Zbigniew Taylor

Abstract

This paper presents findings from an empirical study of diurnal trips made by disabled people to healthcare facilities distributedacross urban space. The study was carried out in the city of Bydgoszcz, Poland, while the subsequent analysis isbased on the authors’ inventory of healthcare facilities and interviews. Data gathered from interviews with 450 disabledpeople plus 150 able-bodied members of the same households bring out great differences in daily mobility between thetwo social categories. The daily mobility of disabled people in relation to healthcare is much more tangible than thatinvolving their non-disabled counterparts. Disabled people opt to commute further and for a longer time to the establishmentsproviding comprehensive medical services of high quality, even if the architectural availability of some of thesefacilities is unsatisfactory. In contrast, their able-bodied counterparts mostly choose general practitioners situated nearto their home areas, rather than travelling to more-distant specialists.

Keywords: disability, healthcare travel, availability, accessibility, urban space, principal component analysis, Bydgoszcz, Poland

Zbigniew Taylor [z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

This article seeks to reconstruct organizational and ownership changes affecting Polish enterprises in inland shipping since 1990. On the basis of data from various sources (above all the Polish Registry of Ships and Bulletins of Public Information), it was possible to determine the degree of advancement of the transformation processes affecting shipping companies, these first and foremost denoting privatization and partial communalization, as well as organizational changes. A particular kind of dichotomy is observable in that, while most newly-arising enti-ties are small private shipping enterprises created as former state-owned enterprises have been divided up and their vessels sold to new owners, the systemic transformation plus Poland's EU accession have also given rise to the conditions underpinning the emergence of Europe's largest shipowners (the Odratrans group), the latter dealing with carriage by barge along inland water-ways, including beyond Poland.

Keywords: systemic transformation, inland shipping, privatization, communalization, geography of enterprises, Poland

Zbigniew Taylor [z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Ariel Ciechański [ariel@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

This paper presents the transport system as a composite object whose components are transport modes together with relationships between them and other branches of the national economy. The medium that ties them together to make a system is traffic. Stripped to its essence, the main components of the system are transport modes. As in any kind of system, the behaviour of one component has some effect on, or interaction with, other components. The transport system should contribute to national economic growth by providing an efficient service to all sections of industry, agriculture and services, and by ensuring the maintenance of a reasonable level of personal mobility through public passenger facilities.The Polish transport system is marked by some specific features which will be shown at the national level in the broad context of socio-economic phenomena. More specifically, the objectives of the paper are (1) to present the changes in the volume and structure of freight and passenger traffic; (2) to explore the dynamics of transport absorptiveness in the national economy; and (3) to explain the reasons behind huge freight traffic and transport absorptiveness.Amongst all transport modes only some are well known and understood to a certain degree. For example, very little is known about road transport, dispersed in tens of thousands of firms and enterprises subordinated to many departments, organizations and central offices. What is more only part of this mode is obligatorily reported in statistics. There are no data for road freight traffic in terms of commodities carried. Thus, in some cases, we have to use estimates. Fortunately, the scope of this paper does not cover detailed characteristics of various modes of transport, unless they illustrate more general phenomena and processes.

Zbigniew Taylor [z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

Th; aim of this essay is to indicate the causes of achievement in contemporary British human geography. It is also aimed to present the author's remarks on the socio-economic geography in Poland.1 It should be pointed out, however, that the paper is not intended to make a full comparison of both countries. The author suspects that it would not be possible to make such a comparison within a necessarily short paper such as this.

For British readers, this paper presents a view of an outside observer who has a frierdly attitude to their human geography but at the same time looks at it from a distint perspective. Perhaps in some cases, this makes it possible to have a more objectve view. Therefore, the author of this paper believes that it is not 'carrying coals to Newcastle'. For Polish readers, this paper is primarily aimed to provide infornation. It may also offer some contribution to increasingly animated discussion on the present and future state of Polish socio-economic geography.

Zbigniew Taylor [z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Zbigniew Taylor [z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Zbigniew Taylor [z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Zbigniew Taylor [z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland