Abstract
The dynamic process of suburbanisation in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland, causes changes in the scale of the construction activity, mainly in the communes surrounding large cities. Although, in Poland, suburbanisation processes were initiated with the system transformation, and the first spatial planning law was adopted only in 1994. In addition, building permits were issued in an unplanned manner, regardless of future consequences. As a result, housing development, despite its high intensity in suburban zones, is dispersed and chaotic. The aim of this study is to juxtapose the construction activity with the guidelines governing this sphere contained in strategic and planning documents, with the example of the suburbs of Toruń. On the basis of the statistical data, and the planning and strategic documents at different levels, it is shown that construction activity, because of its interference in space, is indeed an important element shaping suburban zone development; there is a burning need for the appropriate, i.e., sustainable and long-term, planning of this process. This planning may be boosted by considering the potential development scenarios for the analysed communes belonging to the Toruń suburban area set out in this study.
Highlights
The dynamic process of urbanisation, which has been progressing worldwide, is contributing to the transformation of the contemporary settlement network
The data needed to carry out the analysis of construction activity concerning its intensity was established on the basis of indicators, such as: x1—the number of permits issued for the construction of a single-family house per 10,000 inhabitants; and x2—the number of dwellings completed per 1000 inhabitants
In this study, the starting point in the Results Section was to trace the increase in the intensity of construction activity and find out how it is shaped in the communes of Torunski Poviat, and in the broader context of Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship, to show the specificity of these administrative units
Summary
The dynamic process of urbanisation, which has been progressing worldwide, is contributing to the transformation of the contemporary settlement network. From the turn of the 20th century, scholars began to refer to urbanisation when considering formally rural areas, paying attention, in this context, primarily to the suburban zones forming around cities, especially large ones [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Because of the original rural character of the suburban zones and the increased influence of the city, both urban and rural patterns permeate the area [12,13]. This causes difficulties in defining the boundaries, both of the city and of the typical rural area [14,15,16,17]. Suburban zones form separate settlement structures with high internal diversity
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