Large Polish Cities Research Articles

Resistance in adapting to sustainable mobility and new Sustainable Mobility Indicator – case study of a Polish agglomeration

Sustainable growth is now the foundation of economic growth, especially if the 2020 pandemic prompts the conclusion that the over-exploitation of planet’s goods is ultimately turning against humanity. Despite the climate crisis, Poles are reluctant to give up cars, and city authorities in Poland do not increase the quality and efficiency of public transport. Young people around the world are seen as hope for changing trends. The aim of the article is to verify the hypothesis about greater awareness of young people in Poland about climate change, manifested by mobility habits, compared to the older generation. The hypothesis was verified by a study onducted on a group of 67 students commuting to the university at the age of 21-23 and a group of 45 commuters aged 25-65. The Sustainable Mobility Indicator (SMI) was created for the purposes of the article. The SMI considers daily travels of residents of a large Polish city. With the use of the created indicator, the hypothesis was rejected.

Funkcjonowanie i wyzwania władz lokalnych związane z budżetem partycypacyjnym w Polsce na przykładzie największych miast

The Functioning of and Challenges for Local Authorities Related to the Participatory Budget in Poland Exemplified by Largest Polish Cities The article presents issues related to the participatory budget as fast-developing contemporary tool of residents’ participation in local space management. It focuses on the benefits of the participatory budget shared by authorities and local communities. The article also presents threats to that vehicle of social participation, including one of the key ones, i.e. the weakening interest shown by residents in its creation and implementation. The main premise of the article in this case is that large cities are the most effected by the weak attendance of urban population in voting on the participatory budget, which is confirmed by the analysis of the functioning of the tool in question in Poland’s largest cities in the period 2014–2018. In the summary of the results of the analysis, the article highlights the fact that the participatory budget in large Polish cities continues to be not fully established or effective. It also requires further years of work of local authorities and society itself to become more popular among the public, both in terms of knowledge about it and civic participation in its creation and implementation.

Instrumentalizacja i kapitalizacja edukacji w postawach wielkomiejskich młodych dorosłych

Artykuł prezentuje wnioski z badań jakościowych dotyczących edukacyjnych uwarunkowań osiągania pełnej dorosłości przez młodych dorosłych Polaków. U jego podstaw leży założenie, że w trakcie procesu wchodzenia w dorosłość edukacja odgrywa kluczową rolę w usamodzielnianiu się jednostek w stosunku do innych sfer życia – przede wszystkim zawodowej, ale i rodzinnej czy mieszkaniowej. Zwłaszcza wykształcenie jest często postrzegane jako warunek osiągnięcia sukcesu na rynku pracy, co z kolei warunkuje wybór odpowiedniej ścieżki edukacyjnej. Celem artykułu jest ustalenie miejsca edukacji w strategiach życiowych współczesnych młodych dorosłych. Jakie są postawy młodych wobec edukacji? Czy rzeczywiście ich wybory edukacyjne podyktowane są jedynie wymogami rynku pracy? Prezentowane wyniki badań opierają się na serii wywiadów pogłębionych z młodymi Polakami w wieku 25–34 lata z dużego polskiego miasta oraz zogniskowanych wywiadach grupowych (fokusach) z przedstawicielami otoczenia instytucjonalnego – lokalnej administracji publicznej i instytucji polityki społecznej.

Large housing estates in Poland – a missing link in urban regeneration?

ABSTRACT Large housing estates (LHE) account for nearly half of the housing stock in the cities of Poland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The ageing of the housing stock and change in the social composition of the communities may lead to serious changes in the development of estates and pose serious challenges to the regeneration of block housing estates. This paper presents initiatives undertaken towards the regeneration of LHE in large Polish cities. A detailed description of the rehabilitation of LHE is presented using the example of Kraków, which is a city that has a large share of multi-dwelling buildings and a long history of improving the quality of life in LHE. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the current state of Polish LHE in the context of ongoing urban regeneration activities. The authors present an overview of regeneration measures pursued within LHE, analysing the changes that have taken place as a result of regeneration efforts. Using the example of Kraków, they also demonstrate how large cities manage the regeneration of LHE. The authors argue that the way housing estates will develop depends largely on how the regeneration will be conducted.

A model of the analysis of the dynamics and structure of socio-economic development (an example of the set of the largest Polish cities in the years 1998–2015)

Abstract The complexity of the reality studied by geographical research requires applying such methods which allow describing the state of affairs and ongoing changes in the best possible way. This study aims to present a model of research on selected aspects of the dynamics and structure of socio-economic development. The idea was to determine whether we deal with the process of reducing or widening the differences in terms of individual features. The article primarily pursues a methodological goal, and to a lesser extent an empirical one. The methodological objective of the paper was to propose and verify a multi-aspect approach to the study of development processes. The analyses carried out reveal that in terms of the features taken into account in the set of 24 of the largest Polish cities the dominating processes are those increasing differences between cities, which are unfavourable in the context of the adopted development policies aiming at reducing the existing disparities. In relation to the methodological objective, the results of the conducted research confirm the rationale of the application of the measures of dynamics and the feature variance to determine the character (dynamics and structure) of the socio-economic development process of cities. Comparatively less effective, especially for interpretation, is the application of principal component analysis and a multivariate classification, which is mainly the result of differences in the variance of particular features.

RETAIL NETWORKS AS A PLACE OF PURCHASE – THE EXAMPLE OF LARGE CITIES IN POLAND

The article presents the results of the study investigating the purchasing behaviour of the residents of six large Polish cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Katowice, Poznań, Białystok, and Gdańsk). Specifically, the study concentrates on the consumer shopping preferences with regard to grocery retail chains, pointing to the general differences and similarities, as well as gender- and age-specific tendencies. The study was conducted between 2016 and 2017 among 1970 respondents. This article also presents data from various reports of the research institutions from Poland and Europe: PMR, Nielsen, Ronald Berger, Euromonitor International, GfK Polonia. Despite problems with their comparability, they multidimensionally reflect the discussed issues that relate to the functioning of Polish retail trade, and they indirectly point to the purchasing behaviour of residents of Polish cities.

Specyfika wyborów na urząd prezydenta Warszawy. Przypadek elekcji 2018 roku

This article focuses on the research problem that is the specificity of elections for the president of Polish capital. The purpose of this article is to answer the research question, what unique features, in comparison to other large Polish cities, were specific of the election for the office of the Mayor of Warsaw in 2018. To this end, the following hypothesis was verified: the specificity of the election of the president of the capital city of Warsaw in 2018 was fundamentally different from presidential elections in other Polish cities. This scientific supposition was verified separately on each level of analysis: systemic conditions, socioeconomic factors, personal strategies, coverage of campaigns in the mass media and election results. The Warsaw's election was compared with those in the next four largest Polish cities: Cracow, Lodz, Wroclaw and Poznan.

Nauczyć się swojego domu. Mieszkania treningowe – trening w mieszkaniu

In the landscape of a large Polish city, one can notice homeless people, but also activities that help them survive in this difficult state and go out of it. In Cracow, such activities are undertaken, among others, by the Saint Father Pio Aid Centre. One of the phases of getting out of homelessness is staying at a “training flat”, the aim of which is for a person to learn to look after a flat and manage their earned resources. Based on observation, analysis of documents and interviews with employees of the Centre, the article tries to show the difficult path to “learn one’s home”.

If not the way of voting organization, then what? In search of the conditions for the turnout in the participatory budget voting – the case of the sixteen largest Polish cities

If not the way of voting organization, then what? In search of the conditions for the turnout in the participatory budget voting – the case of the sixteen largest Polish cities

Frekwencja wyborcza w elekcjach samorządowych w Polsce

The focal point of this paper is voter turnout in the self-government elections in Poland. Particular attention is given to the turnout in the city with district rights, Łódź. This city provides an interesting place of research, both on account of its peculiar location in the center of Poland, and its recent cultural, economic and political transformation. A local referendum on the dismissal of the city mayor, held on January 10, 2010, is worth mentioning. Łódź was the first large Polish city (with a population of over 500,000) where a one-man executive organ was dismissed before the end of his term. In the paper, the results of parliamentary election turnouts are juxtaposed with self-government election turnouts. Voter turnout is analyzed for each term of the self-government in Łódź, and the types and reasons for absence are indicated. The author uses these data to emphasize that over the twenty years of self-government’s existence, voting procedures in Poland have not changed and are the most conservative in Europe.

From a lady to a lost ‘Prole’: Girls in the city in Polish cinema of the 1960s and early 1970s

Abstract The term ‘girl’ is by no means neutral, but culture-specific. A person called a ‘girl’ in one decade or place might not be classified as ‘girl’ in another. It is widely assumed that in the 1960s the very concept of ‘girlhood’ undertook a profound transformation. However, such claims are usually directed towards western culture. Much less has been written about girls in the countries of state socialism. To make up for this gap, this article considers representations of girls in two Polish films from the beginning of the 1960s, Niewinni czarodzieje (Innocent Sorcerers) (1960), directed by Andrzej Wajda and Do widzenia, do jutra (Good Bye, Till Tomorrow) (1960), directed by Jerzy Morgenstern; and two from the beginning of the 1970s, Seksolatki (Sex-Teenagers) (1971), directed by Zygmunt Hubner and Dziewczyny do wzięcia (Girls to Pick Up) (1971), directed by Janusz Kondratiuk – all set in two large Polish cities, Warsaw and Gdansk. It examines their appearance, their interests, their attitude to sex and their place in the city culture. Of special interest is the relationship between girlhood and class.

The Impact of Administrative Reform on Labour Market Transformations in Large Polish Cities

The purpose of the article was to discuss the impact of administrative reforms on the dynamics and the direction of changes occurring in the labour market structure of cities. In the existing research the view prevails that the loss of the voivodship capital function contributes strongly to the socio-economic degradation of the city. In Poland, this discussion has been caused by an administrative reform, as a result of which 49 existing voivodships and the related 49 voivodship capitals were replaced by 16 voivodships and 18 regional capitals. The carried out research focused on both these Polish urban centres which lost their voivodship status and the ones which retained it and become the centres of new, large regions. The Bray-Curtis measure was used to analyse the studied transformations. The data for 2005 and 2016 were used in the research. The conducted study allowed the identification of groups of the cities characterised by a similar range of changes in labour market structure. The research focused on answering the question whether retaining or losing the status of a voivodship city is related to the scale of these changes. The research results presented in the article seem to confirm that the role of administrative changes in the development of cities is not as extensive as it has commonly been attributed. The actual reasons for the economic growth of large centres, or the shrinking of some former voivodship cities, cannot be reduced to the effects of the reform itself. They result, to a much greater extent, from the processes of deindustrialisation, predominantly related to the regression of the declining industry sectors.

The rise and fall of Interregio. Extensive open-access passenger rail competition in Poland

Over the last few years there has been considerable interest in research into open-access passenger rail competition in Europe. However, the competition that existed in long-distance services in Poland between 2009 and 2015 has yet to be analysed. Surprisingly, there was fierce market rivalry between two state-owned enterprises answering to different levels of government: PKP Intercity (the central-government-run incumbent) and Przewozy Regionalne (a challenger owned by regional authorities). In comparison with the experience of other countries, this challenge was exceptional in terms of territorial reach and acquired market share (33%). In the polycentric Polish network, the challenger's services (branded under the name of Interregio) not only served up to 62% of all possible direct connections between the largest Polish cities, but also reached into more peripheral regional centres. Interestingly, we found no evidence of responsive price cutting in regular fares. In order to counteract aggressive low-cost entry, the incumbent opted for a differentiation strategy combined with a strategic use of political action. We found that although the incumbent's strategic behaviour did indeed contribute to the challenger's withdrawal from the market in 2015, its failure was mainly the result of a departure from the principal source of competitive advantage.

Perspectives of UV nowcasting to monitor personal pro-health outdoor activities

Nowcasting model for online monitoring of personal outdoor behaviour is proposed. It is envisaged that it will provide an effective e-tool used by smartphone users. The model could estimate maximum duration of safe (without erythema risk) outdoor activity. Moreover, there are options to estimate duration of sunbathing to get adequate amount of vitamin D3 and doses necessary for the antipsoriatic heliotherapy. The application requires information of starting time of sunbathing and the user's phototype. At the beginning the user will be informed of the approximate duration of sunbathing required to get the minimum erythemal dose, adequate amount of vitamin D3, and the dose necessary for the antipsoriatic heliotherapy. After every 20-min the application will recalculate the remaining duration of sunbathing based on the UVI measured in the preceding 20 min. If the estimate of remaining duration is <20 min the user will be informed that the deadline of sunbathing is approaching. Finally, a warning signal will be sent to stop sunbathing if the measured dose reaches the required dose. The proposed model is verified using the data collected at two measuring sites for the warm period of 2017 (1st April–30th September) in large Polish cities (Warsaw and Lodz). First instrument represents the UVI monitoring station. The information concerning sunbathing duration, which is sent to a remote user, is evaluated on the basis of the UVI measurements collected by the second measuring unit in a distance of ~7 km and 10 km for Warsaw and Lodz, respectively. The statistical analysis of the differences between sunbathing duration by nowcasting model and observation shows that the model provides reliable doses received by the users during outdoor activities in proximity (~10 km) to the UVI source site. Standard 24 h UVI forecast based on prognostic values of total ozone and cloudiness appears to only be valid for sunny days.

Development of accident prediction models for pedestrian crossings

In large Polish cities like Warsaw, pedestrians constitute almost 60% of road fatalities. Although traffic safety situation in general is improving, the numbers of pedestrians hit when crossing a road have not significantly decreased over the last six years. A negative binomial model was estimated for predicting accidents at unsignalised pedestrian crossings based on accident data from 52 crossings in Warsaw. A total of 58 pedestrian accidents were recorded at these crossings during the last seven years. The model shows that the number of accidents is less-than-proportional to both pedestrian and motorised traffic daily volumes. Other risk factors affecting pedestrian safety are: higher proportion of heavy vehicles and location in a mixed land use area. The model can be used with the Empirical Bayes method for an unbiased identification of high risk locations.

Accessibility of Sewage Treatment Plants - Benefits and Limitations Associated with Their Location Requirements

Due to their specifics, municipal sewage treatment plants have highly specific location requirements. It is, without a doubt, a limitation in relation to the possibility of using these types of plants within an urban structure. On the other hand, in modern, intensively developing cities and the more and more intense incorporation of external areas into - sensu stricto - urban tissue, accessibility and a potentially attractive riverside location create new opportunities. They support new technological solutions that lessen the possible negative impact of such structures. The goal of this article is to highlight which characteristics related to location and other factors are responsible for the possibility of attractively incorporating sewage treatment plants into an urban structure, and which characteristics cause these structures to be excluded from opportunities enabling their wider spatial employment. Accessibility studies, as well as analyses of other elements will be performed using the comparative analysis method, focusing on a selection of examples of sewage treatment plants in large Polish cities. Conclusions about location conditions will be drawn on the basis of the study, which can serve to perform comparative analyses both in cases of sewage treatment plants in other cities, as well as other municipal technical infrastructure plants, whose location is dependent on their function.

Możliwości i dylematy rozwoju miejskiego transportu szynowego w Polsce

The purpose of the article is to characterise the possibilities of introducing and developing of urban rail-based transport in Poland. This problem is related to the question whether in order to improve public transport in cities which already have a rail-based (or any electric) transport system, its development should be considered, while in the case of cities without such a transport there is the question if introducing a new means of public rail-based transport is an appropriate solution. In order to answer these dilemmas in the first stage of the present article, new rail-based urban transport systems which have been introduced in European cities in the last decade are characterised, while in the second stage the possibilities of introducing of such means of transport in Polish cities are analysed. The research results demonstrate that rail-based transport may be a proper solution to transport problems of cities, although the possibilities of its development in Polish cities vary depending on many demographic, economic, spatial and political factors. In the largest Polish cities which can be described as metropolises the question is: what sort of rail transport system should to developed ?, in medium-sized towns, however, the challenge is rather to maintain the existing networks. The legitimacy of the implementation of new rail-based urban transport systems depends on the coordination of the activities of many institutions at various levels and from support at the national and European level.

Wpływ studentyfikacji i turystyfikacji na społeczno-kulturową przestrzeń miasta

Artykuł analizuje zjawiska studentyfikacji i turystyfikacji oraz ich wpływ na społeczno- kulturową przestrzeń miasta. Wnioski dotyczą głównie Krakowa, ale mogą być użyteczne także dla większości dużych polskich miast. Kraków jest dobrym studium przypadku z uwagi na trzy cechy. Po pierwsze, jest największym po stolicy ośrodkiem akademickim; po drugie ,wyrósł na jedno z najważniejszych w świecie centrów sektora BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), co przekłada się na duży popyt na mieszkania na wynajem; po trzecie, przyciąga rocznie miliony turystów. Artykuł wykazuje, że im bardziej postępuje studentyfikacja i turystyfikacja, tym słabsza staje się tożsamość miasta, a kapitał społeczny ulega erozji. Radykalnie obniża się jakość życia, więc coraz częściej mieszkańcy decydują się na wyprowadzkę z miast, przyczyniając się do depopulacji i obumierania centrów.

Przestrzenne zróżnicowanie starzenia się ludności w Łodzi

Opracowanie podejmuje problematykę związaną ze zjawiskiem sta­rzenia się ludności. W artykule przedstawiono starzenie się ludności w Łodzi, w któ­rej obecnie obserwuje się najwyższy poziom zaawansowania procesu starzenia wśród największych miast Polski. W tym celu poddano analizie nie tylko poziom i tempo tego procesu w mieście, ale także zróżnicowanie przestrzenne starzenia się ludności w Łodzi. Analiza procesu starzenia się ludności została przeprowadzona na podsta­wie danych statystycznych pochodzących z bazy BDL (poziom i tempo starzenia), jak również z NSP 2011 (dywersyfikacja przestrzenna).

The changes in social and demographic structure of large housing estates in post-socialist Poland and their main determinants

Large pre-fabricated housing estates were erected all over Europe, however the political and ideological factors conspired to ensure that they developed on the largest scale in communist countries. Today, they continue to provide some 30–40% of the housing stock in this part of Europe. The present paper discusses the transformations of large housing estates in Poland 25 years after of the collapse of communism. The main purpose of the study was to identify the social and demographic changes in Polish large housing estates and to clarify the crucial factors underpinning them. The key questions were: (1) How the social and demographic structures of the large housing estates in Poland have changed since the collapse of communism? (2) What are the main determinants of these processes? (3) Whether the processes occurring in large housing estates reproduce the negative phenomena of social degradation observed in many Western European countries? The study is based on a review of the available literature concerning transformations of large housing estates in several of the large Polish cities and the results of the author’s own investigations conducted within Łódź – one of the largest cities in the country.