Urban Land Use Planning

Published in: Origin Spatial Development of Contemporary Poland in Łódź University Geographical Research, edited by T.MarszałUrban land-use planning is still one of the key questions in research conducted by the Faculty of Geography at the University of Łódź. The particular character of works conducted in Łódź derives from the strong emphasis which is put on their practical application; the basis of many publications is the need to solve emerging practical problems. It also means constant cooperation with local administration, urban planners and other people involved in the practical activity, which is easier thanks to the fact that many members of the local administration staff are graduates from the Faculty of Geography in Łódź. A serious difficulty in preparing this chapter laid in choosing appropriate publications which, due to the limited capacity, were chosen subjectively and selectively, and were classified ambiguously. An indisputable gap was left in reference to the data and research results that had never been published. Nevertheless, they constitute a great number of works created by staff members of the Faculty of Geography, adding up to over 30%. 1 It is also worth mentioning that many studies have been carried out as responses to particular needs of certain organizations, or ordered by local or national administration, as well as state institutions involved in land-use planning in Poland. The cooperation is usually temporary, based on handling particular works and achieving specific goals. They result in preparing e.g. development strategies (e.g. in towns of Inowrocław and Uniejów), projects of new administrative division (dividing Łódź into local units, delimitation of the Łódź Voivodship), land use inventory (e.g. in Aleksandrów Łódzki), city revitalisation conceptions (e.g. Pabianice), experts’ reports on changing administrative borders (Szadek, Skierniewice), cooperation of metropolitan areas (Łódź and Warsaw) and many more. Undoubtedly, the above proves the great value of the competences of the Faculty of Geography staff members

Local Development and the Role of Small Towns in Space Organisation in Contemporary Poland

Published in: Origin Spatial Development of Contemporary Poland in Łódź University Geographical Research, edited by T.MarszałThe majority of small towns are undertaking efforts to redefine their role and position in the spatial structure of the region through finding new opportunities for growth and for improvement of local communities’ living conditions. The choice of appropriate growth strategy based on the right diagnosis of the situation, taking advantage of the opportunities and mobility of the local community will be decisive for the position of each town in the settlement network. Activation of small towns must take place on many planes – direct efforts to forward socio-economic growth and improve spatial development should be accompanied by increased environmental awareness. The main positive effects of the past two decades of transformations in small towns include greater sense of responsibility for the neighbourhood and enhanced quality of urban space, particularly the improvement of urban infrastructure and housing conditions

Lodz – an attractive place for Japanese FDI

Autor artykułu na wstępie opatruje Łódź przydomkiem „miasta nowych możliwości”. Przekonanie to wynika z kilku ważnych charakterystyk Łodzi: (1) korzystnej lokalizacji; (2) istotnych projektów infrastrukturalnych podejmowanych w ostatnim czasie; (3) zachęt inwestycyjnych, szczególnie wobec strategicznych inwestorów zagranicznych; (4) powstawania nowych sektorów działalności; (5) rozwoju bazy naukowo-badawczej oraz kulturalnej miasta. Leżąca na przecięciu autostrad A-1 i A-2 Łódź rozwija system dróg szybkiego ruchu, modernizowane są ponadto połączenia kolejowe, a międzynarodowe lotnisko im. Władysława Reymonta otworzyło już trzeci terminal. Od paru lat realizowane jest wielkie przedsięwzięcie „Nowe centrum Łodzi”, będące jednym z największych infrastrukturalnych programów publicznych w Europie. Obejmuje ono przede wszystkim budowę bardzo nowoczesnej, szybkiej i wielopoziomowej kolei podziemnej. Koszt tej inwestycji, a zarazem renowacji, szacowany jest na ok. 550 mln dolarów amerykańskich, a ponad połowa tej kwoty będzie sfinansowana za pośrednictwem Unii Europejskiej. Miasto liczy na duże inwestycje zagraniczne, stosując środki pomocy publicznej (np. zwolnienia z podatku dochodowego itd. dla firm w Specjalnej Strefie Ekonomicznej), a ogólnie ich wartość jest wyższa niż przeciętna w Polsce. Urząd Miasta uruchomił specjalne Biuro Obsługi Inwestora, które zatrudnia także Japonkę, bezpośrednio współpracującą z potencjalnymi inwestorami z Kraju Kwitnącej Wiśni. W drugiej części artykułu M. Włodarczyk wskazuje na pozytywne zmiany w profilu rozwojowym Łodzi – nasze miasto odchodząc od produkcji przemysłu przetwórczego, przede wszystkim branży włókienniczej, w coraz większym stopniu angażuje się w rozwój gospodarki opartej na wiedzy i na usługach. Jako centrum outsourcingowych procesów biznesowych (BPO), Łódź specjalizuje się głównie w fi ansach, księgowości i technologiach informatycznych. Wzrasta jednocześnie produkcja artykułów gospodarstwa domowego, rozwija się biotechnologia i elektronika. Tak dynamiczne zmiany w Łodzi i regionie związane są w dużej mierze z działającym tutaj silnym środowiskiem naukowym Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego i Politechniki. W dynamiczny rozwój miasta wpisuje się organizacja wielu imprez kulturalnych o ogólnokrajowym i międzynarodowym znaczeniu. W podsumowaniu należy stwierdzić, że przedstawiona przez autora artykułu „oferta” promocyjna miasta stanowi znakomitą propozycję współpracy dla obcego, w tym japońskiego, kapitału.The organizers of the conference wish to acknowledge the National Bank of Poland’s generous funding of this publication

Germanification, cultural mission, holocaust: theatre in Łódź during World War II

No abstract available

GIS in the Studies of Łódź Geographers

Published in: Origin of Relief of Central Poland and Its Anthropogenic Transformation in Łódź University Geographical Research, edited by. E.Kobojek, T.MarszałThe scientific community of geographers in the University of Łódź uses GIS for scientific research to a different extent, mainly as a tool for spatial analyses of the subject of their studies. They include both socio-economic geographers and physical geographers

New communication practices on the radio and in the audiosphere

For the past decade or so, internet radio, podcasts, mobile sound apps, and digital libraries of audio content have enjoyed increasing popularity among researchers and receivers of culture. Radio, similarly to other traditional media, often experiments with the opportunities offered by the new media technologies enabling the emergence of new communicational practices. As a starting point, I consider the contemporary audiosphere, which constitutes the auditory part of the audio-visual culture, and the influence of technological changes on radio communications, artists, and receivers. I attempt to answer the question, what happens at genre fringes? What are the characteristic features of the emerging forms? How, when one is faced with new technology, the multimedia world, and virtual reality, can one reach a reflection on the fiction and non-fiction genres on the radio? The expansive character of new technologies is often the source of inspiration for that which is traditional, thus renewing the object of its study. The inclusion of new phenomena within the widely understood auditoriness has a rescuing nature for traditional forms, and, at the same time, offers new opportunities for creators, and thus an area of research for literary scientists, media scientists and literary critics

The Origin And Development Of Social Geography In Poland, With Special Emphasis On The Centre Of Geographical Studies In Łódź

Published in: Society and Space in Contemporary Poland in Łódź University Geographical Research, edited by T.MarszałThe formation of social geography in Poland should be considered with reference to internal and external determinants of its development. Contemporary research problems, the treatment of research methodologies and theoretical concepts are undoubtedly closely related to the models stemming from the Anglo-Saxon geography. However, it is worth noting that while social geography abroad is part of extensive ideological and evaluative discussions, Polish social geography represents the behavioural trend under string influence of neo-scientistic methodology, which is caused by both the cognitive conservatism of the researchers and the prevailing social structure of Polish scientific community. The existing consensus based on models accepted in early 1980s and motivated by concession (selective) access to information is still hard to overcome. The dominance of quantitative methods and the lack of a broader theoretical (philosophical) reflection maintain mental clichés cause the research problems of social geography, both in theoretical sense and in the number of active researchers, to be taken over by other branches of science that are stronger in terms of theory, such as sociology, social anthropology or economics. The current reorientation of socio-economic geography towards spatial economy and management is, in our opinion, a kind of return to the known cognitive and methodological contents characteristic to the old economic geography in a new packaging and using modern research technologies (computers). The simultaneous lack of willingness to perform in-depth theoretical reflections (also characteristic of the entire Polish socio-economic geography) and the failure of social geographers to undertake major research challenges could lead to a crisis of this discipline in the institutional structure, followed by the regression in research, both in Poland and Łódź. We should hope that over the years, when the political, social and economic transformation is at last completed in Poland, full openness to ideas and free exchange of thoughts between geographers with various views will finally emerge. It seems that it could become an impulse to undertake new theoretical and methodological challenges and to solve the growing socio-spatial problems in the country

Conzenian Tradition in Polish Urban Historical Morphology

The scientific heritage of M. R. G. Conzen, who is considered one of the most outstanding historical geographers and urban morphologists in the world, has made a huge impact on the contemporary urban historic morphology. Nowadays it would be very hard to imagine this scientific discipline without his achievements. He created a new point of view on the city, first within the Anglo-Saxon, and afterwards within European and world geography. Morphogenetic methods, the conceptualisation of historic development, terminological precision as well as cartographic analysis that were typical of his approach, more and more often were considered essential for the development and the role of research on historic urban landscape. This resulted in the increasing interest in morphological studies on an international scale. In Poland, M. R. G. Conzen’s opinions have become recognizable since 1960, finding permanent place in urban historic morphology and providing stimuli for its significant development in the following decades

Distribution of endangered and protected species of synanthropic plants in Łask

The article presents description and distribution of protected and endangered species of synanthropic plants found in the Łask area in 2001-2002. The research was carried out with the use of a cartogram method. As a result, ten species of protected plants were found in the researched area, four of which under strict protection, and six under partial protection. Eight out of the ten protected species are in the danger of extinction.Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę

Mała rzeka w przestrzeni miejskiej – ewolucja relacji na przykładzie Łodzi

The aim of this article is to present the relationship between an industrial city and a small river within the last 200 years and the contemporary development and functions of rivers and valleys. The study was conducted in Łódź (currently nearly 699,000 inhabitants). In the 19th and in the early 20th century, the spatial development of the city also caused considerable transformations of rivers and their valleys. It was only at the turn of the 20th century, i.e. after the fall of the textile industry and a rise of the focus on ecological structures within a city, that the authorities decided to repair the utilisation of rivers and valleys.Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie relacji zachodzących między miastem przemysłowym a małą rzeką w ostatnich 200 latach oraz współczesne zagospodarowanie i funkcje rzek oraz dolin. Badania przeprowadzono w Łodzi (obecnie około 699 tys. mieszkańców). W XIX i w pierwszej połowie XX wieku rozwój przestrzenny miasta był przyczyną ogromnych przekształceń rzek i ich dolin. Dopiero pod koniec XX wieku po upadku przemysłu i promowaniu ekologicznych struktur w mieście podjęto prace naprawcze w zakresie zagospodarowania rzek i dolin