ESPON describes the process of urbanization in Poland
18:52
On average, an area the size of more than 250 football fields is developed in Europe every day, and Poland remains one of the EU's most rapidly urbanizing countries. What is worrying, however, is the lack of a long-term spatial development plan for Polish cities, taking into account the quality of life of residents of new housing estates and the current demographic trends, according to the international ESPON SUPER study, in which scientists from the University of Warsaw were involved.
The most surprising observation resulting from the conducted study is not the fact that the continent is progressing urbanization, but the dizzying pace of this process. In the period between 2000 and 2018, as much as 1.25 million hectares of natural, green, and agricultural land were converted into built-up areas. 37 percent of this space is occupied by industrial and service infrastructure (business parks, shopping centers, offices), 35 percent by residential, 17 percent by transport, and 11 percent by municipal greenery.
"In the analyzed period of 2000-2018, Poland was the third country in the entire EU in terms of the intensity of the urbanization process. In some areas, especially around the largest Polish cities, this process reached the rate of over 20,000 sqm per day," Dr. Katarzyna Wojnar, long-term coordinator ESPON National Contact Point, pointed out.
