The public demand for urban parks, citizens’ use and habits are different in every age and region. But do public parks have some eternal, unchanging values in a field of social welfare? Can we regard the idea as a value, which brought to life the 18th century public park movement in today’s rushing, tinsel and digital world? Can we find any general aspect in park use forms, which is true, even to the casual visitor or a tourist in a historical garden or a daily guest in an average city park. The Budapest Városliget is one of the world’s first urban park, in some ways perhaps the first. The site was used for urban recreation from mid-18th century, and then the city of Pest decided to develop a public park to increase the livability of the city. The plan was drawn up by Heinrich Nebbien between 1813–1816. Although Nebbien’s plan realized partly due to the lack of resources, in the capital’s life the Városliget have been acting – with changing functions and space structure – as a vital part of the open space recreation for 200 years. This article focuses on the role of urban public parks, and analyses the relationship between changing space structure and use on the example of Városliget. The Városliget analysis is based on the structural and park user surveys, which were made during the last three decades. The history of the urban park clearly illustrates that cramming new functions beyond the historical outdoor recreational activities has not increased the value of the park, but significantly deteriorate what is value and what makes the park loveable. It is almost understandable that the park is not on the international tourism program, it does not appear on the map of the capital’s iconic creations, institutions. But it could be there. Everything predestines for it: two centuries of history, the idea of its birth and creation, its location in the city structure, its current old and valuable trees. The Városliget is a value in itself, without stuffing and subsuming with new institutional functions.
In the years 1990., after the collapse of communism in Poland, the public space in Wejherowo – like in many other Polish cities – was to a great extend degraded. In 2008 the Wejherowo city government elaborated and accepted the Local Revitalization Program for the years 2008-2015, which concerned mainly the city centre. It was to be financed substantially by the European Union. One of the most prominent public spaces to be revitalized was the historic palace and park, situated on the banks of the river Cedron, in the close vicinity to the main city square. That big residential complex was built in the second half of the 18th century by the aristocratic Przebendowski’s family and then rebuild by the noble Keyserlingk’s family in the Neo-Gothic style. All the complex was listed in 1971, and today the palace hosts the regional Museum of Kashubian and Pomeranian Literature and Music and the park functions as the public city park. The revitalization works in the park were carried on in 2009-2011 and were focused on the restitution of the historic natural values of the park, with its greenery, historic alleys and old trees. All those work were worth around 6.700 thousand zl, more than half of which came from the European Development Regional Fund. Though the project of revitalization included also the renovation of the palace, its interior and the historic building in its close neighbourhood, those works had not been started up until 2015. The Local Revitalization Program of Wejherowo is now being continued, in the framework of the project concerning the years 2015-2022.
The work concerns city parks in Poznan and their importance in the structure and landscape of the city. The research included 38 park objects of various origin , size and nature . There were evaluated the uniformity of parks’ distribution within the agglomeration, the shape of the outline of the plan ( the nature of the border line) and their surroundings.
The article focuses on the beneficial effects of revitalisation processes and their impact on public green areas, creation of spatial order and upholding the tradition of the place. Selected examples presented effects of the revitalization of parks in the towns of various kinds: industrial (Skawina) and resort spa (Szczawnica), paying attention to the positive outcomes of this process. Additionally, we analyzed the history of the parks and the process of adapting their functions to modern social needs.
The historic municipal park located in Zduńska Wola is covered in the central and northern part by conservator protection through an entry in the register of monuments and on the basis of an entry in the local spatial development plan. In terms of nature, the area has significant values due to old trees and the water system, which consists of two ponds fed by the Pichna River. As part of the preparatory work for the revalorization of the park, several studies and analyses were carried out, including assessment of the sanitary state of waters of Pichna River that supplies reservoirs. Degree of the river pollution made it impossible to restore the water system, the most important element of the park, while further supplying the ponds with river water. In order to ensure a satisfactory degree of purity and transparency of water in ponds, a decision was made to apply complex and modern technological solutions enabling the renovation of the water system. Project documentation was developed in 2015. After two years, they began to implement the project. Banks of both ponds were formed more gently, and the basins were deepened. Selection of vegetation around the reservoir and in the reservoir itself was based on the principle of biocenotic assumptions. The designed system is equipped with a circulation pump, skimmers, bottom drains, mechanical-mineral filter, swamp filter. This was to ensure adequate purification of water in ponds, based on natural processes, stimulated by the use of new, pro-ecological technologies.
City parks play a very important role in an urbanized landscape. They are forms of specially designed green space which combine elements of horticulture with architecture, history and culture. The article presents historical urban parks and old residential-park complexes included in the boundaries of Poznań and currently existing in the wedge-ring system of the urban green space. The aim of the conducted research was to show their historical and current function as well as their general state of preservation and condition. The results are presented in the form of a Table where the historical significance of those objects is compared with their role today.
In the paper, the research results on the removal of aliphatic hydrocarbons (C7 to C30) on constructed
wetlands have been presented. The research has been realized on the semi-technical scale constructed wetlands.
planted with reed Phragmites australis. The experimental installation is located on the filling station in Balice and treats the fraction of stormwater from this utility. The concentrations of total aliphatic hydrocarbons
in analyzed stormwater were between 96.02 µg/dm3 and 6177.33 µg/dm3
, and from 47.55 µg/dm3 to 5011.14
µg/dm3
in effluent from the installation. The average total aliphatic hydrocarbons removal effectiveness was
48%, the values ranged from 19% to 81%. Hydrocarbons C14 to C18 were removed with the lowest effectiveness (26%–32%), the lighter hydrocarbons – with higher one (39%–68%), however the highest removal
effectiveness were observed for the hydrocarbons with the highest carbon atoms numbers (from 51% for C20
to 92%–93% for C26–C30).
The article presents a scientific research concerning the role and development of one of the most important leisure and recreation areas in Warsaw — Pole Mokotowskie, located near the city center, in three districts: Ochota, Śródmieście and Mokotów (part of the area is the Park of Józef Piłsudski). The research concentrates on determining the influence of contemporary spatial transformations of the park area on the spatial composition of the park.
In 1847, the City Council of Pest opened a new central necropolis. In 1956, the cemetery was declared to be a National Pantheon and Graveyard. Nowadays, about half of the territory of the cemetery is settled, the individually or artistically remarkable tombs are protected, and the rest of the site is being re-designed as green area. In some parts of the cemetery, burials can still be carried out, but the major part of the graveyard is functioning as a public park.
Public spaces designed in a reasonable way make up an element that heals the city. They are both areas dedicated to collective recreation and a catalyst for social activities. Regarding a rational space exploitation, a reuse of grounds that are being liberated as a result of cities reorganization and revitalization of postindustrial areas should be a clue. The latter represent a unique esthetic virtues due to specificity of their original function. Comparison of the selected designs and scientific approaches had been made in order to take the floor in a debate about devastated areas revitalisation and city – and center-making capability of cultural investments. The importance of psychological links between human and his environment is set down by the presence of features defining the open form in a mentioned projects.
Over the past few decades in landscape architecture the new trend can be observed – putting artistic earthworks into public space. New ideas, whose roots date back to prehistoric times, have a close relationship with the artistic mainstream of land art. This paper is an attempt to determine the reasons for the use of expressive terrain as an essential factor in modern parks compositions, for example European and American facilities.
GIS programs are used for the collection and processing of geographic data, however, they are also useful in the study of historical greenery. GIS allows better use of the archival and contemporary cartographic materials, collect data on individual objects, make precise measurements of the areas, track changes in use and land cover. The paper presents examples of the GIS software use, based on research related to the historical greenery in Wielkopolska region.
The article presents the problem of the settlements development in the Ojców National Park (ONP) and its buffer zone, both located in the suburban area of Cracow (Poland). The aim of the research was to recognize the social perception of this phenomenon, as well as the residents opinion about the limitations in spatial management related to the functioning of the Park. Interviews were made among 204 residents, and 40 representatives of local self-governments, cultural institutions, associations, administrators of tourist facilities and entrepreneurs. The local community perceives constraints in the new buildings construction and in enlargement or modernization of the existing ones as the main problem for people living in the ONP or its buffer zone. Driven by their particular interests, residents advocate the further development of the settlements and tourist infrastructure within the Park and the buffer zone, the liberalization of regulations, and even the liquidation of the Park’s buffer zone. They do not understand that the natural and landscape values (highly appreciated by them) can be degraded due to these activities.
For more than ten years a dynamic and intensive development has been observed in spatial information technology combining elements of geoinformatics with data from various sources in order to create elaborate, often interdisciplinary and multifunctional compilations.
The progressing implementation of IT solutions with reference to resources and related trends to make public infor-mation that is useful to a wide group of recipients are reflected in multimedia information materials of many public institutions and private businesses. An example of using electronic technologies in the presentation of spatial data of national parks is widely available geoportals, interactive maps and other cartographic or paracartographic visualizations offering various tools allowing the utilisation of spatial information resources.
This publication aims at a multilevel analysis of the availability of network services, as defined in Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007 establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community,to all the existing geoportals of Polish national parks and a review of additional functions offered by the map services of all 23 Polish national parks that may be useful to users. As a result of research, tables and descriptions comparing the functions of the analysed geoportals were compiled and additional practical tools observed in other services were described. In addition, based on the comparisons, a concept of geoportal optimization was developed taking into account all categories of spatial information services and optional functions.
The town of Siemianowice Śląskie is where we can find a palace-and-park complex which nowadays serves as the Town Park. The complex used to be owned by the Henckel von Donnersmarck family; today it is open to everyone looking for either active or passive leisure. Apart from its historical value (the complex being the most significant monument of the town), the park is also of special importance to the environment. It can be seen as an enclave of greenery and a sanctuary for plants and animals. Moreover, together with the neighbouring recreation area and ecological sites, the park contributes to the symbolic “green lungs” of the town