Przemysław Śleszyński

Expected traffic speed in Poland using Corine land cover, SRTM-3 and detailed population places data

The paper presents a novel application of detailed satellite imagery (and derived products) in estimating traffic speeds on public roads over large areas and for large numbers of road sections. The data used were taken from Corine Land Cover 2006, a digital elevation model based on SRTM-3, as well as from sources offering detailed information on population distribution. This helped quantify the impact of land use (primarily development) and landform on the speed of uncongested vehicle traffic on roads of different categories, including motorways, other dual carriageways, regular highways, local roads, etc. The study produced a map of potential vehicle speed in Poland at the scale of 1:1,000,000, which could be used to study temporal accessibility, in particular isochrone analysis.

Struktura i koncentracja przestrzenna siedzib ważniejszych przedsiębiorstw w Warszawie w 1999 r.

Wybor miejsca zarządzania przedsiebiorstwem oprocz uwarunkowan logistycznych, ma duze znaczenie prestizowe. Poprzez koncentracje siedzib przedsiebiorstw powstaje przestrzen zarządzania, bedąca istotnym skladnikiem i czynnikiem ksztaltującym rozwoj centrum miasta. Badania lokalizacji przedsiebiorstw mają zatem istotne znaczenie m.in. z punktu widzenia delimitacji obszarow centralnych. Badania lokalizacji siedzib w skali wewnątrzmiejskiej

Headquarters of Large Enterprises in the Spatial Structure of Major Polish Cities

The paper is based on the author’s monograph (Śleszynski, 2008). It presents the analysis of enterprise headquarters’ locations in eight largest Polish cities (Warsaw, Szczecin, The Tricity [Gdansk–Gdynia–Sopot], Poznan, Łodź, Wroclaw, Katowice and Krakow). The study primarily involved data from the Hoppenstedt Bonnier database for the year 2004, concerning 3810 entities whose overall revenue exceeded the minimum of 15.6 million PLN. The businesses were analysed in terms of their location with respect to the city centre, as well as the differentiation of revenues, line of business and ownership structure. The analyses helped in the formulation of the basic regularities of the location distribution. For instance, it was found that spatial concentration is most significant in the case of the largest enterprises, the public sector and more advanced businesses, particularly high-order services.The location of large company headquarters, as well as their mutual connections, performs one of the key roles (or even the most important one) in the development of Central Business Districts in Polish cities during transformation.

The delimitation of areas of strategic intervention in Poland: A methodological trial and its results

Abstract This main aim of this study is the examination and discussion of a conceptual and theoretical model for Poland’s areas of strategic intervention. Following a review of the current strategic documents at national and regional levels, it is possible to propose two basic categories of areas of strategic intervention: 1) growth areas (territories with natural or socioeconomic properties particularly favourable for development); and 2)problem areas (territories with unfavourable features and socioeconomic and/or natural processes). Among the problem areas it is possible to distinguish three main types: the social, the economic and the natural, albeit with the possibility of applying an even more detailed typology that allows for combinations of these types. Scientific findings can be combined with the results of empirical research to encourage the proposal of a new method of delimiting areas of strategic intervention. The identification of growth areas is primarily based on expert knowledge, which is clearly qualitative. In turn, the processes by which problem areas are delimited is quantitative in nature, reflecting analyses of selected diagnostic indicators that take social, economic and natural issues into account. The results which were obtained relate to the concept of endogenous development, as well as the assumptions under pinning policies of territorial cohesion.

Impact of property rights and ownership on the development of Warsaw’s contemporary city centre

ABSTRACT The paper raises the problem of the impact of unregulated property and ownership rights on the development of the city centre. It applies to Warsaw as a post-socialist city that has recorded fast economic growth since the country’s communist regime collapsed in 1989. We follow the course of changes in the city centre of Warsaw, in particular, those pertaining to land use and high-rise buildings for office use as investments that encounter difficulties under the unregulated status of construction sites and lack of clear regulations for private property restitution that was nationalized under socialism. To describe and explain the difficulties, we provide data showing the location of large companies and office buildings, and examples of conflicts as well. Unregulated ownership issues and property rights weigh on Warsaw’s city centre, now vastly dispersing and gravitating westwards, and prevent the district from rational and effective development.

Wiejskie Obszary Funkcjonalne – próba metodyczna wyznaczenia ich obszarów i granic = Rural functional areas – methodical attempt of determining their areas and boundaries

The objective of the paper is to develop a new approach to delimitation of rural functional areas, simultaneously examining various criteria for their classification. Delimitation of rural functional areas was conducted basing on the so-called ‘virtual’ areal region concept. The level of detail considered is municipality. At the first stage, a subset of municipalities was selected, acknowledged as rural areas in accordance with assumed criteria. Subsequently, basing on the empirical data analysis, certain municipalities were identified that are relatively homogenous regarding transport accessibility, development dynamics as well as internal economic structure. In each of the three dimensions of analysis specified, two or three categories of municipalities were distinguished. The results of these three classifications enabled the delimitation of 12 functional types of rural areas composing different combinations of possible classes regarding three dimensions of analysis. Finally, obtained spatial structure was generalized to delimitate relatively homogenous and compact functional areas. The results of the applied procedure and their particular stages were presented on the maps.

The people of Geographia Polonica, 1964-2013

The article described the activities and the effects of successive editorial offices of Geographia Polonica from its foundation in 1964 to the present. The topics of the contents of the periodical were analyzed and information compiled on the structure and the qualitative characteristics of the published materials, including an analysis of the geographic origins of the authors. Information regarding the editors and the editorial bodies were collected and the editorial-publishing changes were analyzed. Finally, the challenges to be faced by the editorial office in the coming years, connected with the periodical’s profile and its influence, were identified.