The article presents the results of qualitative studies concerning the presence of air quality management in the process of urban planning and in the public discourse in Antwerp, Belgium, and Gdańsk, Poland. We focused on the way urban planners, environmental experts, and stakeholders perceive the problem of air pollution, especially with respect to urban development policy, and whether they consider it one of the major factors determining the quality of the urban built environment. The analysis was empirically based on free, partially structured interviews with experts. With that aim, we referred to certain assumptions of the multidimensional concept of environmental protection and integrated urban planning, highlighting the knowledge gained through interview analysis, literature review, and comparative case study research. The approach brings to light the difference between the perceived and measured air quality and to what extent it is affected by the spatial conditions. The research reveals how the range of perceptions of air pollution is embedded in several sociological, urban planning, and cultural perspectives and how these perceptions differ between the different profiles of the stakeholders and experts.
The purpose of this paper is to attempt an analysis of the environmental dimension of the quality of life using quantitative surveys conducted among residents of Gdansk. In the paper, we make reference to the theoretical assumptions ensuing from the concept of a comprehensive and integrated approach to the development of the urban environment, whilst noting the profound impact humans bring to their evaluation of the environmental components. The paper focuses primarily on the inhabitants’ attitudes to the environmental values of their place of residence in relation to things such as the condition and accessibility of green areas, air quality, potable water quality and noise intensity. The surveys indicate that views on the city’s environmental values are determined by numerous factors, such as the city’s territorial structure (districts) and its demographic structure (sex, age), and psychosocial features, such as a subjective sense of mental well-being.
The article presents the findings of a survey conducted on a representative sample of the Gdańsk population. The purpose of the research was to diagnose the attitude towards the Germans and identify the stereotype of a German rooted in the respondents’ minds. Gdańsk is a geographically highly interesting area of research for sociologists pondering the sphere of national stereotypes. What makes it specific is its location ‘at the frontier’, where the German and Polish elements met for ages. The conducted research reveals that the residents of Gdańsk are in the midst of a gradual but evident process of overcoming prejudice against the Germans. The changes are driven by generation succession and expanded mutual contacts. The young were observed to be more positive in their attitudes to the Germans. The image evoked in them was increasingly less connected with the spectre of the painful history and ever more frequently with a modern and well-organised society. The German stereotype is the function of several factors. The research proves that the positive image of a German correlates with the respondents’ age and their sense of well-being in life.
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