Changes in spatial discontinuity in settlement patterns in the Czech-Polish border area : a case study of Těšín Silesia

The paper presents a discontinuity-based analysis of the settlement pattern changes in the Czechia–Poland cross-border historical region of Těšín Silesia. An approach based on a well-known and popular method (regression discontinuity design) was applied to measure spatial discontinuity. To describe the spatiotemporal changes, a combination of spatial, statistical and cartographic methods was used. The observed differences have been developing for more than 150 years; at the start, this area belonged to the territory of one state, and later it was divided by a national border. The division of the region resulted in areas following different development trajectories

The wildland-urban interface in Poland reflects legacies of historical national borders

Context The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is an area where houses are located near wildland vegetation. As such, the WUI is a focal area of wildfire risk, human-wildlife conflicts, and other human-nature interactions. Although there is a wide consensus on the impact WUI existence might have, little is known about the WUI spatial determinants over long periods, especially in countries with long settlement history. Objectives Our goal here was to map the WUI across Poland, and to quantify the extent to which historical legacies shape current WUI pattern, since Poland is one of the countries, which experienced substantial political changes over time, which had an impact on historical settlement development. Methods We analysed a database of nearly 15 million building locations and a 10-m Sentinel-2-based land cover map to produce a country-wide WUI map of Poland. Then we compared the WUI pattern among parts of Poland which belonged to different political entities in 1900s and 1930s and also among different ecoregions. Lastly, we verified the effects of the historical borders or landscape units borders on WUI patterns with a discontinuity analysis. Results We found that a substantial part of Poland is WUI, and over 60% of all buildings are in WUI. However, WUI patterns differ considerably across the country, and WUI hotspots are located around the largest metropolitan areas in central and southern part of Poland and in the Carpathians. Furthermore, WUI patterns reflect pre-1945 national borders indicating long-term legacies of past settlement patterns and urban planning approaches. Diversity among ecoregions was much less pronounced than among past political entities. Conclusions Our work shows that current WUI pattern is to large extent shaped by former political conditions, which is likely true not only in Poland, but also in many parts of Europe and elsewhere where settlement history goes back centuries

Spatial cross-border discontinuity in settlement pattern on Czech-Polish borderland

IGA PrF 2022 02

Spatial cross-border discontinuity in settlement pattern on Czech-Polish borderland

IGA PrF 2022 02

Influence of COVID-19 on night-time lights in Czechia

Night-Time Light (NTL) satellite imagery is widely recognized and valued as a powerful tool for spatial analysis and research. Despite its global popularity, there is absence of similar studies dealing with NTL intensity in Czechia. Using VIIRS/DNB data, our study focused on analyzing the changes in night-time light intensity before and during the coronavirus restrictions. These restrictions had a substantial impact on social and economic life, particularly during the peak of pandemic, affecting not only Czechia but also other regions worldwide. A mosaic of the study area was prepared, followed by the aggregation of the original raster data to municipalities with extended power (MEPs) and calculation of the average light index (ALI). The resulting typology made it possible to identify regional differences in NTL intensity. The main hypothesis was confirmed, it was observed that the ALIexhibited a decrease of 18% in 2020, whereas in 2021, the decline averaged at 9%.</p