To balance interests among local communities and increase awareness of the need to protect the environment, landscape and spatial order, there is a need for active participation, cooperation and mutual learning of participants in the planning process, including urban planners, specialists from other disciplines (among others, ecologists, landscape architects and surveyors), local authorities and residents. This article presents the problems associated with housing development in suburban areas within the context of rules for sustainable development, and spatial and social justice. It presents an assessment of the spatial configuration of plots and the possibilities for development and management of these in the selected communes located in suburban area of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. A methodology was developed for the preparation of planning documents in the commune, allowing the minimization of the problem of spatial injustice resulting from the flawed structure of registered plots.

Limited mobility and restrictions in social life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic changed people’s recreational behavior and made them seek more contact with nature. As a result, the provision of new recreational spaces in the vicinity of cities gained importance. In conditions of social distancing, rural and suburban areas can be an attractive alternative to individual short-term tourism, satisfying the need for recreation and mental and physical health restoration of urban residents. In the study a methodology for assessing the tourist and recreational potential of the area (METPRET) concerning the recreational behaviors identified in the pandemic was proposed. It includes the Recreational Potential Index (RPI), which comprises four criteria: landscape values and socio-economic conditions; environmental protection; air quality; transportation accessibility. The application of the methodology is exemplified in the Mazovia Voivodeship, Poland. The research allows the determination of characteristics that potential recreation areas should have under pandemic conditions. The RPI makes it possible to select new rural and suburban areas attractive for short-term tourism. Designating additional recreational areas may contribute to the dispersion of users in existing green areas in cities, which is particularly important during a pandemic.

Rural areas have been subjected to constant transformations for centuries. The current state of the settlement network and image of Polish space has resulted from a number of political and legal transformations along with economic and social processes. With the development of civilization, the factors determining the location of new residential building developments and the function of rural areas have changed. The importance of non-agricultural production functions and consumption functions has currently increased at a cost of a declining share of agricultural production. The objective of the study was to determine the degree to which the structure of cadastral parcels restricts the possibilities of development of different functions in rural areas. The research was conducted in the Nasielsk commune. Planning documents were analyzed to determine the directions of development of the commune. The structure of all of the commune's cadastral parcels was analyzed to determine their surface areas and shapes. The layout of selected agricultural farms was determined, with a consideration for the area of the farms, the number of parcels, their surface areas, and their shapes. According to the research, the defective structure of cadastral parcels largely restricts not only the development of agriculture but also the rational management of parcels allocated for building development. Moreover, it facilitates a natural forest succession, which is favorable from an environmental point of view but undoubtedly constitutes an obstacle in the use of arable land.

The aim of this article was to analyze planning documents-a study of the preconditions and guidelines of spatial development of communes and local spatial development plans-in the context of regulations related to the division into building plots. The analysis was carried out on the examples of selected communes near Warsaw, and planning documents from the years of 1995-2016 were evaluated. This analysis has shown that the issue of land consolidation and the secondary divisions of plots is omitted in studies of the preconditions and guidelines of spatial development. Only exceptionally adjustments are made to the existing parcel divisions in the local plans. Most of them are adapted even when they are not suitable for new functions. It is up to the owners of the properties to make their way of sharing, including internal communication. The rules for the division of land into building plots are mostly in the form of postulates. The minimum plot area was established by a single planning regulation. The minimization or lack of planning regulations in this subject may lead to defective spatial structures, costly in the eventual future process of improving utility standards. There are-on analyzed areas-not only individual plots developed in this way but even entire quarters, cut by a grid of long and narrow streets, serving plots that are difficult to be properly built.