducted based on empirical data from the research project: Social and human capital as factors of the development of the region of Łódź. The project was funded by the European Union. The survey research was conducted on a representative sample of inhabitants of the Łódź voivodeship aged 16–65. The total number of conducted interviews was 2005. However, in the paper, the authors focused exclusively on the inhabitants of Łódź (N = 560). This post-industrial city was chosen on purpose. Firstly, this former centre of Polish textile industry lost much of its industrial function as a result of globalization and transformation. Secondly, the city authorities are planning to conduct a comprehensive process of city revitalization. The aim of the revitalization is to improve the quality of life. This is why the quality of life and place attachment in this post-industrial city were considered very interesting from a scientific point of view.
Public space of the post-modern epoch is a conglomerate or blend of discontinuous functions, a collection of loosely connected fragments, increasingly more frequently unrelated to a city. People compose for themselves their own town from individual trajectories that are outlined by means of motor roads. Neo-liberal logic of city development recognizes the rule of spontaneity wherever the interest of big capital groups dominates, pushing onto the sidelines the more important task of contemporary urban planning – the protection and development of public spaces. Due to the crisis it is undergoing at present (commercial pressure), the efforts are taken to regain its social and spatial significance. The purpose of these transformations is bonding public spaces with broader surroundings (with open terrains, waterside zones, promenades, playgrounds, etc). These changes use programmed connections, contacts, passages, links, connecting areas and other relations that invest new sociological and cultural meanings into public spaces. The integration process gives positive results in numerous cities of Western Europe. One of them, perhaps the most essential, is development of more attractive and deeper relationships of inhabitants with their urban environment. Although the task fails to be easy (integrating tendencies compete with inclinations for disintegration), it is an important step towards the enhancement of urban life quality. The evidence can be numerous discussions and conferences on the issue of public space.
The paper summarizes the activities, carried out in Poland in the period 2011–2016, which led to the delimitation of Functional Urban Areas of Voivodeship Centres (FUA VC) in the scope of the implementation of Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI). The first part of the paper presents the principles of implementing ITI in Poland, and the results of the delimitation of FUA VC proposed by the central authorities. In the second part, they are confronted with the results of studies conducted in all Polish regions. This makes it possible to assess their mutual relations, and to observe five variants of works related to the delimitation of FUA VC for the implementation of ITI, namely I. Ministerial, II. Cooperation, III. Strategic Planning, IV. Expert, and V. Interim.
The concept of resilience has gained much attention in recent academic and political discussion. However, its application to specific sectors, such as retail, is rather scarce. The aim of this paper is to present the concept of resilience and to analyse its applicability to the retail sector within the context of the town centre. The paper proposes a possible analytical framework for adaptively resilient retail centres that links the performance of retail centres to underlying development paths, the pre-shock position in the adaptive cycle, and other factors that drive their evolutionary reorganisation. The proposed framework has a practical application for spatial and urban planning and can be beneficial to various stakeholders and practitioners, including retailers, policy makers, and town centre managers.
The aim of the paper is to describe the material conditions of marginal gentrification in the specific context of the old part of the Nowa Huta district in Kraków. Nowa Huta was planned as an ideal city and is currently becoming an interesting and desirable place to live for new residents. The author focuses on the physical aspects of its gentrification and on the changes in the old part of the district, the local real estate market and the activities of residents-developers.
As a form of spatial and social organization, the city has been in deep crisis in the recent years. Nowadays in Poland, we can observe the renaissance of urbanity, as evidenced mostly in the increasing activity of social movements and the growing importance of civic participation. This paper discusses the role public consultation on spatial planning can play in urban policy. The analysis is based on a case study of active and innovative approaches to public consultations carried out during the process. The authors describe the potential of such sociological intervention in solving the crisis of urban communities.
Due to a dynamic increase of the number of tourists, to demand and supply changes, or – in short – to changes of paradigm, tourism has been recently considered as an important factor of regional development. Countries and regions attempt to encourage tourism development with modern planning. An overview of selected planning documents, mostly regional, leads to the conclusion that in spite of a declarative adoption of the new paradigm on the strategic level, the operational level is still dominated by the old approach, based on a number of myths. These myths should be considered main obstacles in tourism development in Poland.
Urban renewal in derelict sites has become a focal point of interest in many traditional industrial cities. Having adopted the case study of the Cork City (Ireland), the authors presented four urban renewal schemes which were implemented in this city over a 25–year period. It ought to be emphasised that not only has Cork implemented various rejuvenation programmes since 1979, but also revived three entirely different urban sites: the former industrial areas, the historic centre and the docklands. However, the latter still requires further regeneration. The urban renewal schemes contributed to an enhancement of the quality of life and a rise in local and inward investment. Moreover, the number of tourists increased considerably. In consequence, the image of the city was improved. Hence, the urban renewal has become a factor of Cork’s redevelopment.
The article describes EU policy towards its outermost regions. The regions are an example of integration of various streams of EU policies on the territorial level, as well as a playing field for EU pilot measures and innovative modes of governance. The European approach provides special privileges for peripheral regions in EU policies and the meaning of these regions in European public debates is increasing. The author examines the development of EU policy towards its outermost regions since 2004 in relation to two basic contemporary European debates: about territorial cohesion and the future of EU cohesion policy after 2013. At the end of the article, some conclusions are given for Polish decision-makers.
The paper provides a comparative analysis of so-called land management and spatial development studies of the biggest Polish cities regarding the scope of functional and morphological delimitation and zoning. Due to the lack of detailed regulations, individual cities developed their own zoning methodologies. The authors of such studies take into account three factors: functional, morphological and administrative aspects. The zoning in the analysed cities is determined by individual factors which vary from city to city.
The article introduces the concept of ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) programme, dealing with a research on spatial development of enlarging European Union. The role of Polish research units in the programme is described. The article demonstrates also the benefits and constrains related to the participation in ESPON, based on the experience of the Centre for European Regional and Local Studies. Several suggestions on how to increase Polish participation in the ESPON programme are formulated.
The subject of this article is historical urban development, localization-specific and cultural urban heritage of the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi. All the urban development periods, from the very beginning until today, are described in a chronological order. Also, the author discusses general legal principles of urban space development applicable in this country. In all the cases, the author seeks to clarify the legislation problems and to discuss some examples of urban management of the twenty-hundred-years-old urban space. The text is based on the: (1) urban rehabilitation and revitalization documentation of Tbilisi, prepared in 2000 within an international project financed by the European Council and The Georgian Cultural Heritage Foundation, published in Strasburg in Georgian, French and English languages (Tumaniszwili 2001), (2) empirical documentation prepared in 2003–2006 within the international Project AIA and (3) historical documentation gathered in Georgian and foreign libraries in 1998–2008.
The article presents selected results of studies presented in the Report of the State and Conditions of Planning Works as at the End of 2006. The report was prepared in the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, for the Ministry of Construction in autumn 2007. In this article attention is focused on the analysis of the Local Development Spatial Plans coverage and agricultural land changes in 2004–2006. In the studies, delimitation and classification based on the administrative-settlement structure, routes of the transport corridors and land use kind and intensity were taken into consideration.
Parishes possess a wide selection of instruments for stimulating the development of entrepreneurship, unfortunately the instruments are rarely used as part of a complex, well thought-out strategy that brings about multi-level results. The instruments for entrepreneurship stimulation belong to two major categories: financial and non-financial. One of the primary reasons for investors to select a particular parish can be the existence of a planned and long-term fiscal policy, connected to a stable system of tax preferences in taxes and local fees, and an active strategy for parish investment expenditures. Creating positive conditions for the emergence of new enterprises is the best source of social-economical activation of the local population.
Rock mining is popular and characterized by the exploitation of local deposits, which are used as a bargaining chip in local economic and socio-political politics. The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of rock mining on the local economy of Polish communes. A contextual analysis was performed of inflows to the communes’ budgets resulting from the exploitation of rock minerals, the contribution of rock mining in the creation of local jobs was assessed, and the benefits from reclamation and development of post-mining areas were estimated. To do all that, the Author used the method of indicator analysis of local government units and stochastic methods of data analysis, as well as inference based on collected data. Studies have shown that rock mining is a factor supporting the local economy. Benefits from the exploitation of rock minerals should be taken into consideration in the development of plans concerning mineral rock deposits.
The main question of this paper is a problem of importance of the National Strategy of Regional Development (NSRD), as a leading instrument for strategic planning of regional policy in Poland. I present the main characteristic of recent NSRD arranged for period 2001–2006. My basic interest is focused on structure of this document, its main priorities and basic implementation instruments. Particularly important is the analysis of effectiveness of the main NSRD priorities in practice. It is crucial problem, especially for Polish central-government regional policy which was implemented basically by voivodship contracts. My research proves that effectiveness of the NSRD implementation by the voivodship contracts was low. Recommendation for future Polish government regional policy is given.
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the activity of local governments’ planning and investment service in the environmentally valuable areas of Podlaskie Voivodeship. Spatial planning at the local level is extremely important, especially in the environmentally valuable areas. It makes it possible to preserve the natural environment for future generations and to maintain ecological processes. However, protective measures should not disturb municipal investments. One of the appropriate solutions is the introduction of local land development plans – a framework of rational management of natural resources and of marketing development. This is particularly important in the areas of municipalities which, beside ecological functions, play an important role in the development of tourism and transport, and are situated in suburban areas.
As a result of interaction of many factors, the conditions of academic institutions have changed significantly over the last decades. Globalization and internationalization, demographic and economic challenges, as well as growing international competition between universities causes these institutions to take up new functions, restructure and change their character. Top universities respond to the changing context by developing new strategic solutions aiming at sustaining and strengthening their high position in international rankings. Some of the strategic solutions are similar for most universities, but some are unique and specific. The aim of this article is to identify latest trends in strategic management of top universities and present selected case studies to illustrate the most interesting solutions.
The work has two goals: 1) to identify the dominant charges in complaints to administrative courts regarding land use plans for municipalities (gminy), to assess their legitimacy and effectiveness, and to classify the complainants; 2) to show that the court rulings are related to the diversity of municipalities, i.e., their character (morphology, social and economic functions, etc.) and characteristics of socio-economic development. All the judgments of voivodship (regional) administrative courts issued in 2010–2019 concerning complaints about municipal plans were analysed (531). The problem turns out to be the undefined scope of such plans, which, however, does not affect the extent to which these instruments are challenged by property owners. A high concentration of complaints in the regional capitals and their suburban areas is also demonstrated.
The aim of the article is to present the process of changes which occurred from the 1970s until 2012 in the areas of urban agglomerations in Poland. In contemporary agglomerations in Poland, their socio-economic function is centralized while land use and building development become progressively decentralized, which results in dynamic growth of the central metropolitan area, and in simultaneous deurbanization of its zone of influence. The described problem is typical of the Warsaw Urban Agglomeration (Warszawski Zespół Miejski, WZM), where the population of the metropolitan zone increases while the importance of the surrounding towns, particularly in their central areas, decreases. The objective of this paper is to present these contemporary trends in the communes of the northern zone of WZM. The analysis involves three towns: Legionowo, Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, and Zakroczym, and two communes – Jabłonna and Wieliszew. The results are compared with relevant changes occurring in the communes of the Piaseczno district. The examined processes are also confronted with the proposals and arrangements included in planning concepts prepared in different periods for the agglomeration. The escalating suburbanization, characterized by deurbanization visible in spatial planning, affects the effectiveness of newly created building developments and their rank of service centres, and also shows the failure of long-term planning, which is not supported by detailed analysis and research.
The paper’s main objective is to introduce into the topic of regional development in the postindustrial regions Ruhr and Upper Silesia taking aspects of economic and spatial planning under consideration. The region Ruhr has lived through a difficult period of development. A lot of self-given objectives could be accomplished. Anyway various long-term problems like the relative high unemployment rate, the demographic challenges or industrial waste lands are still present and are awaiting solutions. In some problem areas Upper Silesia might orient oneself to the strategies conducted in the Ruhr agglomeration and adapt strategies which delivered positive results and prevent failures which resulted by middle-rate measures.
Over the past few decades, voivodeship-level spatial planning has been the subject of numerous theoretical studies and legal regulations. During this period, the authorities of the Lublin voivodeship prepared a number of spatial development plans, sometimes referred to as regional plans. In theoretical dissertations, this spatial planning (especially the regional one) was usually seen as a plan of the future spatial structure and of activities aimed at achieving it, whereas regulations on spatial planning and its practice increasingly shaped voivodeship plans as documents defining only the desired spatial structure – first of all its socioeconomic and environmental functions. A strong impact of political and legal conditions on the practice of voivodeship-level spatial planning is undoubtedly the reason for this difference.
The article presents the results of the analysis of the impact of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2004–2006 and the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007–2013 on divergence/convergence processes taking place in Poland as well as between its regions and the EU average, measured as GDP per capita in PPS. The analysis was made using simulation results received by applying 16 regional HERMIN models and data as well as forecasts concerning NDP and NSRF transfers prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development of the Republic of Poland. The application of HERMIN models allowed the authors to make forecasts regarding the following macroeconomic indicators: GDP per capita (in PPS) in relation to the EU average and to the national average by 2020. The results indicate that NDP and NSRF implementation can accelerate the convergence process between the Polish regions and the EU average and slow down the weak divergence process within the country.
The global economic crisis that hit all the national economies in the EU area stimulated the need for new approaches in the planning and implementation of regional development policy. This paper investigates the debates about the role of the city of Riga and its development potential as the biggest city in Latvia, whilst also looking at the challenges and opportunities created by the need to respond to global changes. The article discusses the relevance of certain factors and demonstrates the actions taken by national authorities to promote the more balanced development of Latvia, as well as the opportunities to apply a place-based approach in promoting the development of Riga as the capital city of Latvia.
System transformation is a long-lasting process which is reflected in the model of property relationships and the way inhabited environment is created. This paper discusses the Polish urban area as an example of a neoliberal model of space transformation characterized by: atrophy of the public sector, arbitrary spatial order, and deepening spatial segregation. The transformation of the urban area in a neoliberal model has affected the legal order, spatial planning, privatization of housing resources, and public infrastructure. The paper is based on source literature, official statistics, and an analysis of Polish legal acts.
This article discusses a particular type of social conflict, which is NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) syndrome. It has been very well studied and described by American sociologists. Although NIMBY syndrome has been present in Poland for relatively short time it is de?nately a sign of organising different types of local communities against interfering processes. Although usually depicted as negative phenomenon in most con?icts in the region of lodz it has proved to increase local activity, created new channels of social communication and leaders. It can be also stated that NIMBY syndrome has its source in omitting or separating local community from decision-making procedures and insufficient information on affair/venture being planned. The research revealed that NIMBY protests were characterised by violent beginning, significant time of existence and appearance of sudden, violent and often abrupt reactions of community during time of the con?ict. Dominating forms of activity were petitions and letters being written form. Another activities covered blockades, manifestations, demonstrations and destruction of construction machines or construction site itself. Most frequent form of extinguishing the con?ict was arbitrage which is forcing administrative decision against community which resulted in increasing distance between the community, local authorities and investor.
