Studia KPZK

This article analyzes the social content of spatial order concept and manifestations of social participation in shaping this order using two examples: shaping the safety of public spaces and revitalizing cities. The author concludes with proposals to increase public participation in the creation of spatial order.

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.

Transport and Space in Socio-Economic Life. This paper deals with key issues arising when transport is confronted with chaotic socio-economic environments. Nowadays especially urbanised areas are facing some crucial issues concerning urban planning under conditions of spatial chaos. Transport, having an important role in connecting the space of social and economic life, is a mean to reduce spatial chaos but is also subjected to the impacts chaotic socio-economic forces have. Within this research the interrelation between transport and disordered environment in which transport has to operate is addressed in regard to: transport infrastructure investment planning, traffic congestion management, transport accessibility, accidents and transport safety and impact of transport on the environment. It is the expected role of transport system to reduce chaos, especially in urban areas. But to what degree transport is actually fulfilling this task? In fact in many places badly organized transport might add to the problem instead of solving it. The effect the chaotic spatial organisation has on transport accessibility influences daily economic and social activity of people. Specifically there are numerous cost drivers activated by chaotic transport development resulting mainly in higher costs of moving people and goods, negative impact on value of time in transport processes, direct costs involved like more intensive fuel and material consumption or heightened depreciation of vehicles. Transport could be also perceived as a source of many significant external effects for society and environment, which entails valid environmental costs. The list of transport external effects is relatively long. This is due to the fact that transport is also one of the most important sectors of the modern industrialized economy and modern society. Poorly planned transport system adds to the already chaotic socio-economic setup. This is especially visible in cities where different layers of chaos can interfere and create dangerous synergies. Due to the lack of adequate space management, and this is the case in the discussed spatial chaos, environmental and social externalities are growing, which leads to higher social costs, which every citizen pays for in the final bill. On the other hand well planned transport system should help to curb chaotic socio-economic environment. Thus the key problem analysed in this paper is whether and how transport system could be an ordering force planned and enforced in effective way in order to reduce chaos created by other activities or rather an additional negative effect within the whole spectrum of chaos drivers.

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.

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.

Expenditures Related to Technical Infrastructure. The aim of the study is to answer to the question what is the economic (financial) scale of expenditure and local investments related to the technical infrastructure and to what extent the investment processes are correlated with the planning coverage. The study is based on data used in the annual reports of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization of the Polish Academy of Sciences on the state of planning work in communes. A detailed analysis of municipal budget expenditures was carried out, demonstrating large diversity of water and sewerage services, road construction and renovation, investment expenditures, etc. The research showed that a significant part of the investment is located outside local plans based on the decision on building conditions. This creates a serious risk of irrationality of spatial management and leads to increase of infrastructure service costs.

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.

Social and Economic Costs of Spatial Disorder in Agriculture. The main objective of the study was the identification of the phenomena of chaos in the structure and spatial organization of agriculture, that is the agrarian fragmentation of farms, exclusion of land from agricultural production in suburban zones and the fragmentation of the agricultural landscape. These processes cause a major increase in economic and social costs, which results in the loss of resources and spatial disorder in agriculture. An attempt was made to estimate the costs of these processes in economic, social and environmental terms. The economic dimension of spatial disorder in agriculture is manifested by negative results in the production and consumption sphere related most often to high labour costs, and consequently to low incomes. The social dimension of spatial disorder in agriculture is demonstrated by the effects of de-agrarization processes and deformation of social structures. De-agrarization means the processes of agricultural area reduction, extensification and fallowing as well as an increasingly limited significance of agriculture as a workplace and a reduction in the source of income by rural residents. A conducted analysis of spatial disorder in agriculture resulting from the lack of appropriate regulation and taxation systems as well as historical factors allowed determining direct and indirect results influencing the structure and spatial organization of agriculture. Direct results include: a chessboard pattern of agricultural land, marginalization of the agricultural function in rural areas which mostly applies to suburban zones, unregulated ownership of farmland, its unjustified designation for other purposes, a decrease in biodiversity in agriculture and fragmentation of the agricultural landscape. Indirect results include: an increase in the costs of agricultural production, expensive agricultural-installation plans, loss of direct payments, easement appurtenant, the emergence of human-environment conflicts and major transformations of the agricultural landscape in a suburban zone.