Planning Recreation around Water Bodies in Two Hard Coal Post-Mining Areas in Southern Poland

Abstract

Green and blue infrastructure is a unique aspect of sustainable development in post-industrial and post-mining cities. The article examines the issue of the characteristic post-mining lake district in one of Europe’s largest urban and hard coal mining regions—the Katowice Conurbation in Southern Poland. This article aims to clarify the conditions and problems of developing post-mining water bodies as an element of blue and green infrastructure, with a particular focus on the issue of developing recreational functions. The latter aspect was analyzed using extensive CAVI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview)/CATI (Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing) surveys conducted among residents, in-depth stakeholder interviews, and strategic and planning document analysis. This research confirmed that residents and local authorities treat post-mining reservoirs as necessary for creating green and blue infrastructure. Recreational functions were perceived as one of the elements of urban policy, in which the preservation of valuable ecosystems created around reservoirs has the same place. An essential element of the research findings is also the typology of post-mining reservoirs presented here, which allows for a better understanding of the development dilemmas of these areas in a highly urbanized and post-mining area.

Shaping a model of transformation in a huge centre of zinc and lead smelting: case study of Szopienice district in the city of Katowice (Poland)

“…• soil pollution in a significant part of the area in question, • the district's relatively unfavourable image among Katowice residents, • the large proportion of industrial and functionally derelict areas in the district's spatial structure (Strategia rozwoju miasta…, 2015;Studium Uwarunowań…, 2012;Kantor-Pietraga et al, 2023).…”

“…In this part of the district, another significant problem is the course of the administrative borders of two more cities, Sosnowiec and Mysłowice, which divide the area of the local anthropogenic lake into three parts. In the Szopienice area, the lack of coherence between the activities of the local authorities in relation to the area is apparent, while at the same time the consistency of objectives is indicated in the Master Plans (Kantor-Pietraga et al, 2023) These discrepancies stem from the differences in wealth between the three cities, the priorities of the municipal authorities, and also the inability of the Upper Silesian and Zagłębie Metropolis (GZM Metropolis) authorities to implement such projects at the operational level.…”

“…Over the past two centuries, many mining regions have formed a specific polycentric settlement network, which morphologically started to form industrial urban conurbations, such as the Ruhr in Germany or the Katowice conurbation in Poland (Blotevogel, 1998;Wehling, 1998;Knapp et al, 2006;Szymańska, 2013;Krzysztofik, 2021). Contemporary discourses on post-coal regions focus on issues such as: climate change (Unruh, 2000;Pearson & Foxon, 2012), just transition (Frolova et al, 2019;Kazak et al, 2023;Drobniak, 2023), post-mining management brownfields (Pediaditi et al, 2010;Rahmonov et al 2020;Pytel et al 2021;Turečková et al, 2022), economic competitiveness (Harfst & Wirth, 2011;Klusáček et al, 2018;Kantor-Pietraga et al, 2023). Publications devoted to these issues are an important element in understanding the socio-economic and spatialinfrastructural changes in (post-)mining regions.…”

How Does Blue Infrastructure Affect the Attractiveness Rating of Residential Areas? Case Study of Olsztyn City, Poland

“…Water bodies attract residents and tourists [24] due to their esthetics while simultaneously constituting a source of income and wealth for the communities in their surroundings [54,55]. Recreation in natural environments, both direct (e.g., swimming, boating, windsurfing) and indirect (as a focal point of picnics, walks, or other nature-related activities), can improve human health through physical activity [56,57].…”

“…(2) What are the indicators that determine this impact? Answering these questions will expand understanding, provide methods, and offer useful tools for assessing the functional and landscape attractiveness of residential neighborhoods in the context of SDG 11. In the subject literature, six primary functions of water bodies are distinguished: ecological, recreational [24], educational, social, economic, and esthetic [25]. The topology of this classification can be applied to both natural and anthropogenic water bodies.…”