The post-mining areas due to the difficulties of those, often associated with expensive activities, usually take the form of wasteland. In contrast, unavailable, unused and alien areas the mentality of residents, are identified with empty space. The purpose of the authors was to answer the question: Are post-mining areas becoming empty spaces? Her research basis was changes in the functioning of post-mining areas and empty spaces in Katowice – a city with a long-standing mining tradition. Using GIS tools, a spatial analysis was carried out to determine the empty spaces functions and the perceiving of the post-mining areas by residents or users of a given district nearby.

Increasing environmental awareness, perceived climate change and easier access to information have contributed to changing the perception of the environment and its reserves. Unfortunately, it happens that still misunderstood economic development and urbanization contribute to inefficient management of the city’s resources, such as space.

The aim of this paper is the assessment of the impact of unused urban space for widely understood city attractiveness. The research was conducted on the example of Katowice city. The article presents the results of identification of unused urban spaces, made based on information contained in the study of spatial development conditions and directions, and available orthophotomaps and topographic maps using GIS type software. The theoretical aspects connected with the influence of unused areas on the attractiveness of the city and the results of research carried out by the Otodom service were used for the analysis.