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.

Unfavorable spatial structure of arable land located in Małopolska is a major obstacle in conducting agricultural activity. Arable lands located in the southern part of Małopolska are fragmented, have small area, and irregular shapes. Agricultural activity on land with an unfavorable spatial structure is associated with an increase in production costs, which directly results in lower income of farms. One of the methods of improving spatial conditions is to implement land consolidation works. They allow to organize the spatial structure, increase the area of agriculturally used parcels, while reducing their number. The article presents a new approach in determining the parameters of land fragmentation. GIS tools were used to identify areas with unfavorable spatial parameters. The methodology which allows for the processing, filtration of source data, determination and visualization of land fragmentation parameters is discussed. As part of the research, the Binning method was used, which allows to visualize the phenomenon and simultaneously reduce the data used. In the work, a detailed assessment of land fragmentation parameters was made, which can be used in agricultural land management works. Analyzes have shown that the southern areas of the Nowy Targ County are characterized by intensive fragmentation of arable land. There are also unfavorable parameters related to the elongation and shape of parcels in the discussed areas.

The development of linear infrastructure increases the degree of fragmentation of natural areas and has a negative impact on biodiversity and the range of available ecosystem services. The basic competing land use model is expanded to include infrastructure development. The extended model leads to the conclusion that due to the dual impact of the infrastructure (lowering the value of ecosystem services and increasing the private rents to developed land), the size of the natural area in the long-term equilibrium will be lower compared to the basic model. The preservation of nature ceases to be profitable enough. Infrastructure also reduces the marginal costs of conversion and thus increasing the volume of natural land being converted at avery moment along the transition path. If the decisions on optimal management of natural areas and infrastructure development are undertaken together, the result is a lower density of the infrastructure network and a larger ecosystem area in the steady state.

Land consolidation procedures are an attempt to comprehensively change the existing spatial structure of land in rural areas. This treatment also brings many other social and economic benefits, contributing to the development of consolidated areas. Land consolidation in mountain areas differs in many respects from those implemented in areas with more favorable conditions for the functioning of agriculture. The unfavorable values of land fragmentation indices, terrain conditions and lower than the average soil quality affect both the dominant forms of agricultural activity and the limited opportunities to improve the distribution of plots in space, parameters of shape, and the area as a result of land consolidation. For this reason, the effectiveness of land consolidation in mountain areas can be achieved by improving the quality of transportation network and the accessibility of the plots, arranging ownership issues and improving the quality of cadastral documentation. This article presents the evaluation of the measures of effectiveness of land consolidation realized in mountain areas on the example of Łetownia Village in the Małopolska Province, located in the southern part of Poland. Selected village is an area with unfavorable conditions for the functioning of agriculture and high values of land fragmentation indices.

In this publication, the strategy of land resources administration is presented on the basis of consideration of proposed result factors. The research methodology is based on the use of the PESTLE analytical model in conjunction with economic-mathematical modeling. The scientific novelty of the publication is developing the technology of administration of land resources on the basis of cadastral and other statistical information, which allows obtaining scientifically grounded solutions on the use of land resources. Considering the process of Land Resources Administration as a procedure based on making certain decisions when creating a management system which takes into account the internal and external relationships in this system, the postulate is about determining the degree of trust in this system, establishing economic, environmental and social risks when using it. To a certain extent, the process of Land Resources Administration is a prediction of the effective use of this natural potential in the future. It should be noted that the reliability of the forecast decision depends on the nature and parameters of uncertainties and the duration of their validity. Consequently, while making operational decisions on land resources for a short perspective, the forecasting is more reliable than for a long one. It becomes an effective mechanism of objective evaluation of the state of land resources and the prospects for their use. In this publication the main influencing decision making factors and the technological scheme of the solution of the problem are given.

Due to the significant role of macrophytes in the functioning of lake ecosystems studies have been undertaken to examine whether mutual dependence is present within emergent, floating-leaved, and submerged aquatic macrophytes. The study included 5 small lakes from Polesie Lubelskie region. The research included: qualitative analysis of macrophytes (area occupied by macrophytes, composition, range of individual plant groups of occurrence), quantitative analysis of macrophytes (biomass of macrophytes inhabiting the lake), analysis of distribution as well as characteristics diversity of shoreline and surrounding land use. Because of differences in the environmental conditions, mostly light availability, usage of buffer zone, among the three macrophyte groups, changes in biomass were analyzed in this work suggests that complementarity not competition drive the community. This phenomenon seems to occur only in macrophyte lakes where all three groups are present and the surrounding buffer zones remain natural. In lakes where one of the three groups of macrophytes were missing, it is likely that the ecological roles are fulfilled by other plant groups, such as phytoplankton. The studied lakes represent both phytoplanton and macrophyte type of lakes.

Functional urban areas (FUA) have became an important component of polycentric settlement structure of all European countries. FUAs have been defined as labour market basins, composed on large city and its surrounding areas (commuting zones). The very spatial and economic concept formed the foundation of old industrial regions. Old industrialized regions with all the spatial challenges and economic problems could be also perceived as a specific type of functional urban area. In Poland, National Spatial Development Concept 2030 (NSDC 2030 2013) describes restructuring and revitalization of degraded areas and cities in terms of spatial policy measures addressed to the supporting of cohesion in problematic areas. That is why integrated revitalization programs of functional urban areas may become key instrument of regional spatial policy and urban strategies. In response to the problems of degraded land and related land-use conflicts, it can significantly help in establishing valuable solutions, as well as ensuring connections between environmental, social and economic needs in the development of functional urban areas.

The Paper presents the optical method of fixing the off-shore objects positions from the land. The method is based on application of two reference points, having the geographical coordinates de fined. The first point was situated high on the sea shore, where also the camera was installed. The second point was intended for use to determine the topocentric horizon plane and it was situated at the water-level. The first section of the Paper contains the definition of space and disposed therein reference systems: connected with the Earth, water-level and the camera system. The second section of the Paper provides a description of the survey system model and the principles of the Charge Coupled Device – CCD array pixel’s coordinates (plate coordinates) transformation into the geographic coordinates located on the water-level. In the final section there are presented the general rules of using the worked out method in the optical system.

Activities related to parking of transport, today have become widespread. While parking taxes for vehicles are one of the most important sources of local budgets in countries with established traditions of local government. The tax for parking spaces for vehicles is a relatively new collection in the tax system of Ukraine, which is due to the recent reform in tax legislation. Therefore, the scientific coverage of this subject is currently insufficiently investigated. In the article typical permissive documents are considered when decorating parking lots, and dependence that contradicts the current land legislation affects local revenues to the budget is established. The discrepancy between the general approaches of payment for land is established. For comparison, the approach of parking taxation, for which there is no land management documentation, and the main reason is the permission from the public enterprise for the maintenance of green spaces is considered. The analysis of the current state of the transport scheme of the city shows that in conditions of growth of elaborate road schemes and with insufficient rates of increase in its capacity to contain traffic growth it is advisable to increase the carrying capacity of transport lines and the development of mass passenger transport in cities with a planned increase in average capacity of rolling stock. Also, using traffic management is necessary to ensure that special conditions for the passage of the public transport network.

Many different characteristics affect the land prices. This work attempts to analyse the characteristics of agricultural parcels, which significantly affect the variability of agricultural land prices. The article presents the methodology of selection land parcel characteristics, rules for the selection of factors and possibility of automatic acquisition of data in mass valuation process. The research aims at selecting determinants of agricultural land parcels price and evaluate theirs significance in a local market for the purpose of land values map elaboration. Using advanced statistical analysis of a non-linear influence of a parcel inherent characteristics on its price we proved that in the relatively small area, like commune, only a few characteristics are essential, They are: parcel size, shape and location expressed by distance to the commune centre, paved roads and homestead buildings. Therefore, these ones should be used for elaboration of land values map. Soil quality and a cropland type although significant for the land prices do not diversify land prices in local market. The novelty of the research relays on determination of non-linear influence of parcel characteristics on variation of agricultural land values based on the correlation ratio (h eta). The research was conducted for the undeveloped agricultural lands located in south-west Poland, the rural municipality Krotoszyce.

A sediment trap with bamboo materials can be utilized as one alternative of eco-friendly technology to reduce the ero-sion that occurred on agricultural land. This study aims to determine the most efficient form of that sediment trap in the field. Location study is in the Tulungrejo Village, Batu, Indonesia, which has andosol soil type and 35 cases of a landslide in 2013. Three forms of sediment traps were used (square, trapezoidal, and stratified type) with the purpose to find the most effective form. It is obtained that the most effective sediment trap is a stratified form with the 31.91% effectiveness or able to withstand sediment of 25.02 kg, while the adequate number is two pieces with the ability to withstand the most consider-able sediment of (91.70%). Therefore this stratified form of sediment traps is effective in erosion prevention on agriculturalland in the study area. For further development, it is required to test out the variations of the contents in a broader area with a more varied level of the slope.

Nineteenth century was an era of extended pilgrimage movement to the Holy Land. Due to communicational facilities falling out from the Industrial Revolution and political changes (weakening of the Ottoman Empire and increasing penetration of Levant by the European countries) more and more Europeans decided to travel to Palestine basked in an aura of holiness. An equally meaningful factor was also an image of an ancient and mysterious Orient molded by the artists of the Romantic period. Poles also followed this trend and may pilgrims published their memories and reflections. Such pilgrims as Ignacy Hołowiński, Feliks Laassner, Feliks Gondek and Karol Niedziałkowski (worth mentioning all of them were priests) were obviously focused mainly on religious issues. However they were keen observers and left more or less detailed but always interesting testimony of everyday life of Muslim and Arabic dwellers of Levant. They described Middle Eastern customs and rites. This work focuses on those subjective images which equally present the Levantine ways of living, Poles’ level of knowledge on Orient and shaping ethnical stereotypes.

The study included mesotrophic Lake Piaseczno, located in the Łęczna-Włodawa Lake District. The aim of the study was to evaluate changes of water vegetation of a mesotrophic lake subjected to strong recreational pressure. Specifically we sought to better understand which natu-ral landscapes and anthropogenic developments stimulate or impede macrophyte development and spread. The study was conducted in July in 1997, 2007 and 2017 in three transects: the peat-bog (northern part of the lake), the recreational area (southeast part) and the agricultural area (east). The phytolittoral zone was analyzed from the shoreline to the maximum range of macrophytes occurrence. The study included all groups of macrophytes. Macrophytes in the mesotrophic Lake Piaseczno are still subjected to successive changes. Clearly increased diversity among emergent macrophytes, while a group of submerged macrophytes decreased. The largest changes among analyzed groups of macrophytes occurred in recreational and agricultural transects. Macrophytes have increased the range of occurrence, which may be due to hydrological changes associated with raising the overall water level, thus with increasing the area of the littoral. Impoverishment of diversity among elodeids shows the processes associated with the increase in Lake trophy.

The aim of the study was to specify the current status and direction of transformations of leaf beetle assemblages taking part in the rapid process of succession of vegetation towards the types of forest communities occurring in the Krzemionki Opatowskie reserve. At five sampling sites (in five plant associations) 30 species of Chrysomelidae were recorded. Five typical forest species (Chrysomela populi, Pyrrhalta viburni, Calomicrus pinicola, Altica brevicollis and Cryp-tocephalus labiatus) accounted for 16.67% of the number of species and 12.85% of the number of individuals caught in the reserve. The forest association richest in species (18) was Querco ro-boris-Pinetum (Que_Pin). This was followed by Tilio-Carpinetum association (Til_Car, 15 spp.), and then a mosaic of Tilio-Carpinetum and Querco roboris-Pinetum (Til_Car/Que_Pin), and Peucedano-Pinetum (Peu_Pin) (11 spp. each). The fewest number of species (10) were noted in Potentillo albae-Quercetum (Pot_Que). The most similar were the fauna of Potentillo albae--Quercetum (Pot_Que) and Querco roboris-Pinetum (Que_Pin) (55.08% similarity). The most distinct was the fauna of Peucedano-Pinetum (Peu_Pin). We can conclude that the structure of the leaf beetle assemblages in the forest associations studied in the reserve is at present an adaptive mixture of faunas characteristic of all the intermediate successional stages of vegetation, changing in this area in a relatively short time. The considerable diversity of fauna is the result of an ‘eco-tone in time’, i.e. the continuous presence of open-land species, which until recently had dominated here, accompanied by forest species characteristic of the current habitat types.

Changes in the land use structure, which are observed in recent years, generally indicate their negative impact on ecological quality considered in the landscape scale. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether such a trend also applies to protected areas, such as land-scape parks (LP). As research areas four parks located within the Roztocze and Solska Forest (Poland) were selected. Three factors were analyzed as an surrogate indicators of the ecological quality: the degree of anthropogenic transformation of land cover forms, landscape diversity and the degree of landscape fragmentation. The study included data for the years 2004 and 2012 and was based on the GIS and orthophotomaps analysis. The results showed a lack of general trends for the whole analyzed region. The impact of changes in the land use structure on the ecological values can be defined as positive for Krasnobród LP and South Roztocze LP. In the case of Szczebrzeszyn LP and Solska Forest LP the impact is difficult to determine due to the different results obtained on the basis of selected indicators. Therefore, in order to totally illustrate the analyzed dependence the landscape structure in other periods of time should be analyzed, as well as the correlations between the defined changes and a variety of natural and cultural considerations.

The aim of research carried out was to describe the zonality and structure of zoopleuston in shallow eutrophic reservoirs. Zoopleuston structure discovered in examined reservoirs was quite different than in depression reservoirs and lakes on Łęczna-Włodawa Lakeland. It was related to morphometry of reservoirs and plant richness of shallow litoral zone. Higher species richness in the water/land contact zone was found which confirms previous studies, however, sometimes zoopleuston abundance showed the opposite pattern. Most differences occurred in dominants composition as in water/land contact zone and on the depth of 0.5 m dominated mainly by small species of Heteroptera: Micronecta minutissima and Cymatia coleoptrata.

Costs of Spatial Disorder for the Real Estate Market. The article discusses the problem of costs which the spatial disorder in Poland causes in the real estate market. It also draws attention to the likely future consequences of the current lack of spatial order for the domestic real estate market. The impact of spatial chaos on the functioning of this market was considered in terms of economic, social and environmental costs. In the empirical part of the paper, analyzing land turnover in the Poznań agglomeration, the characteristics of the undeveloped real estate market in metropolitan areas in Poland were presented. At the same time, the negative effects of land trading in the situation of a flawed spatial planning system were emphasized. In addition, particular attention was paid to the common practice in Poland of excluding only part of the investment plots from agricultural use. At the same time, the urgent need to create the mechanisms of the actual protection of agricultural land within the agglomeration is emphasized.

A parcel is the most important object of real estate cadastre. Its primary spatial attribute are boundaries, determining the extent of property rights. Capturing the data on boundaries should be performed in the way ensuring sufficiently high accuracy and reliability. In recent years, as part of the project “ZSIN – Construction of Integrated Real Estate Information System – Stage I”, in the territories of the participating districts, actions were taken aimed at the modernization of the register of land and buildings. In many cases, this process was carried out basing on photogrammetric materials. Applicable regulations allow such a possibility. This paper, basing on the documentation from the National Geodetic and Cartographic Documentation Center and on the authors’ own surveys attempts to assess the applicability of the photogrammetric method to capture data on the boundaries of cadastral parcels. The scope of the research, most importantly, included the problem of accuracy with which it was possible to determine the position of a boundary point using photogrammetric surveys carried out on the terrain model created from processed aerial photographs. The article demonstrates the manner of recording this information in the cadastral database, as well as the resulting legal consequences. Moreover, the level of reliability of the entered values of the selected attributes of boundary points was assessed.