Causes and Effects of Spatial Chaos in the Polish Carpathians – A Difficult Way to Sustainable Development

Mountainous rural areas are vulnerable to inappropriate land management, which is particularly visible in the Polish Carpathians. This paper attempts to diagnose the causes and effects of spatial chaos in this area, using the DPSIR method. The Three Questions method was used to assist in analysing the effects of disorder in the context of violating sustainable development. The analysis demonstrated that the causes of spatial disorder were mainly of legal and historical origins, with the most visible effects of this chaos being those related to the dispersion of buildings. Minimising spatial chaos requires extensive education, as well as amending legislation to limit the scope of decisions on development conditions. A national financial mechanism supporting the development of the Carpathians would also seem to be a desirable improvement.