Search Results (3)

World economic development, technological progress, and irrational exploitation of natural resources have intensified the negative effects of economic activity, which causes more attention to be paid to environmental pollution and the deterioration of the standard of living. Therefore, over the past few years, the concept of sustainable development has experienced a period of increased interest, accompanied by changes in the attitudes and expectations of all market participants. The article attempts to analyse the relationship between air pollution and selected parameters of the residential market in Gdansk in 2010–2020. The study considered the peculiarities of the region due to its geographical location. To identify the effects of air pollution, the GLM (generalised linear models) and GRM (generalised regression models) were used with a progressive stepwise regression method. Based on the results, it was found that the existing air pollution and climatic conditions in Gdańsk have an impact on the number of apartments sold and their prices. All models were identified for the first time for monthly data, and prices were taken from the real estate sale contracts database. These indicate the advantage and novelty of the study. In addition, this paper is the first in a series of publications examining the impact of air pollution on the real estate market in Poland’s largest agglomerations. From the main model following results were obtained: (1) A statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) factor affecting the number of sales of premises above 80 m² on the secondary market is PM_2.5. With an increase in PM_2.5 by 10 µg/m³, the number of sold apartments above 80 m² decreases on average by slightly more than 20. (2) The interaction (p ≤ 0.05) of O₃ (ozone) and PM_2.5 on the number of transactions affects the secondary market of flats with an area of 60–80 m². Simultaneous to the decrease in the concentrations of O₃ and PM_2.5 is an increase in the number of sales of apartments in the given size in Gdańsk. (3) Simultaneous to the decrease in PM₁₀ and NO₂ concentrations due to the increased urban traffic is an increase in the price of 1 m² of residential premises with an area of 40 m² on the secondary market in Gdańsk. Full article

Suburbanization is a phase of the development of cities that consists in the growth of the suburban zone at the expense of the city center, which becomes gradually depopulated. The phenomenon of uncontrolled suburbanization (urban sprawl) causes infrastructural (including transport), environmental, social, economic, and legal problems. This paper presents the results of a study of the phenomenon of suburbanization conducted on the basis of vector data using two methods: one based on the use of a grid of primary square fields, and one based on the use of concentric zones/rings. The analyses were conducted in the surroundings of the Tricity agglomeration, which is located in the northern part of Poland on the Gulf of Gdansk, and covered the period from 2000 to 2018. Using a grid of primary fields, the areas of the greatest increase and decrease in the developed areas, irrespective of administrative boundaries, were determined for the selected periods, and the areas of the constant positive and negative balance of the buildings were identified. Using concentric rings, the process of the shifting of the new development zones was traced. The paper also refers to the route of the Pomeranian Metropolitan Railway (PKM), which was commissioned in 2015, and its potential impact on suburbanization in the Tricity area. The results made it possible to trace the suburbanization process in time and space and to learn the advantages and disadvantages of the use of vector data in spatial studies. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic, like an earthquake, shocked our civilization and is still having a devastating effect on our lives. Guaranteeing an appropriate level of safety in the conditions of an epidemic is a highly problematic issue due to the subjectivism of social individuals, their diverse attitudes, and past life experiences. Taking into account the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines regarding the pandemic, authorities all around the world have reacted by issuing the necessary sets of advice and legal acts. This resulted in immediate and severe implications on mobility styles. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on mobility behaviours with special regard to public transport users, in terms of their willingness to travel and their safety criteria perceptions. The city of Gdańsk, in Poland, located on the Baltic Sea, has been taken as an example. The hypothesis was as follows: the epidemic phenomenon may substantially affect mobility behaviours in terms of subjective levels of safety and the mental comfort of public transport users, resulting in avoiding this form of transport. In accordance with the survey results, carried out among the users, 90% of respondents resigned or limited their usage. Almost 75% of them plan to return to using public transport when the epidemic situation has stabilized. The others, unfortunately, have completely lost hope that public transport will ever be safe. These results indicate decisively that the future of public transport in cities, and the willingness of passengers to use it once the epidemic is over, depends majorly on the perceived comfort and safety during the epidemic. This means that transport policies should be focused on enhancing these perceptions and making sure that the image of public transport is not in further decline; otherwise, it could mean an almost impossible effort to encourage passengers to return to using sustainable modes of transport in the future. Full article