AHEAD OF PRINT

Artificial light pollution of the night sky over urban areas and in their immediate vicinity has become a common anthropogenic phenomenon and a major problem of the modern urban landscape. It is no longer only scientists or environmentalists, but increasingly ordinary citizens too, who perceive a decline in the quality of the night sky and suffer the health consequences of this systematically aggravating process. In order to observe the naturally starry sky, it is now necessary to travel to places far away, not only from large conurbations, but also from smaller human settlements. In order for there to be an improvement in the level of night sky pollution, it is necessary to monitor the phenomenon, provide targeted education and take systemic countermeasures to reduce its negative effects in time and space. Several interdisciplinary research groups and non-governmental organisations around the world conduct research on light pollution. In Toruń, the first measurements of this phenomenon were carried out in 2017 using handheld SQM devices, and a wireless automatic network monitoring the state of the city’s night sky has been developed since 2020. This paper presents the results of the analysis of measurement data recorded during the two-year operational operation of the monitoring network. The conducted measurements provided data to analyse the seasonal variability of the phenomenon, as well as to perform selected spatial analyses within the city limits. The results obtained were related to the results of measurements made outside human settlements, which made it possible to determine the variation of sky brightness in a gradient of decreasing human impact.

This article deals with the border effect phenomenon affecting the mobility of inhabitants in border regions. It aims to identify the determinants of the border effect in transport at the municipal level, considering the distance from the border, the populations and the characteristics of the closest bordering country. The survey in the Czech Republic eventually involved 675 representatives of municipalities who answered questions on inter-municipal mobility. The results confirmed that the most substantial handicap was population size, with small populations corresponding to the limited use of public transport when travelling beyond a given border. The results confirmed that the characteristics of the state or region that shares the border must be considered when assessing border regions. Therefore, the solution to the problems of individual border regions cannot be viewed with a single instrument. It is necessary to consider substantial differences resulting from the economic level of neighbouring countries.

This article aims to (1) identify guests’ memorable experiences based on reviews posted on TripAdvisor, (2) identify the differences in memorable experiences due to hotel location, evaluation on TripAdvisor and consumer sentiment. The study used quantitative methods: text mining, topic modelling, and sentiment analysis. All reviews (n = 34,992) for all Warsaw hotels included on TripAdvisor (N = 99) were analysed. Seven topics of memorable experiences were identified via Latent Dirichlet Allocation analysis: five were very positive and two very negative. The content analysis of those topics allowed us to extract six positive factors which include: (1) view from the floor, (2) hotel staff and service, (3) breakfast and restaurant, (4) location and atmosphere, (5) pool, lounge, gym and spa, (6) price (value for money), as well as two negative factors: (1) noise at night, (2) booking and check-in. In addition, it was found that memorable hotel experiences differ depending on the location of the hotel in the city.

In the last few centuries, a metallurgical industry based on forges driven by water wheels developed in many European valleys. One such area is the Old-Polish Industrial District (OPID) in Central Poland, which is one of the largest of this type of industrial center. Metallurgical activity developed here from the Prehistoric to modern times. The transformation of metallurgical technology led to the collapse of production, and the ongoing renaturation obliterated most of the traces of former industrial activity. The Magnetic Spherule Separation method used so far in Western Europe, and recently in Poland, has been able to detect traces of former metallurgical activity preserved in alluvium. Fluvial deposits contain microscopic, perfectly spherical iron hammerscales formed during metallurgical production. The results of the study of the alluvium of selected rivers in the OPID indicate the presence of iron spherules of various origin and facies in the sediments of the floodplain, which accumulated during the period of metallurgical activity and were redeposited in modern times. This allows us to estimate, among other things, the age, rate of accumulation and impact of anthropopressure on sedimentation conditions.

This paper identifies the most influential factors in shaping the climate change competitiveness of the EU regions. We conducted multiple linear regression, geographically weighted regression and polynomial best subset regression analysis to explore the variability in regional competitiveness by economic, environmental, social, innovative and technological factors. The results of the study provide rigorously tested and evidence-based insights into the most instrumental factors shaping climate change competitiveness of the EU regions. The findings revealed that the most affected factors were the number of cooling and heating days, CO2 emissions, e-banking, digital skills, urbanisation levels and access to technology. On the contrary, the levels of migration and of international scientific publications turned out to be minor. The authors believe that this article highlights several interesting findings and new incentives for further research and discussion regarding regional competitiveness in the face of climate change.

There are many factors controlling the aeolian sand transport rate on the beach and thus, variation in rates can impact foredune development. This study analyses coastline orientation as one such factor. The research was conducted at two sites on the Łeba Barrier, south Baltic Sea coast, Poland, located 4.2 km apart and which differed in coastline orientation by 20°. Based on wind data the potential aeolian sand transport rate for the period 2006–2017 was calculated. It appeared that taking into account the coastline orientation, the landward sand transport strongly exceeded the seaward and alongshore transport at one site, whereas the other site was dominated by alongshore sand transport. Topographic surveys carried out every 6 months showed that net sand deposition within the foredune at the coast dominated by landward transport was two and a half times greater than at the other site and resulted in significant dune growth.

Nowadays, the pace of social and economic development is constantly growing, which has led to many negative effects. In order to stop this negative impact, reference should be made to the assumptions of sustainable development (SD), and young people – Generation Z – should be considered its main promoters. The main objective of this article is to present Generation Z’s perception of sustainable development in Poland. A Computer-assisted web interviewing survey (CAWI, N=1172) was conducted to understand the basic demographics, general issues, SD in a daily context, and SD-related knowledge in 936 cities of Poland. The results have shown that Generation Z in Poland recognises the social and inclusive role of SD. Cost of commodities, social disparities and conflict, and disrupted economic growth were identified as the emerging challenges for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Polish cities.

This study aims to examine the current knowledge about the relationships between financialization, housing issues, patriarchal logic, and gender inequalities to identify gaps in knowledge, which, in turn, can be considered as topics of scientific interest for future research. To this end, the study provides an exhaustive review of current academic debate regarding the abovementioned topics from the perspectives of critical urban geography, urban political economy, sociology, and gender and feminist studies. This study points out that the patriarchal roots of the financialization of housing originate from the exclusion of housing from the social provision and from its conversion to a financial asset, subordinating its use value to its exchange value. This logic strengthens gender inequalities in the form of women facing a higher debt burden to pay for housing, an increase in their unpaid reproductive labor and salaried labor, and the reinforcement of the gendered division of labor.

The research presents a comparison between two methods which are used to identify days on which there are thunderstorms (TDs) in Poland. SYNOP and PERUN lightning network data from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW-PIB) for the period 2002–2020 were used to determine and compare the changes in the number of TDs. To determine the number of TDs using the PERUN data, an appropriate method needed to be created which would allow for the closest possible reference to human perception in relation to lightning. A buffer with a radius of 15 km was used, and TDs were counted when there was at least one flash within the buffer circle. Measurements performed by observers are sometimes not homogeneous and are prone to errors, and thus underestimate the actual number of TDs. As a result of the analysis, the average number of TDs in Poland was found to be 26 (SYNOP) and 30 (PERUN) per year.