Aleksandra Lewandowska

Przemiany społeczno-gospodarcze w wielu regionach Polski są obserwowane od 1989 r., a zintensyfikowane po wstąpieniu do Unii Europejskiej. Istnieją jednak regiony o szczególnym potencjale rozwojowym, choć nie w pełni wykorzystanym. Przykładem jest Wielkopolska Wschodnia, która jako obszar górniczy dopiero teraz intensyfikuje swoje działania w kierunku zrównoważonego rozwoju. W ostatnich latach powstało szereg dokumentów strategicznych, które wskazują konieczność przemian ukierunkowanych na zrównoważony rozwój, a w szczególności na neutralność klimatyczną oraz sprawiedliwą transformację tego regionu. Wobec powyższego celem artykułu jest analiza i ocena społecznej perspektywy zrównoważonego rozwoju Wielkopolski Wschodniej. Przeanalizowano zatem zarówno dokumenty strategiczne, jak i zapytano mieszkańców, co sądzą o obecnym i przyszłym kierunku rozwoju Wielkopolski Wschodniej. W świetle badań wykazano, że Wielkopolska Wschodnia ma ogromny potencjał do przemian w kierunku zrównoważonego rozwoju, jednak zdaniem jej mieszkańców nie jest on w pełni wykorzystany. Mieszkańcy oczekują zmian społeczno-gospodarczych w regionie, lecz nie chcą ponosić bezpośrednich kosztów transformacji. Ponadto sprawiedliwa transformacja wzbudza wśród mieszkańców więcej obaw i niepewności. Dlatego w przyszłości największym wyzwaniem będzie prowadzenie odpowiednich działań informacyjno-promujących oraz z zakresu edukacji ekologicznej mieszkańców.

Contemporary cities should be developed based on concepts grounded in ecology and sustainable development. The eco-city is one of such concepts which emphasises the role of hydrological resources, especially small-scale retention, in environmentally- and user-friendly spatial development.Pro-environmental concepts are manifested mainly as provisions reflecting the above principles in the strategic documents of cities. The aim of this article was to verify the hypothesis postulating that in “Studies of the Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development” (SCaDSD) [in Polish: “Studia uwarunkowań i kierunków zagospodarowania przestrzennego” – SUiKZP], which are the fundamental strategic documents for Polish cities, the approach to small-scale retention is diverse and often insufficient from the “eco-city” perspective. To achieve the research goal, SCaDSDs were analysed in a comparative study (7,061 data records for spatial planning and small-scale retention were analysed). The study demonstrated that in SCaDSDs, small-scale retention solutions are diversified both quantitatively and qualitatively, which may hinder the implementation of the eco-city concept in terms of small-scale retention. SCaDSDs focus primarily on the protective and cleansing roles of retention, including protection against flood risk and access to clean water which is a basic human need. SCaDSDs should offer a multi-functional approach to retention and thus fully implement“eco-city” principles. This is a particularly important consideration because the role of strategic planning documents is to provide up-to-date directions for the sustainable development for modern cities.

Nowadays, the pace of social and economic development is constantly growing, which has led to many negative effects. In order to stop this negative impact, reference should be made to the assumptions of sustainable development (SD), and young people – Generation Z – should be considered its main promoters. The main objective of this article is to present Generation Z’s perception of sustainable development in Poland. A Computer-assisted web interviewing survey (CAWI, N=1172) was conducted to understand the basic demographics, general issues, SD in a daily context, and SD-related knowledge in 936 cities of Poland. The results have shown that Generation Z in Poland recognises the social and inclusive role of SD. Cost of commodities, social disparities and conflict, and disrupted economic growth were identified as the emerging challenges for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Polish cities.

The leverage of the public narrative created and maintained by the media as a highly influential social actor is decisive, but also sensitive, in bringing about the energy transition and advancing towards a low-carbon economy. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has potential to slow down and deform the public acceptance of the above-mentioned processes as it is likely that the priorities of individual governments will be revisited and tailored to tackle the ongoing health crisis. We are replying to such a threat with this study that aims to reflect on the immense role of media in shaping a low-carbon economy in transitional economies. We are using Poland as an illustrative example to demonstrate how wide, colourful, and sometimes even confusing the low-carbon narrative might be. By means of employing the horizon scanning of the diverse types of media, we detected that media overwhelmingly affect and deform the ongoing discussions about the nuances of energy transition and benefits a low-carbon economy. We argue that political preferences of individual journalists (and publishing houses) in Poland tend to influence the style, depth, extent, and quality how the topic is covered and narrated.

Sustained growth in the number of urban dwellers means that matters concerning the development of modern cities are not only a challenge for current residents, but a global test for the entire population. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and assess social awareness regarding sustainable development, with particular emphasis on matters concerning the circular economy. The study was conducted by means of the CAWI (Computer Assisted (Aided) Web Interviews) method on a sample of 389 respondents from Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. The results imply that although the society has a correct understanding of sustainable development and the circular economy, there is still a continuing need to support further education due to the necessity for wider and more intensive implementation of sustainable development in practice.

The main principles of the smart city concept rely on modern, environmentally friendly technologies. One manifestation of the smart city concept is investments in renewable energy sources (RES), which are currently a popular direction in urban transformation. It makes sense, therefore, to analyse how Polish cities are coping with this challenge and whether they are including the implementation of RES facilities in their development strategies. The aim of the article is to analyze and assess the level at which renewable energy facilities are being implemented or developed in the urban space of cities in Poland as a pillar of the implementation of the smart city concept. This goal is realized on two levels: the theoretical (analysis of strategic documents) and the practical (analysis of the capacity of RES installations, questionnaire studies). The study shows that renewable energy installations are an important part of the development strategies of Polish cities, and especially of those that aspire to be termed “smart cities”. Moreover, it is shown that the predominant RES facilities are those based on solar energy.

Celem pracy jest wyjaśnienie specyfiki i ocena zielonego budownictwa w Polsce w kontekście procesu certyfikacji budownictwa ekologicznego. Ponadto w opracowaniu podjęto próbę określenia czynników tak społecznych, jak i ekonomicznych, które przyczynią się do rozwoju tego typu budownictwa w Polsce. W pracy również omówiono zróżnicowanie przestrzenne w skali województw lokalizacji budynków posiadających certyfikat budownictwa ekologicznego, a także wskazano strukturę zielonego budownictwa w Polsce. W celu realizacji zamierzonych zadań badawczych posłużono się głównie danymi z Polskiego Stowarzyszenia Budownictwa Ekologicznego. W pracy wykazano wzrost liczby wydanych certyfikatów budownictwa ekologiczne, co świadczy o rozwoju tego typu budownictwa. Stwierdzono też znaczne zróżnicowanie przestrzenne zielonego budownictwa w skali kraju. Wykazano również, że zdecydowana większość budynków, które otrzymały certyfikat budownictwa ekologicznego jest zlokalizowana w dużych miastach w Polsce.

Effective water and sewage management is one of the most important enablers of sustainable urban development. In Poland, water and sewage management has been undergoing systematic transformation since the 1990s. This process intensified with Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004. The aim of the work is to analyse and evaluate water and sewage management in cities in Poland in terms of sustainable development. This was made possible by selecting seven variables from which a summative index (SI) was calculated. The analysis revealed a number of positive changes that have occurred in this field. These were mainly: a decrease in water consumption in households and industry, and an increased share of wastewater treated biologically or using enhanced nutrient removal in total wastewater. An increase in SI was found in 98% of the researched cities. The largest improvement in water and sewage management took place in cities of populations below 100,000 and little industry, and in three large cities, namely Warsaw and Szczecin.