The main principles of the smart city concept rely on modern, environmentally friendly technologies. One manifestation of the smart city concept is investments in renewable energy sources (RES), ...which are currently a popular direction in urban transformation. It makes sense, therefore, to analyse how Polish cities are coping with this challenge and whether they are including the implementation of RES facilities in their development strategies. The aim of the article is to analyze and assess the level at which renewable energy facilities are being implemented or developed in the urban space of cities in Poland as a pillar of the implementation of the smart city concept. This goal is realized on two levels: the theoretical (analysis of strategic documents) and the practical (analysis of the capacity of RES installations, questionnaire studies). The study shows that renewable energy installations are an important part of the development strategies of Polish cities, and especially of those that aspire to be termed “smart cities”. Moreover, it is shown that the predominant RES facilities are those based on solar energy.
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•In the largest Polish cities, the area of green spaces is increasing.•Post-industrial cities do not develop green spaces.•Industrial and urban units are still being developed in ...post-industrial cities.•Consequently, post-industrial cities do not build green urban resilience.•Urban green spaces management should be focused on building urban resilience.
De-industrialisation triggered economic, spatial and environmental changes in cities. Therefore, this study identifies whether there has been a reorientation of spatial development in post-industrial cities towards the creation of green spaces. The aim of the study is to analyse and evaluate the transformation of green spaces in 32 major cities in Poland, including 12 post-industrial cities. Data sources were vector land cover data models from the Urban Atlas for 2006 and 2018, administrative boundaries from the National Boundary Register and building layers from the Topographic Objects Database. The research procedure was carried out using the GIS environment, through spatial analysis, geoprocessing algorithms, and spatial statistics. The results have shown that post-industrial cities do not develop their urban resilience based on the expansion of green spaces and, consequently, do not build green urban resilience. In addition, the research has proven that the greatest loss of green spaces is noticeable in parts of post-industrial cities with medium and high development intensity, where there is an intensification of construction activity. The dominant direction of the transformation of green spaces has been the conversion of agricultural areas into green spaces (87.79%). In contrast, the main direction of loss in green space has been the creation of new industrial units (24.80%) and the expansion of the urban fabric (23.53%). The article is original due to the fact that there is a gap in the literature regarding the study of green spaces in post-industrial cities with regard to the concept of green urban resilience.
Due to the multifaceted nature of the revitalisation process, its evaluation and monitoring, as well as possible comparisons, are complex and difficult to carry out. Evaluation of the revitalisation ...process currently poses a challenge for all municipalities. The article aims to compare the revitalisation process in the two Polish cities of Toruń and Bydgoszcz. The analysis was based on two financial perspectives: 2007–2015 and 2016–2023. The authors chose a multi-criteria analysis method based on the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) as the main research method. The results show that the Local Revitalisation Programme of the City of Toruń for the years 2007–2015 had the best impact on the revitalisation process. Using the AHP method, we could carry out a multidimensional evaluation of the revitalisation process. Moreover, it allowed us to combine different elements of the evaluation of the revitalisation process and transform them into one synthetic result, ranking each programme in a hierarchy. At the methodological level, the article presents a new approach to conduct research in socio-economic geography, using the tool of multi-criteria analysis derived from the disciplines of economics and management sciences. Until now, the AHP method has not been used in the analysis of the revitalisation process, which confirms the innovative character of the conducted research.
Due to the multifaceted nature of the revitalisation process, its evaluation and monitoring, as well as possible comparisons, are complex and difficult to carry out. Evaluation of the revitalisation ...process currently poses a challenge for all municipalities. The article aims to compare the revitalisation process in the two Polish cities of Toruń and Bydgoszcz. The analysis was based on two financial perspectives: 2007–2015 and 2016–2023. The authors chose a multi-criteria analysis method based on the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) as the main research method. The results show that the Local Revitalisation Programme of the City of Toruń for the years 2007–2015 had the best impact on the revitalisation process. Using the AHP method, we could carry out a multidimensional evaluation of the revitalisation process. Moreover, it allowed us to combine different elements of the evaluation of the revitalisation process and transform them into one synthetic result, ranking each programme in a hierarchy. At the methodological level, the article presents a new approach to conduct research in socio-economic geography, using the tool of multi-criteria analysis derived from the disciplines of economics and management sciences. Until now, the AHP method has not been used in the analysis of the revitalisation process, which confirms the innovative character of the conducted research.
Nowadays, the pace of social and economic development is constantly growing, which has led to many negative effects. In order to stop this negative impact, reference should be made to the assumptions ...of sustainable development (SD), and young people – Generation Z – should be considered its main promoters. The main objective of this article is to present Generation Z’s perception of sustainable development in Poland. A Computer-assisted web interviewing survey (CAWI, N=1172) was conducted to understand the basic demographics, general issues, SD in a daily context, and SD-related knowledge in 936 cities of Poland. The results have shown that Generation Z in Poland recognises the social and inclusive role of SD. Cost of commodities, social disparities and conflict, and disrupted economic growth were identified as the emerging challenges for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Polish cities.
The global COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns have had a significant impact on urban areas and their residents. We study the public perception of the lockdown measures during the first ...wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in two socially and spatially different districts in Rome: Sallustiano and Centocelle. We answer two research questions: Was the public perception of the lockdown homogeneous or differentiated within each district and between the two selected districts? How did the residents in these two districts perceive the lockdown measures? We conducted a literature review, 30 individual in-depth interviews, and an ethnographic walk. We find that the perception of the lockdown in the two socially and spatially different districts was homogeneous overall, yet there were some differences. Respondents who lived in Sallustiano, a central and higher-income district, exhibited slightly more positive attitudes towards lockdown measures compared to the respondents in the peripheral and lower-income Centocelle district who exhibited slightly more negative attitudes towards the lockdown measures. The respondents in Centocello perceived an increase in reciprocal neighborly assistance and social solidarity compared to the respondents in Sallustiano, where the individualistic character of social life prevailed. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown sparked more social conflicts in Centocello than in Sallustiano. We also find that many respondents perceived the lockdown measures as necessary, even though they caused social and economic challenges.
This article aims to find whether the urbanized area experiences integration or disintegration of the ecological and urban functions of the river. The river has always played an important role in ...urban areas, although over the centuries, it has come through radical changes. At first, it decided on the location of the city, served as a defense and means of transport, and during the period of industrialization it became the technical base for the city. Currently, the river has again come to be an important element of the urban landscape and it has a number of important functions addressed primarily to city residents and tourists. The study considers the Polish perspective and was carried out on the basis of a case study of the city of Torun (an example of the post-communist city of medium size) and a part of the River Vistula within it. Keywords: river, ecological and urban functions of the river, tourism, city management, spatial planning, revitalization.
This article examines the Polish city of Toruń in terms of the compact city concept. It analyses the theoretical elements of the compact city concept using Toruń as a case study and taking into ...account the psychological aspects (i.e., social perception) of a compact city. The case study collected primary data during fieldwork in 2013 and 2014. The methodology consists of a literature review, satellite photo grid analysis (250 × 250 m) and social perception of the compact city (𝑛 = 128) assessed through questionnaires with representative quantitative data. The research was also supplemented with an analysis of the accessibility of the main sites in Toruń. The results are presented on a map of urban areas and graphs of social perception. The study concludes that Toruń is a compact city from the urban point of view, but it is not perceived as such from the psychological or social points of view.
•The system transformation which has begun after 1989, have left their mark on the post-socialist urban development in Poland.•Keywords of urban resilient in polish spatial planning are: ...restructuring, security, flexibility•The planning process in Poland, still under transformation, has a good formal and legal framework which can be treated as a guidepost for urban resilience.•Achieving full implementation of urban resilience in the spatial planning system requires adjustments, primarily at the executive level, concerning planning practice.
The system transformation initiated in Poland after 1989, the departure from the socialist model of spatial management, and the neoliberal economy and its paradigms have left their mark on the urban development in Poland. A need arose to confront the spatial planning system with new challenges and threats of both natural and socioeconomic nature. In this context, the concept of urban resilience seems to be a useful approach from the viewpoint of spatial planning. The aim of this article is to present the concept of urban resilience and its implementation in the planning process in the largest cities in Poland with a focus on the transformational perspective. In order to achieve the research goal of the study authors analyzed and evaluated 15 623 records of the data connected with spatial planning in 39 largest cities in Poland. Moreover this study was the first theoretical and empirical attempt to analyse and evaluate the planning situation in Poland after 1989 in context of urban resilience concept. The findings show that the spatial planning in Poland has a good legal framework for implementing urban resilience, but achieving full application of discussed concept requires adjustments at the executive level, concerning planning practice.
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