Geographia Polonica (2016) vol. 89, iss. 4

Abstract

Interaction potential represents a significant phenomenon affecting economic, political and social sphere to a large extent. One of the possible interaction potential is population potential which is the object of our study. The purpose of this article is to analyse population potential and its impact on population redistribution in the long-term historical context. We point out some implications in the changing nature of population potential in the last 50 years as well as insight into its future trajectory. Research focuses on Stredné Považie,one of the traditional industrial regions in Slovakia, where population potential is molded by this historical orientation.

Keywords: population potential, spatial interactions, region Stredné Považie, accessibility, distance

Michal Klobučník, Department of Human Geography and Demography Comenius University in Bratislava Ilkovičova 6, Mlynská dolina, 842 15 Bratislava: Slovakia
Lucia Máliková, Department of Human Geography and Demography Comenius University in Bratislava Ilkovičova 6, Mlynská dolina, 842 15 Bratislava: Slovakia

Abstract

The study of economic resilience represents a relatively new subject of debate within the framework of regional studies. Here, the author first presents the evolutionary approach to resilience, and within it the agency perspective; before refocusing on the macroeconomic policy pursued in Poland, which is deemed to have spared the country and many of its regions from the recession otherwise experienced so widely during the crisis in Europe. The author then turns to a characterisation of eight European regions, including one in Poland, describing the actions taken and strategies pursued with a view to counteracting the negative effects of the crisis, andbuilding economic resilience to future events of the same kind.

Keywords: economic resilience, evolutionary approach, agency perspective, economic crisis, Poland, European regions, Pomorskie region

Grzegorz Masik [grzegorz.masik@ug.edu.pl], Department of Socio-Economic Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Gdańsk Bażyńskiego 4, 80-309 Gdańsk: Poland

Abstract

Second homes used for recreation are widespread, in Russia they are located mainly in the suburbs. Our research is aimed at contributing to the debate on environmental impact of second homes. We focus on the issue of household waste management drawing empirical evidence from Moscow oblast’. The paper proposes a spatial analysis of remote sensing data concerning the number and localization of illegal landfills and tests the spatial relation between illegal landfills and second home settlements. The significant number of identified illegal landfills and their location reflect the inefficiency of region’s waste management system and population’s low environmental awareness.

Keywords: second homes, suburban development, illegal landfills, Moscow oblast’, Russia

Maria Gunko [msgunko@igras.ru], Institute of Geography Russian Academy of Sciences Staromonetny pereulok 29, 119017 Moscow: Russia
Andrey Medvedev, Institute of Geography Russian Academy of Sciences Staromonetny pereulok 29, 119017 Moscow: Russia

Abstract

This paper has sought to give some insights into the means of transport used by the 38 largest tour operators seated in Poland. The research is based on in-depth analysis and uses data from a number of tourism and transport sources. Results indicate a great concentration of the servicing of organised tourist traffic within a relatively small number of wholesalers. Basically, the effects of air carriers to date are hardly to be overestimated, and this is especially true of an assessment of recent developments as regards charter flights from/to Poland. Coaches play a much lesser role in the servicing of organised mass tourist traffic, while other means of transport (cruise ships, railways) are used only occasionally. Overall, the analysis carried out characterises the country’s leisure travel market as one which is only at the early stages of maturity.

Keywords: transport for tourism, passenger carriers, airlines, coaches, cruise ships, railways, tour operators, package holidays, tourism-exporting economy

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 examines the aesthetic consequences of recent changes in the rural landscape of Slovak-Austri an borderland. By the use of panoramic pictures and their photomontage we focused on landscape structure, abandonment, suburban fabric and the presence of wind turbines in the rural landscape. A secondary aim of the study was also to recognize some factors behind the different perception preferences. Above all we would like to draw attention to the issue of aesthetic qualities of rural landscape.

Keywords: rural landscape, visual quality, perception of diversity, Slovak-Austrian borderland

Gabriela Nováková, Department of Human Geography and Demography Comenius University in Bratislava Ilkovičova 6, Mlynská dolina, 842 15 Bratislava: Slovakia
Dušan Šebo, Department of Human Geography and Demography Comenius University in Bratislava Mlynská dolina 1, 842 15 Bratislava: Slovak Republic

Abstract

This article seeks to present Polish achievements where research on the subject of shopping centres is concerned. The Polish research in this sphere is found to be both interdisciplinary and located within the sphere of interest of economists, sociologists, urban planners and geographers, among others. It is often therefore hard to determine which studies can be considered geographical. Are these ones dealt with by geographers, though often drawing upon the research of other academic disciplines? Or studies led by other researchers, but incorporating a geographical context? The subject of the development of modern commercial spaces (supermarkets, hypermarkets, discount stores, shopping centres, etc.) only appeared in the academic studies of Polish geography in the late 1990s, i.e. the time during which shops representing parts of foreign chainstores began to develop rapidly on the Polish market. In the Polish literature on shopping centres, the issues discussed most often concern the introduction of foreign investments into Poland, location (and relevant location factors), impacts on the functional and spatial structure of cities and urban renewal processes in what are mainly post-industrial areas, methods of spending free time, and the role and appropriation of public space. It is clear that the issue has not yet been exhausted, and that many challenges remain for the scientists, including geographers, who are willing to face them. One of the author’s tasks is therefore to inspire and encourage geographers to explore further these new spaces that have appeared and are continuing to appear, not only within the functional and spatial structures of cities, but also in suburban areas.

Keywords: shopping centre, geographical research on commerce, the influence of the shopping centre, hybrid space

Agnieszka Rochmińska, Faculty of Geographical Sciences University of Łódź Kopcińskiego 41, 90-142 Łódź: Poland

Abstract

Intermediate social housing in France constitutes a segment of housing with regulated rents with incomeeligibility limits that are higher than in standard social housing, giving access to wider group of households.It is at aiding middle income households retain accessibility to housing, especially in cases of tight real estatemarkets, or to infuse a social mix. Using the database on social housing in 2014 and the population censusof 2011, this article explores the distribution of intermediate social housing at departmental and communallevels in the Paris metropolitan area and the range of landlords who manage this stock. Secondly, it investigatesmore indepthly the role of intermediate social housing in the communes which are perceived to be sociallydifferentiated. Finally, this paper provides different explanations for the phenomenon of rent reductionin intermediate social housing.

Keywords: intermediate social housing, housing policy, middle-income households, Paris metropolitan area

Magdalena Górczyńska [mgor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Marta Derek, Department of Tourism Geography and Recreation University of Warsaw Krakowskie Przedmieście 30 00-927 Warsaw: Poland

Magdalena Górczyńska [mgor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

This study presents mapping of Poland on the basis of a synthetic index of spatial accessibility to administrative and settlement centres of three categories, i.e. voivodeship (capitals of the country’s 18 province-regions), sub-regional and poviat (i.e. the capitals of county-level administrative units). Temporal accessibility by means of private car was referred to, on the basis of the author’s own traffic speed model, while the starting point for the map work was isochrone analysis carried out for the centres of the three aforementioned categories. Results were then summed using an original algorithm that weights different categories of accessibility to the urban centres in relation to the latter’s demographic potential.

Keywords: temporal accessibility, spatial accessibility, transport accessibility, accessibility indices, proximity, peripherality, settlement hierarchy, Poland

Przemysław Śleszyński [psleszyn@twarda.pan.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN