Future of Allotment Gardens in the Context of City Spatial Policy – A Case Study of Poznań

The object of this article is to analyze and asses the legal and economic consequences arising from the adoption (or change) of a local spatial development plan. The paper also presents, based on the example of the rural commune of Tomice in the Malopolska Province of Poland, how to estimate income to the commune budget from the collected planning fees. The analyses are based on planning studies, including the local spatial development plan from 2004, and the study of conditions and directions of spatial development from 2012. The council of Tomice Commune adopted the local spatial plan due to the increasing demand for residential areas. According to the plan, over 930 acres of land have been allocated for investment purposes, which is approx. 22.4% of the total area of 4,155 ha. The local plan was developed for all the six cadastral units of the commune, with one hundred percent surface coverage. The physiographic conditions and the location of Tomice Commune encourage the settlement of the urban population (from Wadowice or Krakow), which entails the need for housing investment areas. In 2012, the Tomice Commune adopted a change in the study of conditions and directions of spatial development. The proposed re-zoning of the area is in line with the policy of transitioning from an agricultural character towards the sustainable and multifunctional development of the commune. It is worth noting that the provisions of the plan of 2004 take into account the collection of a one-time fee for the sale of real estate whose value has increased as a result of the adoption of the plan. The amount of this fee for investment areas was set at the level of 30% of the increase in value, in accordance with the provisions of the Polish Act on Spatial Planning and Management. Due to the fact that the currently valid local plan has been in effect for 10 years, it can be assumed that the commune will proceed to make some changes to it. The article estimates the potentially generated income, assuming that changes in the study passed in 2012 with regards to designating land for investment purposes constitute an indication of provisions in the future local plan.

We have analysed to what degree spatial planning is used as a tool for preserving and developing biophilia in Polish spa towns. In order to achieve the aim of the article, we analysed documents: studies of conditions and directions of spatial development and local spatial development plans. This was supplemented by spatial analyses of the share of green areas in the total area of each town, and the coverage of green areas and spa protection zone A with local spatial development plans. The research has shown that while the structure of studies of conditions and directions of spatial development theoretically provide a good basis for planning policies that take biophilia into account, real actions fail to deliver. The main problem is the inadequate coverage of green areas with local spatial development plans, which poses a real threat that these terrains will be transformed and lose their biophilic potential. Also, not all analysed centres have fulfilled the requirement of obligatory coverage of spa zone A with local spatial development plans. Therefore, we have observed an increase in the number of issued decisions on development conditions, which are one of the main reasons for the disintegration of Polish space.

The background of the research conducted for this article is the increasing activity of real estate developers in the centres of Polish cities in recent years. Wrocław was chosen as one of the fastest-developing cities in Poland. The aim of the study was to identify the approach of planning authorities to urban densification in the provisions of local spatial development plans adopted between 2010 and 2024. The research included an analysis of 95 local spatial development plans with regard to the urban density indicators contained in them. Based on an analysis of planning activity in the city centre of Wrocław between 2010 and 2024, the extent to which the process of urban densification is planned and controlled – on the basis of binding local spatial development plans – was determined. The study revealed that local plans are used both to establish a framework for the densification of the built environment and to prevent undesirable densification. Urban densification strategies present in the planning documents were identified. As a result of the analysis, an original classification of local plans into four categories was proposed, each reflecting a different approach to the densification process.

Less important space? Spatial planning in small towns in Poland

Urban greenery is an indispensable component of urban composition and can be an effective tool for solving problems related to shaping and organising urban spaces. For the proper functioning of green areas, however, it is necessary to combine them into a functional system, which must be reflected in spatial planning documents. The most effective protection of urban green areas can be ensured by appropriate provisions in local spatial development plans. The aim of the paper is to assess the significance of local spatial development plans for Poland in shaping green areas. The number of local spatial development plans in individual voivodships in the years 2009 - 2017 will be analysed. Keywords: Green areas, landscape spatial plans, sustainable development.

The zoning fee constitutes a public levy paid to the commune by the owners or perpetual users of properties. The purpose of the zoning fee is to compensate for the costs incurred by the local government units due to the adoption or change of the local spatial development plans. The subject fee may be collected pursuant to the provisions of local law if the market value of the property increased due to the implementation of a new or amended local spatial development plan. It should be observed that the zoning fee is an element of settlements between the commune and entities, whose property value changed with the adoption of the new local spatial development plan or change of the previous plan. The provisions do not clearly describe the legal nature of the zoning fee. Nonetheless, the public and legal status of the aforesaid fee was confirmed by judicial decisions. Since the commune is not the taxpayer, the fee constitutes its own income. It is due to the fact that the zoning fee does not follow from the Act and does not have an unpaid character. The obligation to pay the zoning fee is the result of a specific spatial policy of the commune. Even though they were the subject of many judicial decisions, the provisions of the Act on 27 March 2003 on Spatial Planning and Development referring to zoning fees still raise a lot of interpretation doubts as to their amount, date of payment or the very grounds for their existence. The objective of the article is to show the public and legal character of the aforesaid benefit. The author is trying to prove that such an institution is by all means necessary, but its structure requires certain amendments, which could be made using the test method in the form of an analysis of legal acts and selected judicial decisions.

Main goal of this work was analysis of social participation process during drawing up local spatial development plan. Local spatial development plan is basic document that regulate principles of zoning plans. His arrangements are complying requirements rules of spatial order and balanced development. Citizens are affected by local spatial development plans and that why it is so important that they could have possibility too participating in process of creating it. Problems connected in these work are really significant during planning and zoning space plans that are offend connected with appearing conflictual situations. Active and aware municipality inhabitants’ contribution in process of preparing local spatial development plan has a task to improve and prevent protests and local conflicts.

Local-level spatial policies in Poland are determined by diverse social, economic, political and environmental factors. On the one hand, they result from the specific characteristics of individual areas. On the other, however, supra-local factors are found to be playing an increasingly important role. These can include trends related to the Europeanisation of spatial planning and the associated promoted institutional changes and changes in planning practices. However, from February 2022 onwards, certain European countries in particular have seen another important factor has come into play, i.e. the war in Ukraine. It thus seems legitimate to verify how the fundamental change in the geopolitical situation, i.e. the location in the immediate vicinity of a victim state (Ukraine), an aggressor state (Russia) and an aggressor-friendly state (Belarus), along with a number of related consequences (including a change in the nature of border capacity, a sense of insecurity, potential changes in investment policy, etc.) determine the directions local spatial policies have been taking. The main purpose of the article is to diagnose the current planning situation of units of local-government administration along Poland’s eastern border by reference to two groups of issues: (1) concerning the state of progress of planning work, as well as (2) the impact of the outbreak of war in Ukraine on changes in spatial policy (perforce ancillary, given the small number of responses received). The source of the data were annual surveys of the Ministry of Development and Technology and Statistics Poland regarding the advancement of planning work at the level of the Polish gmina, as well and a survey addressed to all 77 such units of local administration located by the border. Particular reference was made to the application of spatial-planning instruments at the local level (studies of spatial planning conditions and directions, local spatial development plans and decisions on development conditions – with the analyses concerning the period before the major July 2023 amendment of spatial planning law). Particular attention was paid to the frequency of enactment of individual acts, with this being related to both earlier periods and trends in Poland as a whole. The research finds that the relatively high level of activity shown by some of the surveyed gminas in amending/updating spatial planning studies and spatial / physical development plans may not be related to the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The Polish spatial-planning system in fact lacks instruments by which to react flexibly and ensure the integration of development policies (as is particularly necessary when a crisis erupts).

Although many factors affect the investment of individual households in renewable energy sources, we highlight one of them: the local spatial development plan. It is one of the planning tools for implementing development policies at the local level. Since it is on the basis of local spatial plans that investments are carried out on the ground, their role in the implementation of renewable energy sources is one of the most important. This article presents the results of a study of local spatial plans in terms of facilitating, on the one hand, and limiting, on the other hand, the implementation of various renewable energy investments. To a large extent, the focus was on examples of planning acts adopted in Polish communes, but they were compared with examples from other European countries. The authors focused on qualitative assessment, taking into account the regulations applicable to all investors, containing generally binding standards, which specify the development’s land use and detailed building principles. The conclusions include recommendations for the provision of local development plans.

This paper concerns changes of the cadastral value of real estate connected with changes in the land use determinations of the local spatial development plan in a given area over the analyzed period of time. The research has revealed a variable course of the determinations of adopted local plans over the years, which would indicate the need to re-appraise the cadastral value of real estates, as well as recharge the tax ad valorem. To demonstrate the effects of the identified changes in spatial development plans in accordance with the assumptions of mass appraisal, the cadastral value of sample real estates located in the area of research was determined. The real estates were covered by a change of intended use resulting from adopting the Local Spatial Development Plan for the City of Krakow. The conducted research confirmed a significant change in the cadastral value of real estates subjected to evaluation. In addition, the characteristics of the knowledge base on real estates on the local market of the City of Krakow have been researched, and the valid legal acts regarding the connection of information contained in the local spatial development plan with the method of determining the cadastral value of a real estate have been analyzed.

The local spatial development plan is an instrument of spatial policy which aims at shaping spatial order. The local plan includes solutions ensuring protection against emerging pollutants, as well as restoring the environment to its proper condition and setting the conditions for the implementation of projects, enabling optimal effects in the field of environmental protection. Land use and land development should also ensure the preservation of all landscape values as much as possible. When creating and adopting a local spatial development plan, a municipality as a local government unit must take into account both public and private interests. The paper attempts to answer the question whether city planning has an impact on investors’ activity on the real estate market. Four selected cities located in different parts of Poland were analysed. The authors proposed determining the investor activity indicator as a measure of this impact.

The purpose of this paper is to present how a city’s strategy to strengthen its resilience to climate change threats, as formulated in the Urban Adaptation Plan (UAP), is implemented in Local Spatial Development Plans (LSDPs), using Warsaw as a case study. The results of this exploratory study conducted in Warsaw show that the potential of local spatial planning for climate change adaptation is well utilised, and that LSDPs effectively implement the city’s strategy to strengthen its resilience to climate change threats, as formulated in the UAP for Warsaw. As the study is limited to the capital city, it would be interesting to examine how the situation looks in other major cities in Poland, using the current study’s results as a reference point. Considering that the policy-making process, including adaptation to climate change, may encounter cognitive, social, organisational/institutional, technological and financial barriers or constraints in nature, future research could include other research methods, such as monitoring the implementation of LSDPs provisions in urban space and interviews with spatial planners, municipal authorities, city residents and investors.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate to what extent the ambiguity and excessive detail of the provisions of local spatial development plans (LSDPs) lead to an increase in investment risk and destabilization of the real estate market. The analysis was conducted based on a study of the content of selected LSDPs and their impact on property values and investment processes. The scope of the study includes the analysis of cases of municipalities (local administrative units) with a different approach to spatial planning as well as Polish regulations in the field of spatial planning. Case studies of cities and areas in which the adopted local plans had an impact on investment decisions and property values were taken into account. The conclusions from the analysis will be used to assess the effectiveness of the regulations used and to formulate recommendations regarding the optimization of the spatial planning in a way that enables the harmonious combination of the interests of investors, residents, and local government authorities.

Gardening plays a crucial role for urban sustainability, yet not all urban gardens receive equal support. Community gardens, often seen as efficient sustainable land-use innovations in a densifying city, tend to be prioritised over traditional sustainable practices such as allotment gardening. Using the case study of Prague and Brno, Czechia’s two major cities, this article introduces the concept of the quiet right to the city to highlight various routine and inconspicuous ways of negotiating quiet sustainability in urban spaces. We analyse different perceptions of community and allotment gardening by municipal actors, gardeners and activists by comparing the two gardening practices across four dimensions which are both conducive to urban sustainability and the right to the city: (1) public access to urban greenery and spatial justice, (2) community building and engagement, (3) food cultivation, (4) environment and climate protection. We argue that governments’ preference for gardens better aligned with the status quo undermines citizens’ right to the city, urban sustainability and resilience against future threats. Urban sustainability and allotment gardeners’ quiet right to the city could be amplified by addressing governments’ bias and fostering alliances between allotment and community gardeners, leading to a convergence of their gardening practices.

Presented glossary to the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw of 11 January 2017 (II OSK 932/15) is approved and polemic. The position of the Supreme Administrative Court has been divided that the municipal authorities may, in the local spatial development plan they formulate, restrict the rights of the owners in order to fully realize other values which they consider more important. When discussing polemics with the views expressed in the explanatory memorandum, three factors have been identified in this statement, which have determined the outcome of the findings of the local spatial development plan, the requirements of the public interest, and the future rights of third parties. As a consequence, it was recognized that the statutory principle of weighing interests – by referring to the constitutional principle of proportionality – was consistent with the system of application of the law of planning and spatial planning and shaping the correct relationship between the public interest and individual interests.