Małgorzata Świąder

Urban Sprawl Impact on Farmland Conversion in Suburban Area of Wroclaw, Poland

The developments in suburban areas are changing the peri-urban landscape, by transforming the agricultural land into discontinuous urban fabric. Tracking these changes requires different approaches. The aim of the research is to identify the spatial development of suburban zone with the use of the spatial information-based approach of estimating the location of suburban plots. The authors introduced parameters describing the building plots for single family housing in the suburban areas on the example of the surrounding municipalities of the city of Wroclaw, Poland. Landscape metrics tools were used to delineate the suburban plots not identified by Corine Land Cover 2012. The results were verified with the use of the prices and values register for real estates. The results show that there is an increasing pressure on farmland conversion into suburban areas expressed by the number of transactions and the total areas of sold housing plots. The plots that have been purchased for the single-family housing between 2004 and 2016 constitute about 10 % of all existing plots. About 42 % of suburban properties are designed in the distance not exceeding 3 km from the existing settlements; they are, however, not connected by infrastructure with other build-up areas.

Real Estate for the Ageing Society – the Perspective of a New Market

Abstract Currently, one of the key challenges on a global scale is the issue of an ageing society. The UN predicts that the number of people aged 60 and over will double by 2050 and treble by 2100. In the coming years, the demand for real estate that addresses the specific needs of older people will increase both qualitatively and quantitatively. Therefore, two main questions arise: What are the architectural features of real estate required to accommodate for the needs of an ageing society? Which European Union countries seem to have the highest and lowest potential to create a segment of the real estate market focused on older people? This paper contains a research overview in the field of the built environment for older people and case studies of different policies established by public authorities from past decades. The potential for real estate for an ageing society in EU countries was determined on the basis of variables collected by the UNECE. The results also enable assumptions to be made on which factors may influence future development in this area. Due to global climate changes combined with the urbanization process and resulting deterioration of air quality, heat island effect or poor accessibility to open areas, the ageing society will have to face the problem of adapting to these new conditions. Therefore, the authors assume that this will have a significant impact on the relocation of this age group on the real estate market in the future. The conclusions of the research contribute to general discussion on new trends in the real estate market and the assessment of future investments in real estate.

Spatial Data Analysis with the Use of ArcGIS and Tableau Systems

Nowadays there are different technologies enabling visualisation of spatial data. The combination of two different systems may enhance the visualisations and therefore better communication of the results to decision makers and the wider public. The aim of our contribution is to assess the possibility of combining the functionality of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Business Intelligence (BI) systems for spatial data visualisation. We assess the analytical and visualisation features of combined ESRI ArcGIS and BI Tableau systems with the use of the visual data exploration approach. For the purpose of this study, Geographic Information System is used as a data manager and a data blender. The geoprocessed feature class was stored in the personal geodatabase and then loaded into the Tableau environment. We present the selected functionality of visual data discovery on the example of land change flows in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. In order to highlight the possibility to conduct analyses on different spatial levels, we ran the simulation at the local level and aggregated it to the regional level. The use of computational capabilities of GIS and BI enhance the geovisualisation on the map by quantitative analysis of tabular data, facilitate the visualisation of the results, and improve communication.

Geo-Dynamic Decision Support System for Urban Traffic Management

The paper presents the geo-dynamic decision support system (DSS) for urban traffic management issues. For this purpose, ArcGIS and Tableau softwares were used. Additionally, a self-defined transportation model based on Dijkstra’s algorithm was created. The use of our own calculation model allowed for the full accessibility to all parameters of the analysed scenarios which was one of the key assumptions of the research. Functionality of the proposed DSS was tested on three scenarios. Each scenario presents congestion on the road network after the conclusion of events in main landmarks in Wroclaw (Poland): the city stadium, the National Forum of Music and the Centennial Hall. The proposed DSS allows for dynamic analysis of urban traffic, including recalculation processes according to the changing congestion on a road network. Moreover, cumulative urban traffic assessment allows you to define hot spots on a network, which should be especially monitored by public services. An interactive dashboard reduces technical details of an analysis which helps to avoid the cognitive problems of the decision making process for a layman. The results prove the feasibility of the integration of the ArcGIS, self-defined transportation model and Tableau. The proposed solution enables full access to the transportation analysis’ assumptions, as well as the use of a simple and intuitive interactive dashboard for the decision making process.

Socio‐Environmental Vulnerability Mapping for Environmental and Flood Resilience Assessment: The Case of Ageing and Poverty in the City of Wrocław, Poland

The phenomena of urbanization and climate change interact with the growing number of older people living in cities. One of the effects of climate change is an increased riverine flooding hazard, and when floods occur this has a severe impact on human lives and comes with vast economic losses. Flood resilience management procedures should be supported by a combination of complex social and environmental vulnerability assessments. Therefore, new methodologies and tools should be developed for this purpose. One way to achieve such inclusive procedures is by incorporating a social vulnerability evaluation methodology for environmental and flood resilience assessment. These are illustrated for application in the Polish city of Wrocław. Socio-environmental vulnerability mapping, based on spatial analyses using the poverty risk index, data on the ageing population, as well as the distribution of the areas vulnerable to floods, was conducted with use of a location intelligence system combining Geographic Information System (GIS) and Business Intelligence (BI) tools. The new methodology allows for the identification of areas populated by social groups that are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of flooding. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:592-597.

STATUS AND POSSIBILITIES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE IN POLAND AS AN EXAMPLE OF SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN

This article aims to analyse the current state of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) as an example of a short food supply chain in Poland in terms of the characteristics of the farms, spatial distribution of the producers and consumers of food, and principles of operation of the CSA groups. The analysis is based on the survey data collected through telephone interviews. The results indicate a rapid increase in the number of CSA groups. CSA groups operate mainly in large cities. Their principles of operation vary; however, the common element is that consumers prepay for organic high-quality produce at the beginning of growing season.