The development of both the town and the administrative commune of Zielona Góra is characterised by a progressive process of uncontrolled linear urban development, so called urban sprawl. This phenomenon has existed in the town for a long time, but because of the fast development in the 21st century it is now even stronger and has an unfavourable impact on the dwellers’ comfort, communication and accessibility. The directions of changes adopted for spatial development in the current strategic documents of the new town (since 1 January 2015), which came into being as a result of the merger between the town and the rural commune of Zielona Góra, do not guarantee that the unfavourable processes will be stopped. The process of uncontrolled urban development results in the growth of dense urban structures along the roads and communication routes. This prevents an optimum use of areas located further away or behind the existing infrastructure and causes dead zones to appear, where there are no communications or infrastructure. With each new investment (a plot of land with access to a public road, as specified by the regulations) the distance between recreational areas (green spaces) and the town centre increases. The deteriorating dwelling conditions are a direct result of the unfavourable phenomenon of urban sprawl.

Internalization of external economic effects on urban sprawl affected areas. An example of the Krakow Metropolitan Area, The study is a discussion on economic externalities, with particular emphasis on technological effects. Attention is also paid to the problem of internalization of economic external effects caused by movement (transport) in areas affected by the urban sprawl process. The research was conducted for all communes of the Krakow Metropolitan Area (KOM), as a result of which the value of: directly incurred financial losses and the value of lost time generated by the necessity of commuting and return in the space of KOM were presented.

The paper aims at proposing a contemporary typology of factors building attractiveness and competitiveness of cities. The notions of urban attractiveness and urban competitiveness have been covered in literature for many years. As such the authors approached specification of the current factors, in the way they are understood by relevant representatives of researchers and territorial authorities. The A&K [standing for Polish: Atrakcyjność & Konkurencyjność] Model is presented in the paper and a typology is derived upon it.

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.

The article describes the idea of a compact city, due to the needs and capabilities of contemporary Polish cities, with an emphasis on the Silesia region. Special attention has been paid to the possibility of increasing the cities’ density and several examples have been shown to present the possibilities of densifying the cities with new housing investments. Also, the article presents the studies that indicate the capacity for the internal development of selected Silesian cities: Katowice and Gliwice. The article ends with the recommendations for cities to become more compact.

In the era of transition to a low-carbon economy, optimal use of the developmental resources within urban regions expresses the need to limit suburbanization and increase the energy efficiency. Solutions are sought as an alternative for the suburban housing estates embodying the image high-quality life in the American Dream style. Aspects of the urban innovation, serving the public sector as a tool for improvement of the quality in residential environment, are considered in the article. Selected examples (mainly German) are described with reference to 1) the changes in the standards of housing development, 2) large-scale renewal programs for residential areas, 3) development and dissemination of urban design (the technique). The interaction between scientific research and the implementation sphere, remaining in the hands of local governments, is important here. Synergy, at a local level, is of key importance in at least four aspects in urban development: 1) solving complex, atypical problems, 2) the public sector being a strong (independent) partner, 3) adaptation of foreign concepts, from other planning systems/cultures and morphologically different urban structures, 4) strengthening the position in relations with the EU.

The subject of this paper is the study of the specificity of the transformation of the urban public spaces of the Western world and the problem of the multi form nature of this phenomenon. The Author uses such concepts as that of the "hybrid" and of "hybridization" borrowed from the field of natural sciences and explains the reasons for their introduction within this specific scope of research in a broad manner.

The subject discussed in this paper is the evolution of the ideas of organic development in urban planning, focused on the waterfront areas. The paper also aims to analyze and interpret current trends in urban water waterfront planning, which are infl uenced by the contemporary ideas related to environmental issues, landscape planning, new technologies in the fi eld of building design and civil- and hydroengineering or application of the renewable energy sources.

In the paper author discusses problems related to the leading role of architectural structures, as a part of the creating process within contemporary urban space. Architectural objects establish a continuous dialogue not only with their surrounding space, but also between each other. In this relation, the first plan comes with two factors, determining all spatial and functional solutions: the place in which a given project is localized and the time in which the urban designer came to the architect to create his plan. Based on the analysis of own projects and urban and architectural realizations, the author proves that the architectural dialogue in urban space must be respected in the context of the place and the time, but also in the creators moral responsibility. This responsibility is defined by consequences of design decisions not only for the urban space itself, but above all, for people and their coexistence with the space. For designers it reveals a necessity to comply principles of ethics and professing the value system in order to taking care of the urban space not only three-dimensional, but also “existential”.

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.

The small scale green areas, urban parks, urban forests or natural green areas are vital components of the urban structure of cities. This paper, using examples from Bratislava, analyzes the successful and lost opportunities to apply the concept of green space as a strategy for urban regeneration and development, and discusses the ways to incorporate this concept in the teaching and educational practices in the fields of urbanism and landscape architecture.

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.

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 starting point of the study on the problems, dilemmas and hopes for effective implementation of revitalization projects in Polish cities was the conviction that revitalization is one of the processes affecting the development and changes in the spatial and functional fabric of cities. Revitalization is defined as a deliberate and purposeful process, the effect of which is to restore life in the dysfunctional and degraded parts of cities. Taking up such a topic required an answer to the question about the nature of revitalization and its aspects. The focus of the study was on the problems of revitalization that stem from the legal and socio-economic situation and the dilemmas faced by local government authorities of Polish cities. The introduction to these considerations is the brief outline of the revitalization of Polish cities in the period after World War II, while the conclusion deals with the fears and hopes related to revitalization activities that are presently initiated. The discussion takes into account the existing, critically assessed, legal regulations on revitalization.

The grid method is the most widely used technique for measurement-based noise assessment, and indeed is part of the ISO 1996-2 standard. Nevertheless it has certain disadvantages. The present work is an analysis of the grid method for evaluating noise, firstly in the city of Cáceres and, secondly in two other smaller towns. Using as reference a 200 metre grid study, a study was made of the effect of varying the size and form of the grid on the city’s overall noise value, the percentage of data found to lie above some reference thresholds, and the noise value assigned to a certain zone of the city. The ISO 1996 recommendations of the necessity of new sampling points and the method’s predictive capacity for these new measurements were also analyzed.