Long-term changes in saturation, actual water vapour pressure, and saturation deficit in Poland were studied. For that purpose, data from 48 meteorological stations covering the 1966-2020 period were used. A significant trend was found in the saturation water vapour pressure, which influences other humidity conditions. In contrast, changes in actual water vapour pressure were generally negligible. Due to a notable change in saturation water vapour pressure that determines the saturation deficit, its trend was also significant. The most pronounced changes in humidity properties occurred mainly during spring and summer, particularly in Southern and Central Poland.
Sea level changes are among the key manifestations of contemporary climate change. This review article presents the current state of knowledge regarding global and regional drivers of sea-level variability, with particular emphasis on the specific characteristics of the semi-enclosed Baltic Sea basin and the role of post-glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) processes. A review of available studies indicates that the Polish coast is characterized by an increasing trend in relative mean sea levels (RSL), which have been rising at a rate of 2 mm·yr-1 since the mid-20th century – averaging 15 cm over the last 75 years. The main causes of these changes are global factors (global mean sea-level rise – GMSL) and, to a lesser extent, coastal subsidence processes. Satellite and tide gauge data in the 21st century indicate significant acceleration in both relative (RSL) and absolutesea level (ASL) rise along European and southern Baltic coasts, directly resulting from anthropogenic climate change. Projections of further sea-level rise are deeply alarming for Polish administration. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), depending on greenhouse gas emission scenarios, the rate of RSL rise may reach 6-7 mm·yr-1– more than three times higher than from the mid-20th century to present - which further increases the risk of erosion and storm flooding for the Polish coast.
This paper examines a GIS-based methodology for assessing wine tourism potential as a tool for rural development, focusing on the wine-growing regions of Šumadija (Serbia) and Slavonia (Croatia). The proposed approach combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with a multi-criteria decision-making method based on open-source data. By applying spatial overlay, hotspot analysis, and index-based evaluation, the study identifies zones with high potential for wine tourism and developmental gaps. The WTDI (Wine Tourism Development Index) provides a transferable and replicable model for identifying wine tourism development zones in regions with limited data availability. The results revealed apparent spatial differences between the regions (urban and peri-urban areas such as Kragujevac, Aranđelovac, and Topola in Šumadija show higher tourism potential, while Slavonia displays a more balanced distribution of tourism potential, with notable hotspots around Požega, Kutjevo, and Daruvar). At the same time, both regions demonstrate a strong foundation for future wine tourism development, underpinned by improved wine quality and rich cultural heritage. However, neither region has yet reached the maturity associated with established wine tourism destinations. The WTDI model offers a scalable and replicable tool for identifying tourism development zones in data-scarce contexts. This study underscores the importance of evidence-based, spatially informed planning in unlocking the untapped wine tourism potential of rural regions. The proposed methodology offers a low-cost, replicable framework for local governments and development agencies to make data-informed decisions in promoting sustainable rural tourism.
This study examines how gender shapes solo female travel, focusing on destination desirability, perceptions of (un)safe spaces, experiences and spatial practices. Study combines an online survey of 818 women, mostly from Croatia with 11 semi-structured interviews. The findings show that perception of safety strongly influences destination choice and spatial behaviour, while women actively negotiate risk through planning, behavioural adaptation, and mental mapping. Solo travel does not eliminate fear but requires learning to manage it. Through this process, women assert autonomy, challenge gendered mobility constraints, and transform travel into a space of empowerment, resilience, and self-definition.
Large cities are generally considered more liberal than small settlements regarding parental gender division of childcare. We questioned this paradigm in a post-socialist environment where working mothers of preschoolers are perceived as the norm. The study aims to examine the gender differences among parents when transporting children to preschool, car-sharing within a household, and whether they vary across municipality size categories in Slovakia. The data were collected during the nationally representative survey via face-to-face personal enquiries in households of heterosexual cohabiting parents (n = 844). Results showed that car-sharing within households did not depend on the municipality size category; however, it depended on the number of cars in a household. In families with only one car, the car was mostly used by the father. In all municipality size categories, mothers were primarily responsible for bringing children in and picking them up from kindergarten. Yet, the proportion of responsible persons varied significantly across municipality size categories. The fathers’ involvement in accompanying children was the lowest in the smallest municipalities. On one hand, mothers in medium-sized municipalities (10,000–19,999 inhabitants) faced the least burden due to the combination of fathers’ involvement and help from other relatives. On the other hand, help from other relatives was absent in the largest cities, where mothers accompanied their children to a similar extent as in the smallest settlements. The progressive values of parents in the largest cities are not sufficient to relieve mothers of parental responsibilities.
Drawing hundreds of thousands of tourists annually, predominantly from Belarus and Russia, Brest Fortress plays a pivotal role in shaping pro-Russian consciousness. It achieves this by reviving (post-)Soviet ideological motifs and by highlighting the self-sacrifice and heroism of the Fortress’s defenders in 1941, effectively translating these narratives into contemporary anti-Western contexts. For other nationalities—Poles, Germans, etc.—this tourist product could also hold significant historical importance related to the events of World War I and II as a site of remembrance. The main goal of the paper has been to examine and assess the symbolic perception by tourists of different nationalities of the Brest Fortress—including both the Memorial Complex on the Belarusian side of the border and the Terespol Bridgehead on the Polish side.
Protected landscapes (IUCN Category V) have expanded across Europe as tools for conserving biodiversity and cultural heritage in human-shaped environments. Their growing role in local development raises questions about management priorities and stakeholder expectations. This study investigates the perspectives of three stakeholder groups – park employees, local authorities, residents – regarding the functioning of 11 landscape parks in the Małopolskie Voivodship. Using Q methodology (105 respondents), four dominant perspectives were identified, reflecting divergent assessments of the current role of parks and expectations regarding their functions, ranging from conservation-oriented to development-oriented approaches and differing in the importance attached to environmental, economic and participatory priorities. Despite divergences, broad support for landscape parks was evident. The findings suggest a need to strengthen their role in supporting local development compatible with conservation goals and foster more participatory forms of governance.
The aim of this article is to empirically identify and measure economic suburbanisation in the Wroc & lstrok;aw ag-glomeration area between 2008 and 2024. The analysis, based on REGON data, captured the physical relocation of business headquarters from the city of Wroc & lstrok;aw to the suburban zone and examined the scale and structure of this migration. During the study period, 24.1% of the increase in the number of firms in the suburban zone resulted from migration from the city, with a total of 4096 such cases identified (11.4% of all entities in the zone). The process primarily involved micro-enterprises (94.9%) owned by private individuals, with a predominance of the service sector (90.0%), particularly professional, scientific and technical activities, trade, and construction. The study confirms that economic suburbanisation constitutes a significant component of the contemporary spatial and economic transformation of Central and Eastern European metropolitan areas, exemplified by Wroc & lstrok;aw and its suburban zone.
The paper aims mostly at a qualitative analysis of the passenger railway connections between Poland and Ukraine offered since the collapse of the USSR. To this end, a four-item periodisation was proposed, based on breakthrough changes in this offer that were referred to a set of selected categories from the scope of border(lands) studies, mainly corelates of the concepts of debordering and rebordering. The analysis was based on railway schedules, expert materials, statistics of the Border Guard and the author’s own field observations. Historically, the paper finds that there have been cycles (periods) of debordering and reborderingon the studied area, driven by ups and downs in both nations’ mutual interest (shopping, smuggling, labour and war migration); as for the presence, it showcases that intensification of the train links between both states can be observed only at the national level, totally ignoring the borderland dimension. Consequently,the Polish-Ukrainian direction, as compared with Poland’s remaining neighbourhoods, is quite advanced as forlong-distance connections (macro level) and totally undeveloped as for local-regional ones (mezzo level).
The main research aim was to determine changes in synoptic conditions during rainfall incidents that led to catastrophic flood events in south-western Poland in 1997, 2010 and 2024. The synoptic analysis was based on data from the ERA5 (ECMWF-European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) reanalysis containing information on such variables as atmospheric pressure, geopotential, moisture content or direction and speed of air flow in the lower troposphere. The study also includes information on hydrological conditions on the rivers covered by the gauge stations (IMGW-PIB), specifying the height of the exceedance of the alarm condition and the number of days. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the spatial distribution and accumulation of precipitation caused by the migration of the low-pressure system from over the Gulf of Genoa was significantly influenced by the blocking high. The presence of a jet stream and atmospheric fronts associated with forming shallow lows within the main low baric center was also a supporting factor. In addition, the elevated sum of accumulated precipitation associated with the 2024 rainfall incident again signals a problem related to the rapid warming of the Mediterranean Sea, affecting the overall sum and distribution of precipitation in Europe.
Urbanization and the increasing share of impervious surfaces promote heavy metal (HM) inputs to small urban rivers, mainly via surface runoff and stormwater drainage systems. The aim of the research was to identify HM (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn) pollution in water and bottom sediments within the Bogdanka River catchment in Poznań. Samples from 28 sites were collected in March and June 2024 and were analysed using inductively coupled plasma triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-QQQ-MS). Data evaluation included selected pollution and toxicity indices and principal component analysis (PCA). The results revealed contamination of bottom sediments in the lower river course, attributed to stormwater drainage, which represents the main HM source in the catchment. Toxicity indices showed that HMs in water and bottom sediments do not pose significant toxicological risk. Additionally, PCA suggests that organic matter content and sediment pHKCl are important factors influencing HM accumulation in sediments.
This paper examines riparian forest fragmentation to assess how protection status influences the preservation of critical habitats of the Iori River’s downstream riparian zone in Georgia. It also explores external threats impacting protected forests. Using remote sensing, landscape ecology, and spatial autocorrelation methods,10-meter-resolution Sentinel-2 MSI data were analysed, and landscape- and class-level metrics were computed. The results showed that the fragmentation has decreased, mainly within protected areas, while non-protected zones remained highly fragmented. Besides, parts of the protected areas also showed an increased fragmentation.The research output, on the one hand, highlights the importance of protection but also emphasises the need for broader, integrated forest management and restoration efforts.
This study provides a comprehensive assessment of spatial disparities in transport accessibility to key urban services - kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, and workplaces - in Szczecin, Poland. Framed within the concept of spatial justice, the research examines how differences between public transport (PT) and private transport (PrT) influence both the level and equity of access to education and employment opportunities. The methodological approach combines cumulative accessibility measures with inequality metrics, including the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient. Accessibility was calculated for time thresholds ranging from 5 to 60 minutes, in 5-minute increments, using GTFS-based public transport data and Google Maps API data for car travel. The analysis incorporates age-differentiated population groups corresponding to specific trip purposes (3-6, 7-15, 16-18, and 19-65 years), enabling a socially grounded evaluation of spatial equity. The results reveal a clear and systematic advantage of private transport in both the extent and the equity of accessibility. The most pronounced disparities occur within the 20-30-minute travel time window, which is critical for daily school and work commutes. Public transport accessibility is strongly concentrated in central areas, while peripheral districts experience persistent deficits, particularly in access to workplaces and primary schools. Gini coefficients indicate higher inequality in PT than in PrT, with the greatest disparities observed in workplace accessibility. The findings highlight structural mismatches between residential areas, service locations, and the public transport network. They underscore the need for equity-oriented transport and urban planning policies to improve medium-range PT connections and reduce accessibility gaps in peripheral areas. Transport accessibility should be understood not only as a matter of efficiency, but also as a fundamental component of social equity and urban justice.
This article provides an analysis of the variability of the vegetation period (VP) and of the intensive vegetation period (IVP) in Poland in the years 1961-2020. Using average monthly values of air temperature from 55 weather stations in Poland, the VP and IVP onset-and end-dates were determined. A substantial spatial variability was found in the timing of the onset and termination of the VP and IVP in Poland. A statistically significant trend towards a longer vegetation period was also observed. The considerable extension of the VP and IVP affects the environment and human activities.
The article focuses on wine tourism in Polish vineyards, which has been developing very dynamically in recent years, and aims to look at this phenomenon from the perspective of winemakers. It seeks to explore the primary motivations of winemakers for initiating enotourism activities and to analyse potential factors that support or hinder the development of tourism functions. The study is based on quantitative and qualitative research which involved direct on-site observations, source analysis, and a diagnostic survey that included questionnaires and interviews with winemakers. The primary reasons for introducing tourism offerings by winemakers, often concurrently with the very inception of the vineyard and the commencement of wine production, are the desire to increase direct sales, promote the brand, and establish and maintain relationships with customers and the local community. Many winemakers plan to expand their tourism activities, particularly in terms of accommodation services. However, current obstacles include high investment costs (especially related to the introduction of accommodation and catering services), shortage of appropriate personnel, lack of time, and difficulties in balancing vineyard work with tourist services.
Thalli of Xanthoria parietina (L.) Th. Fr. lichen collected in locations featuring different pollutant deposit conditions in the urban space of Kielce, including those with intense vehicle traffic, low emission and alkalization from the nearby cement and limestone plant and the open-pit mine were subject to microscopic analyses. The lichen surface had cellular structures with particles characteristic of respective pollutant sources of identified shape and chemical composition (SEM/EDS). The predominant type of particles in the city includes mineral dusts containing silicon and aluminium (natural mineral weathering) and soot with carbon, sulphur and nitrogen (low emission and transport). Sharp-edged structures exceeding 20 µm made of calcium, magnesium and sulphur (cement and lime particles) accompany much smaller, round particles with ø < 5 µm containing iron, aluminium and other heavy metals (industrial fossil fuel combustion). The micrographs taken were used to build a model to create a self-learning pollutant identification system based on the activity of deep neural networks (ResNet). The trained algorithm is able to detect individual items in new micrographs with 71% result. Adding up areas of identified objects (using Euclidean equation) allows identifying their emission sources.
Accelerated technological change, particularly the rise of digital platforms, has fundamentally changed everyday activities such as mobility and consumption, with notable spatial implications, especially in urban areas. These platforms have become a prominent force in the transformation of space, giving rise to new academic fields of study, such as the sharing economy and, more recently, platform urbanism. In this paper, we offer an empirical snapshot of platform embeddedness in the urban space through a case study of a shared-use mobility platform in the Hungarian context. Using data from a ridesharing platform, we analyze the main characteristics and spatial distribution of locations that serve as meeting points within settlement borders. Our findings reveal a trend of spatial asymmetry, with meeting points predominantly located near main roads and highways – reflecting the utilitarian preferences of ridesharing participants. Furthermore, concentrations near city centers suggest a balance between functional proximity to major routes and symbolic or practical value tied to landmarks and accessibility. Notably, many of the most popular meeting points are located at hypermarkets, indicating that not only traditional transportation hubs, but also informal, non-transport-specific spaces, are being repurposed through platform use. Based on our results regarding where meeting points tend to emerge, we introduce the concept of ‘platform-attracting urban places’ to contribute to the conceptualization of the spatial impact of digital platforms on urban environments.
The research examines how tourists experience the German-Polish maritime border as a symbolic boundary which exists beyond physical separation because of memory, movement, and meaning. The research addresses a gap in border and tourism studies by using a qualitative-dominant mixed-methods approach to analyse 116 tourist narratives through the lenses of the bordering-debordering-rebordering concept, liminality and emotional geography. Tourists experience the border as an invisible yet tangible presence which serves as a historical reflection zone with fluid identity and ambiguous emotional responses. By theorising concepts like floating thresholds and symbolic permeability, the study reconceptualises maritime borders as dynamic spatial imaginaries in post-Schengen Europe.
The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of promoting territorial cohesion as an EU Treaty objective after 2027. It identifies emerging challenges that must be addressed and outlines the fundamental components of a new EU cohesion framework. Furthermore, it examines the process by which these elements should be integrated into the EU Multiannual Financial Framework beyond 2027. The paper presents some new and forward-looking proposals, including the establishment of a new coordination mechanism translating overarching EU goals into local and regional implementation efforts. It provides a snapshot in the EU debate on the future of territorial cohesion initiated and promoted by the Polish Presidency of the EU Council and supported by Polish and foreign scientists in 2023-2024. This article is exploratory and reflective in nature and is intended to serve as inspiration for further discussion. It is based on a review of research on the cohesion policy, as well as on the authors’ expert knowledge.
Polycentric urban regions encompass centres that function both independently and as parts of an integrated whole, which presents a challenge to their functional integration. This study investigates how regional naming captures a specific dimension of this integration: residents’ regional identity and attachment. Based on a survey conducted among 3,084 residents of Poland’s eight largest urban regions, the analysis indicates that the name of a region can serve as a symbolic vehicle of meaning, shaping spatial perception and fostering residents’ sense of connection. As such, constructing narratives around the region’s name can become a tool for supporting integration processes within polycentric urban regions.
