Michael A. Niedzielski

Abstract

While the pre-1989 urban structure in the Polish capital city, Warsaw, was well diagnosed pre-1989,existing spatial structures virtually disintegrated in the wake of adjustments to free-market conditionsfollowing the collapse of communism. The work described here has thus sought to investigate how thechanges in spatial structure alluded to have affected Warsaw’s post-1989 accessibility patterns. Specifically, use has been made of gravity-model-based indicators, disaggregated by commuting mode, inexamining the intra-urban differences in job and worker accessibility. Data analysis is based on the 1998Comprehensive Transport Survey conducted in Warsaw. Results show that residential and employmentaccessibility for both automobiles and public transport exhibits a concentric though irregular patterndeclining in intensity with increasing distance from the central area. Overall, the patterns indicate thedominance of the central area in the urban structure, with variations in accessibility by mode and similargeographical extents of accessibility of both modes.Key words: accessibility, commuting, journey-to-work,

Keywords: accessibility, commuting, journey-to-work, urban spatial structure, Warsaw.

Michael A. Niedzielski [m.niedzielski@twarda.pan.pl], Department of Geography, The Ohio State University, 1036 Derby Hall, 154 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Przemysław Śleszyński [psleszyn@twarda.pan.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN