The category of small towns is progressively polarized under the impact of metropolitan development. There is a growing diversification of such places with regard to functions performed and the overall position in settlement systems at regional and national levels. Aside from the division line which separates these towns that are located within, from those situated beyond the commuting range of large urban centres, this is increasingly related to local, territorial capital held. In general, however, the flattening of urban hierarchy and the decreasing importance of hierarchical linkages affect in particular the role of local service centres, especially in sparsely settled peripheral areas. Concerning the future, three alternative development paths are discussed in the article against the relevant conceptual background. These refer to the cyclical nature of urbanization processes, assume an extrapolation of trends observed or, alternatively, consider a containment of metropolization phenomena. With respect to policy related questions, changes in small town networks in peri-urban zones are identified as a specific, sensitive issue.

The excavation of adjacent pits following the initial foundation pit excavation can significantly influence ground settlement. Using a foundation pit excavation project in Changzhou as a prototype, this study employed the numerical simulation method in conjunction with the HSS model to analyze the settlement deformation characteristics of the original excavation and compare them with the recorded monitoring values. In this study, the analysis focused on the ground settlement between two pits by varying the spacing between them at different excavation depths. The findings revealed that the ground settlement does not exhibit a significant increase when the new pit is excavated at a shallow depth. However, it rapidly increases when the excavation depth of the new pit surpasses that of the existing pit. Furthermore, an increase in the distance between the two pits causes the maximum settlement position to shift towards the edge of the new pit. The maximum ground settlement is found to have a linear relationship with both the maximum horizontal displacement of the two pits and the spacing between them.

The article presents the urban layout, which is a best-preserved example of industrial estates in northern Italy. The subject of the research is a public space of the Crespi d’Adda settlement in the Province of Bergamo in Lombardy. Particular attention is paid to green areas occurring there, and their current use. Program of the public areas was very varied. The main role, besides the factory, held the public park, which is an important compositional and ideological. element of the layout. Research task was to show on example of Crespi, the current situation of former settlements in northern Italy, which are for the author reference material for settlements analyzed in Poland.

The focus of the article is the Vatin culture settlement at the site of Vinča-Belo Brdo in Northern Serbia. The general idea is that this settlement, whose existence was relatively short in time, benefited from being established by the Danube — a great connective factor in the world of the Middle Bronze Age. It shares many characteristics with the contemporary settlements in the southernmost part of the Carpathian basin, starting from the position in the vicinity of the Danube, at the places which had already been settled in prehistory, prior to the Middle Bronze Age. Not only do they have pottery style in common, but the wider repertoire of finds illustrating the material culture. What’s more, comparison of the material remains from Vinča with the neighbouring sites from the left Danube bank enlightens how the Vatin culture was integrated into a wider space of the Bronze Age cultures of the Carpathian basin, influencing the Balkans hinterland, too.

In 2015 and 2016, a reconnaissance study have been performed on a fortified hillfort in Lipnik, located between Sandomierz and Opatów, which had been discovered in 2015. Neither remnants of the buildings nor the presence of a cultural layer that could indicate permanent, or at least longer residence, have been found on the hillfort. Apart from the ceramics, a series of metal objects were found on the hillfort: silver beads, fragment of silver earring with ‘grape’ pendant, bronze rings, silver and bronze applications of leather straps, strap-ends, pendants and buckles from harness or saddlebags, iron and lead weights, iron arrowheads. Some of the metal artefacts have distinct analogies in Hungarian materials from 10th–11th century. Similar to the materials from a nearby settlement in Kaczyce, they indicate the possibility that groups or units of Hungarian origin that followed nomadic traditions had been staying in the vicinity of Sandomierz between the second half of 10th and the first half of 11th century. They might had been warriors serving in one of the Piast princes, captives brought by Bolesław I the Brave or merchants participating in international trade.

The Settlement System of Poland: Patterns of Change. Poland’s settlement system has become a scene of accelerating metropolitan development over the last few decades. The trends observed and their policy implications are discussed in the article by focusing on sub-spaces, settlement structure components. Special reference is made to the formation of city networks and their role in spatial organization at the national level. A possible future course of the metropolization phenomena, together with some factors of their evolving intensity, is outlined against the background of selected European urbanization scenarios.

Social and Economic Costs of Spatial Chaos – Settlement of Rural Areas. Among the features of spatial structures of villages and characteristics of rural areas, which support multidirectional socio-economic development and improvement of living conditions of inhabitants and users of the countryside, the focused and compact character of the development is of particular importance. The observed lack of determination in preventing and limiting suburbanization processes, including in rural areas, directly and negatively affects both the natural environment and forms of development of these areas, causing the generation of additional economic and social costs related to the chaotic management of space. The aim of the article is to estimate the degree of concentration of buildings in various types of communes in Poland and to determine the spatial distribution of this phenomenon to be able to estimate the size of chaos costs on a global basis and determine its level in the comparative system of municipalities.

Socio-Economic Effects of the Spatial Chaos for the Settlement Systems and Functional Land Use Structure. The aim of the study is an attempt to estimate, on the basis of literature and own analyzes, how costs are related to spatial chaos, i.e. mainly dispersion of settlement. Mainly residential (housing) settlement was addressed, which contributes the most to the defective structure of the entire settlement. In particular, the analysis uses several concentration indicators and graphical methods, including the so-called minimal spanning tree (MST). Analyzes have shown that costs can amount to several dozen billion zlotys a year, resulting due to the lack of utilities, unsatisfactory condition of public infrastructure, morphological and functional chaos, excessive location of buildings in agricultural areas, oversupply of investment land with low location potential and as a result of low economic efficiency and effectiveness of settlement.

The article applies the concept of anchoring, defined as the process of searching for footholds and points of reference which allows individuals to acquire socio-psychological stability and security and function effectively in a new environment, to explore complex, multidimensional and flexible adaptation and settlement processes among migrants from Ukraine in Poland. Based on 40 in-depth interviews and questionnaires with migrants resident in Warsaw and its vicinity, we argue that the traditional catego-ries employed for analysing migrants’ adaptation and settlement such as ‘integration’ or ‘assimilation’ are not always adequate to capture the way of functioning and experience of contemporary Ukrainian migrants. Rather than traditional categories, we propose to apply the concept of anchoring which ena-bles us to capture Ukrainians’ ‘fluid’ migration, drifting lives and complex identities as well as mecha-nisms of settling down in terms of searching for relative stability rather than putting down roots. The paper discusses the ambiguous position of Ukrainian migrants in Poland constructed as neither-strangers nor the same, gives insight into their drifting lives and illuminates ways of coping with tem-porariness and establishing anchors to provide a sense of stability and security. This approach, linking identity, security and incorporation, emphasises, on the one hand, the psychological and emotional as-pects of establishing new footholds and, on the other hand, tangible anchors and structural constraints. Its added value lies in the fact that it allows for the complexity, simultaneity and changeability of an-choring and the reverse processes of un-anchoring to be included.

For many centuries, Upper Silesia was the scene of intensive language contact between a continuum of West Slavic dialects (or the Polish and Czech languages) and German colonists, mainly in the 13th century. The process of colonisation under German town law led to the establishment of hundreds of new towns and villages, some with German names. The oldest historical sources for Upper Silesia are Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis (Book of endowments of the Bishopric of Wrocław), dating back to c 1305, as well as registers of such endowments from c 1325. German medieval place names in Upper Silesia are a minority, and no such town names can be found in many areas. This article is an analysis of the percentage of German place names in relation to all place names [in Upper Silesia]. It defines the areas with the largest number of such names and contains a linguistic analysis of the names. Interestingly, the area with the largest number of German place names is the Duchy of Teschen, with the castellany of Oświęcim (which was once part of the Duchy of Teschen), the neighbouring part of the Duchy of Racibórz and the western part of the Duchy of Opole. In the Duchy of Bytom (the Siewierz part of which no longer belongs to Upper Silesia), German place names were not very common. For the areas covered by the Diocese of Kraków, the names of parish priests are known as well. The presence of the German name of parish priests in towns and villages with German place names half a century from their establishment indicates that German people may have lived there, especially because it is certain in some cases that they did.

Ground settlement during and after tunnelling using TBM results in varying dynamic and static load action on the geo-stratum. It is an undesirable effect of tunnel construction causing damage to the surface and subsurface infrastructure, safety risk, and increased construction cost and quality issues. Ground settlement can be influenced by several factors, like method of tunnelling, tunnel geometry, location of tunnelling machine, machine operational parameters, depth & its changes, and mileage of recording point from starting point. In this study, a description and evaluation of the performance of the arti?cial neural network (ANN)was undertaken and a comparison with multiple linear regression (MLR) was carried out on ground settlement prediction. The performance of these models was evaluated using the coefficient of determination R2, root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). For ANN model, the R2, RMSE and MAPE were calculated as 0.9295, 4.2563 and 3.3372, respectively, while for MLR, the R2, RMSE and MAPE, were calculated as 0.5053, 11.2708, 6.3963 respectively. For ground settlement prediction, bothANNandMLRmethodswere able to predict significantly accurate results. It was further noted that the ANN performance was higher than that of the MLR.

Development of the transport infrastructure in Poland has contributed to the implementation of various technologies of construction of bridges and their components. Use of reinforced soil for construction of embankments, retaining structures (RSS walls) and abutments is one of the solutions which has been frequently used for the past twenty years. Shortly after its development, the technology proposed by Henri Vidal in 1966 also gained appreciation in Poland [4]. Reinforced soil bridge abutments started to be widely used in Poland at the turn of the 20th century. The bridge facilities at the junction of Trasa Siekierkowska route and Wał Miedzeszyński Street in Warsaw, which were built in the years 2000÷2002, are an example of structures from that period. The authors of this paper have been particularly interested in the outermost supports of the reinforced concrete flyovers which were constructed in the form of intermediate reinforced soil abutments. Offsets – the vertical displacements, in the range of 15÷25mm, emerging between the level of the road surface and the steel elements of the expansion joints which separate the flyover’s structure from the embankment – were observed in 2015, in the course of regular inspections. While accounting for the observations which have been made, the surveying measurements and the ground investigation, the paper diagnoses and describes the mechanism which led to the emergence of the offsets. Potential patterns of the occurrence of additional settlements, as the reason for emergence of the offsets, were identified and analyzed. The settlement of the outermost support (abutment), as a result of increase of relative density of alluvial sands due to the dynamic interaction of the roadways of Wał Miedzeszyński Street, was analyzed. Analytical and numeric approaches were used in the course of analysis while relying on PLAXIS and MIDAS software.

The main problem of tunnelling with use of TBM in highly dense urban areas is to assign the range of subsiding trough and the impact of tunnelling works on existing buildings and underground or road infrastructure. The paper presents the results of settlements calculations over twin tube metro tunnel using analytical, empirical methods. The tunnel external diameter is 6,5 m ; the overburden vary from 5 m to 8 m ; the distance between tunnel axis is 14 m. Because of quaternary soils and high water table level the TBM type EBP was chosen as the method of tunnel construction. At the length of 502 m of tunnel the monitoring system was carried out in 22 cross sections. The results of settlements monitoring were compared with the values of analytical calculations.

The impact of TBM EPB tunnelling was assessed with respect to the observed values of settlements as the results of extensive monitoring system of the subsoil and ground surface. The aim of the analysis using empirical methods was to determine the real scale of impact and to determine the formula for the asymmetric subsidence trough observed during the passage of two TBMs in quaternary cohesive soils. Based on field measurements, authors propose the polynomial formulation for the depth and shape of the asymmetric subsidence trough prediction over twin tube TBM tunnel.

One of major design problems associated with shallow tunnelling in urbanized areas is the prediction of ground displacements caused by the construction process. Advanced tunnelling techniques such as shield tunnelling using Earth Pressure Balance Tunnel Boring Machines (EPB-TBMs) allow for significant reductions of settlements observed at the ground surface in comparison to tunnelling methods used in the past. The predictions of these displacements are often based on semi-empirical methods and prior experience. In addition to relative simplicity of such methods, their robustness and decades of validation in many tunnelling projects make them attractive for practical use. The tunnelling-induced settlement trough at the ground surface can be described by inversed Gaussian distribution function. It requires only the assumption of two parameters, namely: expected volume loss (VL) and the distance to the point of inflection (iy ), which is dependent on the empirical trough width parameter (K) and the tunnelling depth (z0). The values of those parameters have a strongly empirical nature; they should be established based on comparable experience obtained from full scale tunnelling projects with similar technique and at similar ground conditions. The paper presents the problem of variability of those parameters and discusses the need for its assessment. As volume loss is strongly related to the tunnelling technique, the study focuses on EPB-TBM tunnelling as the most commonly implemented one in recent years. Variability of parameters observed for different ground conditions in different countries is summarized. Finally, preliminary assessment of variability of settlements observed in Warsaw region is presented.

The present contribution considers the Pannonian ‘inner fortifications’ in the context of the development of the infrastructure and urban fabric of selected sites on the Lower Danube. Using Sándor Sopronis’ thesis, which postulates that a multiple defensive system gradually expanded in Pannonia after the time of the Tetrarchy, as a starting point, this study concentrates on the inner fortifications founded in the middle third of the 4th century AD in the hinterland of the Limes (Környe, Tác / Gorsium, Keszthely-Fenékpuszta and Alsóheténypuszta) which, together with towns such as Sopianae, Mursa, Cibalae, Sirmium und Bassianae, constituted an inner line of defence. Whether they functioned in a civil or purely military context is a subject that has been, and still is, much debated. However, they appear to have played a significant role in the storage, distribution, and perhaps production, of the annona. A similar situation can be observed on the Lower Danube, in the provinces of Dacia Ripensis, Moesia Prima and Scythia. Here too a series of castra and towns, which took on similar functions in the course of the 4th century AD, are found some 30 to 50 km from the frontier. This area however saw a further development well into the late 6th century AD: several sites continued to play a central role as the sees of bishoprics in the Early Byzantine Period. The examples of Abritus and Tropaeum Traiani, which both possess elements that are strikingly similar to the Pannonian establishments, are used here to gain insights into the processes at work and to discuss the structural parallels comparatively.

The Distinctness of the Workers Settlement as a Housing Estate of the City – Ruda Śląska Case Study. The paper shows the issue of the workers settlements autonomy as a housing estate. The study was conducted in Ruda Śląska town, because this town is a typical example of the multicenter town developed in the era of workers settlements industrialization. A significant number of patronage settlements allowed to try to determine their distinctiveness in respect of their neighborhood or related to town district. Researched issue was presented by three aspects: indicating the urban and architectural contrasts, studying of the internal urban pattern of settlements and by indicating the specific nature of backyards in the workers settlements complexes. Detailed studies were related to urban interiors and their infrastructure and organization in the context of social relations. Contemporary the workers settlements are an important heritage of the industrial period in Ruda Śląska town and in others Upper Silesian towns, and they are often characterized by interesting urban-architectural values. Unfortunately, the most of the researched settlements have never been modernized, and therefore they are systematic degrade, both in housing substance and public spaces.

Air Pollution and Energy Unefficiency of Settlement Structures in the Context of Spatial Chaos in Poland (Chosen Examples from Lower Silesia). The deregulated spatial planning system in Poland has led to an emergence of incalculable economic, environmental and public costs that burden the society. Investment liberty is accompanied by a lack of coordination in the development of housing areas with public transport, electricity, gas and heating infrastructure. At the same time, revitalization is interpreted as a form of physical modernization of buildings, but not as social renewal. The result of spatial disorder is a reduction of energy efficiency of entire settlement structures, not just individual buildings. Old-fashioned methods of supplying buildings with heat, responsible for local emission, are sustained. Comprehensively, this condition contributes to the deterioration of air quality indicators in Poland.

The issues discussed in the study mainly relate to the costs presented by the structure of positions. This study, on the example of the KGHM Polska Miedź SA mining company (three mining plants), examines the position and cost calculation structure relating to technological works, cost settlement and receivables between branches and mining plants. Cost comparisons were also carried out from the perspective of the organizational structure. The cost centers, registration and settlement of costs in the accounting records, i.e. SAPR3 were highlighted. In the course of the examination, a comparative analysis was carried out aimed at determination of common features and differences between the cost of technological works by their function in the technical cost of manufacturing. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that in the years 2000–2017, the cost structure based on the position function underwent changes. The changes occurred as a result of organizational and technical and geological and mining conditions. The cost analysis allows to identify the directions of specialization of the entity in the future. The basic operating activity of the mines concentrates on extraction. Due to copper extraction in the concession areas, the analysis was to evaluate the costs incurred in the KGHM Polska Miedź SA mining plants.

Urbanization has a far-reaching impact on the environment, economy, political and social processes. Therefore, understanding the spatial distribution and evolution of human settlements is a key element in planning strategies that ensure the sustainable development of urban and rural settlements. Accordingly, it is very important to map human settlements and to monitor the development of cities and villages. Therefore, the problem of settlements has found its reflection in the creation of global databases of urban areas. Global settlement data have extraordinary value. These data allow us to carry out the quantitative and qualitative analyses as well as to compare the settlement network at a regional, national and global scale. However, the possibility of conducting both spatial and attribute analyses of these data would be even more valuable. The article describes how to prepare raster data so that they can be implemented into a vector database. It answers the questions whether it is possible to combine these data with databases available in Poland and what benefits it brings. It presents the methods of data generalization and the optimization of time and disk space. As a result of the study, two vector databases with GUF data were developed. The first database resolution is similar to the original (~12 m resolution) database, the second database contains less detailed (~20 m resolution) data, generalized using mathematical morphology. Both databases have been enriched with descriptive data obtained from the National Geodetic and Cartographic Resource.

Drawing on extensive qualitative research into experiences of migration and settlement among Central and East European (CEE) migrants living in Scotland, this article examines the role of intersecting emotional and material (in)securities in migrant families’ decision-making regarding and experiences of longer-term settlement. The article queries fixed or given understandings of either ‘family’ or ‘secu-rity’ and explores the complex and sometimes contradictory relationship between them. In so doing, it makes a number of significant and interconnected theoretical and empirical contributions to existing research in the field of family migration. Through a critical analysis of the relationship between family and (in)security the article offers nuanced insight into the ways in which family processes of reunion, separation and (re)formation link to decisions regarding migration and settlement. The intersecting and sometimes contradictory forms of emotional and material support, obligation and vulnerability which both family relations and processes of migration and settlement entail are critically analysed by bring-ing together theoretical frameworks of social (in)security and understandings of family as ‘made’ rather than ‘given’. Finally, attention given to the temporal aspects of (in)security, as well as the transnational aspects of migrants’ lives, provides new ways of understanding the open-endedness of decision-making processes relating to migration and settlement, especially where these involve multiple decision-makers.

In early 2021, over 5 million European Union (EU) citizens had applied for settled status to secure their right to continue to live, work and study in the United Kingdom (UK) after the country’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit). In 2018, the Home Office launched a Statement of Intent to implement an application process for EU citizens through its EU Settlement Scheme. In the period leading up to Brexit, the UK gov-ernment assured EU migrants that their existing rights under EU law would remain essentially un-changed and that applying for settled status would be smooth, transparent and simple. However, the application process has resulted in some long-term residents failing to obtain settled status, despite providing the required information. Based on qualitative in-depth interviews with 20 EU migrants living in two major metropolitan areas in Northern England, this article discusses the significant barriers which EU citizens face in the application process. This situation particularly affects the most vulnerable EU mi-grants with limited English-language skills and/or low literacy levels as well as those who are digitally excluded. The study contributes to the growing body of research on the consequences of Brexit for vulner-able EU migrants in the UK, focusing specifically on Central and Eastern European migrants.

The calculations of fuel tanks should take into account the geometric imperfections of the structure as well as the variability of the material parameters of the foundation. The deformation of the tank shell can have a significant impact on the limit state of the structure and its operating conditions. The paper presents a probabilistic analysis of a vertical-axis, floating-roof cylindrical shell of a tank with a capacity of 50000 m3 placed on stratified soil with heterogeneous material parameters. The impact of a random subsoil description was estimated using the Point Estimated Method (PEM). In this way, the number of analyzed FEM models was significantly reduced. This approach also makes it possible to assess the sensitivity of tank settlement and deformation to the changing foundation conditions.