Bożena Degórska Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland bodego@twarda.pan.pl TRANSFORMATION OF RURAL AREAS INTO URBAN AREAS WITHIN THE WARSAW METROPOLITAN AREA IN THE EARLY 21 ST CENTURIES IGU CONFERENCE 2010
STUDY AREA The research was conducted in the Warsaw Metropolitan Area, outside Warsaw and covers the periods from to and to 2008. Communes were the basic units of the study ( 115 units in total, including 77 rural units).
Introduction The conducted studies concern the land-use transformation within the Warsaw Metropolitan Area during the EU preaccession period of Poland and the first. Major aims were to determine land use changes: to identify main areas of transformations and regularities of these changes with a particular focus put on the influence of road distance from the core of Warsaw as well as on the quality of soils expressed by quality index of agricultural productive area and finally to distinguish the commune types in terms of similarities regarding landscape transformation. Political-economic transformation which began in Poland in 1989 triggered the intensification of the urban sprawl. Spontaneous building development began spreading into the more distant areas from Warsaw.
LAND USE CHANGES OF THE URBAN COMMUNES Non areas versus area URBAN AREA URBAN AREA URBAN AREA 2008 29% 34% 41% 71% 66% 59%
LAND USE CHANGES OF THE RURAL COMMUNES Non areas versus area 3% 4% 2008 7% R 97% 96% 93%
IMPACT OF THE DISTANCE FROM WARSAW CENTRE Non areas versus area 2008 10 10 10 < 21km 21-30km 31-40km 41-50km > 50km < 21km 21-30km 31-40km 41-50km > 50km <21 km 21-30 km 31-40 km 41-50 km > 50 km
LAND USE CHANGES OF THE URBAN COMMUNES Farmstead built-up area versus URBAN AREA URBAN AREA 8% URBAN AREA 2008 5% 92% 95%
LAND USE CHANGES OF THE RURAL COMMUNES Farmstead built-up area versus 3% 4% 2008 7% R 97% 96% 93%
IMPACT OF THE DISTANCE FROM WARSAW CENTRE Farmstead built-up area versus 2008 10 10 10 < 21km 21-30km 31-40km 41-50km > 50km < 21km 21-30km 31-40km 41-50km > 50km <21 km 21-30 km 31-40 km 41-50 km >50 km
TYPOLOGY OF WMA LANDSCAPE CHANGES Type B - areas of relative landscape stabilization Type A areas of landscape synanthropisation with a division into 3 sub-types: A1 very intensiv synantropisation A2 intensiv synantropisation A3 low synantropisation Type C - areas of landscape renaturalization
CONCLUSIONS During -2008 the most dynamic increase in the s was observed in zones lying 31-40km and <29km from the centre of Warsaw. Referring to geographical directions of land use changes the transformation of rural areas into urban areas is of much more intensified character in the southern and western part of the Warsaw Metropolitan Area (WMA), which is connected with the biggest competitiveness of those communes. Area of category of land use in = 10 Geographical directions of urbanization referrs to the directions of the main connection between WMA and other metropolitan areas of Poland and the EU. High-quality of soils and substantial noise connected with the proximity of the airport are found not to hamper the urbanization process. Mazovia Landscape Park, as well as Vistula River constitute threats to eastern directions of urbanization process respectively and the Kampinos National Park to northern-western direction. However, the proximity of the forests constitutes the factor attracting residential built-up. It is urban spraw that is nowadays perceived as the biggest threat to the sustainable development of the WMA.