Greenbelts – Planning Instruments and Landscape Structure – a European Perspective

Since 100 years the concept of planning tools addressed to control the urban sprawl has concentrated on open space protection around metropolitan cities. This has been applied using various green structures i.e.: belts, hearts, wedges or system of protected open spaces. The common element of these tools to control the urban sprawl is open spaces protection. Numerous applications in different natural and economic conditions create great potential for planners to adapt the concept (Cieszewska 2012, Cieszewska, Adamczyk 2014). Open spaces that preserve unbuilt part of metropolis fulfil four main functions: productive, environmental, recreational and ecological. The main question posed by the authors of this paper is how has the metropolitan region that applied greenbelt concept achieved the ecological function. We analysed eleven metropolitan areas where the greenbelt concept has been already applied, or where there is an intent to adopt the aforementioned concept in order to find out a potential of ecological function in planning polices and landscape structure. The studied metropolitan regions are: Berlin, Frankfurt, Copenhagen, London, Manchester, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna, the Randstad – the green heart of the Netherlands, and Warsaw, as the only case where the grennbelt concept is planned

Tourism attractiveness of the landscape of Mazovia in Poland ‒ an untapped potential for bicycle tourism development

The region of Mazovia in Poland helps meet the growing demand for recreational areas, which is related to the existence of large urban centres in the region and the ever-increasing trend towards an active lifestyle. This paper demonstrates the potential of Mazovia in terms of bicycle tourism, discusses the state of the existing bicycle infrastructure and outlines prospects for its development. For that purpose the authors: 1) summarised the spatial distribution of natural values important for cycling and the condition of cycling infrastructure; 2) examined the relation between the values of the Mazovia region and their use for cycling; 3) checked the state of the bicycle routes network in the Mazowieckie voivodeship in relation to other voivodeships. This study shows that Mazovia has a considerable potential for cycling tourism and recreation on both a regional and local scale for short-term and short-distance trips. On a supra-regional scale, the Mazovia area offers excellent conditions for establishing transit routes between regions of the highest tourist attractiveness in Poland. However, the above-mentioned potential is at present partially untapped, the likely reasons for which have been indicated in this paper

Urban agriculture and 'early birds' initiatives in Warsaw

The article concern on application of the idea of urban agriculture in Poland. The concept has notyet been widely recognized in Poland , that is why the emerging practitioners and their initiatives can thus verywell be named as ‘early birds’. To capture general views on UA, similarities and differences in opinions and toformulate possibilities for UA in Warsaw we organized a workshop with representatives of main UA organizationsin the Polish capital as well as representatives of the City Hall. The workshop tasks reflect different topics as:identification of UA, aims of UA, location of UA, the future of UA, opportunities and barriers for UA development,and the role of local authorities in UA development. To conclude, the UA activities represent in Warsaw promotemostly the social and ecological aspects with the role of UA in the protection of open green space in the city.Professional production in the city linked to job creation is currently not seen as of great importance. The most UAforms in Warsaw are related to allotment gardens and agricultural holdings

Martin Luther and Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (“Outside of the Church There is No Salvation”): Did Luther Really Abandon Cyprian?

... careful study of the Luther’s writings reveals that, while he repudiated many Catholic ways of understanding and conducting church, and while he attempted to harmonize ecclesiastical structures and sacramental theology with the foundational principles of Protestantism, he was essentially unable to break away from medieval modes of thinking. Notwithstanding his rejection of the Catholic emphasis on the visible church, he struggled to free himself from reliance on institutional structures for salvation. Ultimately, Luther affirmed the necessity of the visible church for salvation. In His wisdom, Luther believed, God had decreed the church to be the means of grace, without which no one could be saved. As a result, while a person could be in the church and unsaved, the option of not being in the church was not open to those who were predestined for salvation by God. Abandoning the church was a sure sign that one had not been among the elect. While each of the Reformation’s solas represented some form of reaction against medieval Catholic soteriology, the fact that Luther’s soteriology developed within the context of Augustinian monergism resulted only in providing an alternative theological foundation for the Catholic doctrine of extra ecclesiam nulla salus. Such a vision of the church was congruent with the social and political milieu of early 16th century. While beginning well, Luther’s Reformation ultimately defaulted to its ecclesiastical and cultural surroundings

Strategic planning of forest recreation and nature tourisme

In an increasingly urbanized world more and more people are turning to our forests and woodland for recreation and tourism. Planning and providing for this growing demand poses challenges that need to be addressed by managers and designers alike. Based on a study of forest recreation from across Europe, the editors bring together the expertise of more than eighty leading professionals and academics to provide a clear and concise guide to best practice. Case studies and careful research give a detailed insight into the issues that forest recreation raises, from strategic planning to integration into the existing rural economy. This chapter, being the first in Part Ill, is intended to demonstrate how the materials presented primarily in Part II can be applied to the strategic aspects of recreation and nature tourism planning in Europe. As well as the aspects brought from Part II, other requirements and issues will also be covered such as the likely effect of different drivers of leisure and recreation that are currently affecting society across Europe and are likely to set the scene for the next couple of decades, as discussed in Chapter I. Likewise, the ways that people participate in forest recreation and nature tourism vary from one European region to another, based on a number of factors which together can be called 'forest culture'. Given the benefits and values of recreation identified and demonstrated in Chapter 2 in Part I, it is also worth examining how strateg1c planning can use the evidence of these in order to target supply of recreation where there is likely to be most benefit to society.European Science FoundationCOST E3

An Approach to Assessing the State of Organic Waste Generation in Community Households Based on Associative Learning

The purpose of this work is to substantiate the approach to assessing the state of organic waste generation by households of a given community, which is based on passive production observations and intellectual analysis of statistical data, which ensures consideration of the factors and features of organic waste generation, as well as the development of qualitative models for forecasting their receipt. To achieve the goal, the following tasks were solved: the analysis of the state of organic waste generation by households in the EU countries was performed; an approach to assessing the state of organic waste generation by households of a given community is proposed; based on the use of the proposed approach, and models for assessing the state of organic waste generation of households in a given community were substantiated. The hypothesis of the study is to substantiate and use an approach to assessing the generation of organic waste by households in individual communities, based on the method of association learning and search for association rules, which will identify factors that have a significant impact on the volume of organic waste generated by households, the consideration of which will improve the accuracy of forecasting models and improve the quality of management of the processes of collection and processing of this waste in communities. The research methodology used allows for the use of data mining, probability theory, mathematical statistics, machine learning technology, and the Associative Rule Learning (ARL) method. Based on the use of a reasonable algorithm, they identify key trends and relationships between the factors of organic waste generation in communities in different countries, which is the basis for creating accurate models for predicting the volume of collection and processing of this waste in communities. The study found that the largest number of households produced organic waste per capita in the range of 0.14–0.25 kg/person. At the same time, most households have from two to four residents and are located on the adjoining territory from 350 m2 to 680 m2. Based on the method of learning associative rules, it was found that there are no close correlations between individual factors that determine the daily volume of organic waste generation by households per capita. The highest correlation coefficient between the type of housing and the income level of household residents is 0.13. The number of residents and the occupied area of the adjacent territory have the greatest impact on the daily volume of organic waste generated by households per capita. The substantiated associative rules of relationships, as well as the diagrams of relationships between factors, have helped to identify those factors that have the greatest impact on the volume of organic waste generation. They are the basis for creating accurate models for predicting the volume of collection and planning the processing of this waste in communities. Based on the proposed approach, Python 3.9 software was developed. It makes it possible to quickly carry out calculations and perform a quantitative assessment of the state of organic waste generation by households of a given community according to the specified rules of association between the volumes of organic waste generation and their factors. The results of the study are the basis for the further development of models for accurate forecasting of the collection and planning of the processing of organic waste from households in communities