Volume 38 (2019): Edizione 2 (June 2019)

This article presents the general characteristics of the Poznań school of socio-economic geography (and spatial management). Scientific school is usually understood as a community of scholars, representatives of a given scientific discipline, associated with a specific university (or universities) functioning in a given city, united by particular approaches to scientific problems and by accepted ideas, views, methods used etc., which has substantial achievements in a given scientific discipline. There is practically no scientific school without a master (or masters) who is an eminent scholar gathering a group of students and associates. The acknowledged output of this scholar – master, especially an innovative approach to solving research problems and also the influence of his/her scientific authority on students and associates, is usually an origin of a new scientific school. Professor Zbyszko Chojnicki, the founder of the Poznań school, was such a master. The article presents the creation of the School and its development, characterises the role of the Master, indicates the research approach and direction of the conducted studies he determined and discusses the scientific output of the Master and the three selected generations of students and, to a lesser extent, the auditing students. Emphasis is put on the achievements in the theory of geography and spatial management, methodology, paying particular attention to quantitative analysis methods and the innovative and original empirical research conducted as well as the significance of this output for Polish socio-economic geography and spatial management. What is also presented is the popularisation activity and the reflections on the future of the School. The article presents the author’s point of view.

At the turn of the 21st century Polish agriculture intensively changed as the consequence of: 1) the socio-economic transformation that started in 1989, 2) the general transition from a centrally-planned economy to a market economy and 3) Poland’s accession in 2004 to the European Union. In this paper, we try to describe, in a synthetic way, the spatial heterogeneity of development of agriculture in Poland. For this purpose we identified the types of contemporary Polish agriculture. We applied the measures of global (Moran 1950) and local (LISA) spatial autocorrelation devised by L. Anselin (1995) and used their calculations in classification methods. Our dataset consists of 69 variables and 3,069 spatial units at the LAU2 level. As the result of the analysis we identified 20 types of agriculture in Poland and presented their characteristic features. We have paid particular attention to a spatial distribution of identified types. We concluded that the distribution is not only a result of natural or socio-economic conditions and local spatial relationships, but also to a greater extent is still affected by historical conditions (mainly partitions and changes of borders after the First and Second World Wars).

The article presents a discussion on the anatomy of place-making within the framework of the communication processes against the background of social order in a post-socialist city. The main aim of the text is to look at the social mechanisms of place-making processes “under the microscope”. The place-making activities are very often associated with planning and urban design. However, behind that planning veil is the social world of urban neighbourhood communities. In the article we propose, the social communication and participation processes are among the key factors responsible for creating urban spaces. We are presenting a place-making case study, using the example of Asnyk Square in Poznań. In this context, we are analysing social attitudes and social communication, which took place in the course of the place-making processes and influenced urban planning activities. The discussed case is complicated and provides no easy solutions.

Article describes access to tourist information and the consistency of tourist offers with this kind of information for people with disabilities. The conception of accessible tourism was presented as well as the model of tourist information availability with the demonstration of technology applied to ensure objective information about all services so as people with disabilities could evaluate the scope of accessibility according to their personal needs. Based on the analysis of information systems found on Internet tourist portals what is presented is the scope of information availability from the point of view of people with disabilities. These information systems largely contribute to the development of accessible tourism. In Poland, the issue of implementing the assumption of accessible tourism, including the availability of a coherent information system is an important challenge that requires integrated systemic activities of many entities.

The industry which was a driving force of the economy and contributed to the population growth in many cities for decades became later the source of their problems. The crisis of the activity of old industrial cities creating the economic base (especially of the traditional industry), provoked by the deindustrialisation process and in post-socialist countries additionally by the “shock” of the economic transformation, caused long-lasting and unfavourable changes in many areas. It resulted in the present process of shrinkage of old industrial cities in demographic, economic, social aspects as well as spatial ones (Bontje 2004; Oswalt 2005; Turok, Mykhnenko 2007; Pallagst et al. 2009; Cunningham-Sabot et al. 2010; Bontje, Musterd 2012; Hospers 2012, 2014; Haase et al. 2013; Pallagst et al. 2014; Stryjakiewicz 2014; Runge et al. 2018). This process can take a different course in different socio-economic patterns depending on the geographical situation and the time of observation. However, it leads to unfavourable results in each place, first of all to a decrease in the number of inhabitants. The aim of the article is twofold: (1) the identification and analysis of the process of urban shrinkage of Wałbrzych city as well as (2) the examination of different regeneration strategies adopted to mitigate negative effects of urban shrinkage. It is particularly important to understand this process and results of the adopted strategies especially in the context of the future development of this city which according to demographic forecasts will be shrinking in the long run.

The World Ocean and, in particular, its resource potential have always had a dramatic effect on the progress and spatial organisation of humanity. Recently, the effect of the sea factor on the economy and the settlement system has increased amid globalisation, geoeconomic changes, increasing geopolitical turbulence, and the growing competition for resources. In this article, I attempt to assess the influence of the sea factor on the socioeconomic geography of the Russian Federation. A country with an extensive coastline and a vast inland area, Russia has territories that are very different in geographical terms. I pay special attention to the post-Soviet changes in the major components of the country’s maritime economy: seaports, fishing industry, offshore production, recreation, etc. Another focus is the assessment of these industries’ impact on the development of the coastal areas. I demonstrate the growing dependence between the maritime economy and the economic development of Russia’s inland regions. I identify the key natural geographic, foreign economy, settlement-related, and geopolitical factors of the coastalisation of the economy, infrastructure, and population, observed in Russia today. This process is taking place in the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Sea areas, as well as in the Arctic and Pacific regions of the country. I conclude that Russia’s integration into the system of multi-dimensional Eurasian partnerships (including the Belt and Road initiative) and the ‘turn to the East’ contribute to both the further ‘marinisation’ of Russian space and the differentiation of coastal zones by the level and rates of socio-economic development.

In the EU programming period of 2014–2020, Hungary’s largest-ever transport development project, an intermodal passenger terminal (IPT), is planned to be built in Debrecen. The IPT will integrate all public transport modes operating in Debrecen in a single building, with the modes being as follows: railways, long-distance and local buses, trolley-buses and trams. In addition, by creating a large number of parking spaces for cars, and by building lanes for bicycles and pedestrians heading into the facility, the public transport and individual transport modes will be directly connected under the roof of the IPT. The IPT development will be accompanied by large-scale urban renewal projects to revitalise Petőfi square, one of Debrecen’s major public spaces, lying in front of the building. Relating to the IPT development, several feasibility studies and sustainability analyses have been performed; however, the impact of the IPT on the development of Debrecen has not previously been examined. The main goal of this paper is to examine whether IPT development contributes to the enhancement of Debrecen’s central position in its agglomeration, the strengthening of Debrecen’s competitiveness in Hungary’s urban system, the spatial decentralisation of the city’s cultural activities and how it may influence the change of Debrecen’s socio-economic factors.

Increasing demand for urban agriculture (UA) can be perceived as a global phenomenon. In some parts of the world its main function is to feed the rapidly growing population while in others it is more associated with lifestyle and environmental issues. Undeniably, UA provides opportunities for sustainable city development. UA can support all pillars of sustainable development: ecological, economic, and social. However, depending on existing circumstances certain pillars may be influenced more than others. In this paper we concentrate on urban allotments in Andalusia and take Baeza as an example of a city with an interesting approach to urban gardening. We attempt to answer the question how urban allotments in Baeza affect the city’s sustainable development and what remains to be done to make this influence more effective. Our study showed that allotment gardens in Baeza endorsed all three pillars of sustainable city development. However, developing broader community relations on the city scale, revival of declining local grocery market and dissemination of environmental initiatives which allotment gardens may also promote and facilitate was missing.

Institutional support, reflected not only in legislative solutions, but also in external funding as a means of financial support, is of strategic importance for the success of new power investments, the guarantee of energy security of individual areas, and the socio-economic development of the region where new energy enterprises are located. The present study aims to follow the external funding of biogas investments carried out in Poland, both in the aspect of legal regulations, and the offered co-financing of biogas projects. Considering that biogas enterprises are located and operate in specific places and local systems, the present research problem is tackled from the perspective of the functioning of biogas plants in the local environment. The success of biogas projects and the entire energy transformation process depends, on the one hand, on the harmonisation of activities at the central, national level and, on the other hand, on taking into account the specific socio-economic features that characterise the location of the biogas plant. Therefore, providing comprehensive institutional support for investment for biogas enterprises requires equipping local institutions, including local authorities, with appropriate instruments to shape and monitor the agricultural biogas market at the local level.