In recent years adverse processes of suburbanization have been observed in cities. It has become a serious challenge for urban and transport planners, as it influences largely the quality of space, the quality of life, and the cost of running the city. This paper is dedicated to travel models in areas serviced by a railway system, and is based on a real-life survey example of the Błonie community, a district belonging to the Warsaw metropolitan area. Research carried out in 2014 focused on combined travels behaviors recorded using GPS locators as well as quantitative research (volumes of users across various transport systems).

The article refers to the urban sprawl in Poland. Its objectives are: (1) analysis of relations between negative eff ects, (2) presentation negative effects on transport and energy consumption and on spatial order, (3) analysis of ways of counteracting negative processes including conditions (especially restrictions) on the use of this ways and their effectiveness. The methods used were: observation, literature analysis and logical analysis. Driving forces are heading towards further suburbanization, stopping of which is considered impossible. Orientation of the processes more closely to spatial order is very difficult. There are proper and legal solutions for this, but there are barriers to their use, such as: the lack of awareness and motivation of local authorities and the political conditions that discourage more restrictive regulation.

The article undertakes quastion of urban design in a context of urban sprawl linking it to the German debate on suburbanisation, conducted under the slogan of Zwischenstadt – a concept created by Th. Sieverts in 1997. The Ladenburger Kolleg „Zwischenstadt” (LKZ) developed 2002-2006 the interdisciplinary research titled: „Amidst the Edge: Zwischenstadt – towards the qualification of the urbanised landscape” The spatial effects of the dispersion processes were considered to be the manifestation of the creation of a new model of the city. The traditional image of urbanism does not fit its logic. Zwischenstadt (in-beetwen-city) recognized as a phase of the urbanization process, uncoordinated by any imposed urban vision, requires a innovative urban design leitmotives. This new planning tool is necessary to obtain the parameters needed to strengthen internal socio-economic development capabilities. The concept of the efficiency of urban design covered the issue of the character of a city›s image. The morphological studies on a megalopolis structure by Frankfurt a. Main, made a creative use of the Lynch research on the image of the city. Their main goal was to understand the characteristics of the dispersion meant as an urbanized landscape and to determine its susceptibility to the process of improving spatial quality – recognition of the endogenous potentials of generating a Zwischenstadt image.

The author analyzes the relationship between the size of GDP generated in the region and its metropolitan capital city, and the level of budget revenues of local government units – including the metropolis. On the example of Małopolska and Cracow, it observes tendencies of the growing level of income of local governments in relation to GDP, but fi rst of all it points out that in the metropolitan city the ratio is much lower than in the whole region. This defi ciency is called the „metropolitan income gap” and looks for the reasons for its occurrence. He points to the dynamic suburbanization, which causes that more and more groups of people contributing to the production of GDP in a metropolitan city pay property taxes, personal income and a large part of VAT in the suburban area. What is more, the areas of this zone use various forms of development support – for example, development of rural areas. The author considers the phenomenon of the «metropolitan income gap» to be a negative phenomenon, limiting the ability to compete on a global scale and points to several possible ways leading to its reduction. The author considers the phenomenon of the «metropolitan income gap» to be a negative phenomenon, limiting the ability to compete on a global scale and points to several possible ways leading to its.

Inspired by the Chicago School sociology and anthropology of Mary Douglas authors of the article show the special cultural status of new urban peripheries in comparison to villages, old urban peripheries and city centers. Critically they relate to the thesis that new urban peripheries are “cultural deserts” or “bedroom/dormitory suburbs”, considering them as a form of collective organization or sustained activity patterns that replace an original kind of culture. According to Mary Douglas villages are characterized by low level of social energy and high degree of collective control, and the city centers are characterized by high level of energy and low collective control. Referring to this classification the authors of the paper claim that new urban peripheries are characterized by both low energy and low collective control. A more detailed characterization of a new urban periphery is presented in the article on the basis of materials collected in several qualitative sociological research projects. In the light of the empirical material, it can be revealed that in new urban peripheries direct forms of collective control have been replaced by social non-interference, development of individualistic self-control and privatization of micro-spaces of living and transporting. It was noted that the intensive development of individualized outdoor activity leads to gradual formation of the new body type of a new urban periphery resident.

Quantifying and understanding global land use change and its spatial and temporal dynamics is critical to supporting international policy debates. The main area of transformation of spatial structures nowadays are suburban areas of the largest cities. Constant land development and urbanization, including such forms as urban sprawl, influence significant changes in land use. The aim of this study was to analyse a land use change pattern in a selected rural area which is under pressure of spatial development of a regional city. Data used for a land use change detection was based opensource Urban Atlas dataset for 2006, 2012, and 2018, enriched by recent update from 2021 orthophoto map. Spatial analyses presenting statistics of land use change were conducted in QGIS. Besides analysis of land use change, the paper discusses observed spatial patterns also taking into account changing social, environmental and economic conditions and spatial policies influencing land cover complexity. Understanding these dynamics would help better spatial management of real estates for more sustainable land development.

This paper discusses the security and safety of the polycentric functio-spatial structure of the city in the context of a pandemic. The research hypothesis is as follows: will the fear of the epidemic affect the manner of planning polycentric structures, reinforce local service concentrations and restore the commercial role of the city street? This paper presents a new outlook on urban security. Local service polycentricism is of particular significance. The problem was investigated based on original analyses of polycentricism and a definition that points to levels of understanding the notion of the centre while accounting for current theories and trends. The study discusses differences in the perception of polycentricism over time. On the example of the history of Cracow’s development, the author analysed factors that affect polycentricism, such as: political decisions, suburbanisation and transport-related behaviour patterns.

At present, an intensive increase in housing development in suburban areas can be observed — both private, single-family developments and projects in the form of single- and multi-family housing complexes carried out by companies specialising in this field. These projects, known as developer-built projects, have already become a permanent part of the landscape of Polish suburbs. Spatial and demographic analyses of the rural municipalities of the Kraków Metropolitan Area (KMA) presented in this paper indicate the largest concentrations of this type of development. Moreover, they make it possible to indicate certain directions in which these trends are heading, the pace of their changes and their interrelationships. These analyses may provide guidance to project sponsors, local authorities, or legislators on what measures to take to prevent, as far as possible, any negative effects that may be caused by uncontrolled development or spatial, urban, and architectural chaos.

This paper tackles the questions of material culture and protecting heritage values through urban intervention. Urban intervention is understood as the identification of local heritage with a diagnosis of potential development profiles and application of the adopted solutions to underlie the formation of a new local centrality. It is underlined that the right urban intervention needs to be conducted for and with local inhabitants. Urban intervention, as proposed in this paper, is understood as a tool to properly direct the development of peripheral areas, especially rural ones. The basis for the research is the idea of spatial re-definition that aims to upgrade not only spatial but above all social attractiveness. An original two-stage methodology adopted for the purpose of the research with the use of the author’s AIA method was presented. This developed tool can harness the potential of material culture of local heritage. The shown research methodology is universal and can be applied in any urban interventions intended to transform places characterized by either partially or completely lost spatial and social identity.

This study assessed the effectiveness of suburban planning in the field of sustainable land-use management. Poznań County was selected as the research area. The scope of the research concerns the changes in land-use purpose and their impact on the landscape and ecological values. The methods used included quantitative research, analysis, and a case study. The conclusions indicated systemic errors in the development of suburban areas, including discrepancies between the development strategies of larger areas (e.g., metropolitan areas) and local studies of spatial development directions. The proposed solutions included the legal empowerment of larger development strategies and promoting the valuation of ecosystem services as a balance for economic analyses.

Estimates of the Losses Incurred by the Society Living in the Functional Urban Areas. The study presents estimates of the losses incurred by the society living in the Functional Urban Areas of regional capitals of Poland in connection with the phenomenon of urban sprawl. The estimates are presented in terms of diagnostic to 2016 and as projected reaching 2030. The results of the analysis indicate that the social losses due to the urban sprawl in Poland can be evaluate as high, as it amounts to 25.4 billion PLN per year. In the 2030 losses could reach nearly 0.5 trillion PLN, of which 264 billion PLN of losses incurred directly, and 227 billion PLN on the value of lost time.