The right to wild. Green urban wasteland in the context of urban planning

Abstract

In the authors’ view, the existing urban planning system is not favourable to the temporality and variability of urban wastelands, which complement traditional urban greenery through a range of functions such as; gardens, meeting spaces, places to walk the dog etc. Consequently, the aim of the paper is to investigate functions and possible scenarios for the development of urban wastelands in Poland. The methods used in the research include a comparative assessment of wasteland case studies from Warsaw and Tarnów and a comparison of possible development scenarios based on case studies from different cities across Europe. Wastelands were researched to establish their location, their functions, the distance from inhabited areas and the types of other green areas located within a 5 min. isochrone from the surrounding housing area. Case studies of development scenarios were researched to establish their changing functions, the continuity of design and the algorithm of creation. The authors conducted qualitative interviews, mapping, inventories of territorial marks (makeshift benches or other constructions made by users showing the way they ‘own’ the area), investigation of local development plans and literature reviews to gather the data used. The collation of results has led to the creation of a ‘wastelands toolkit’ – a tool dedicated to urban planners and decision makers.

Green Infrastructure in the Time of Social Distancing: Urban Policy and the Tactical Pandemic Urbanism

“…A growing body of research shows a scientific consensus on the importance of parks and urban greenery for health and well-being [73][74][75][76][77]. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic underlined the importance of informal, semi-natural spaces in the city and their ecological services provisioning [78][79][80][81][82][83]. Informal green space (overgrown brownfields, 'wild' riverbanks, road reserves etc.)…”

Carabid Beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) Response to Soil Properties of Urban Wastelands in Warsaw, Poland

“…Researchers [59] raised awareness of the need for a more theoretically nuanced and historically grounded focus on the intersections between urban ecology and culture in the contemporary city. Other researchers [5] emphasized that urban wastelands, after not having been used for many years, have spontaneously generated their own social and natural values, which should be taken into consideration at different levels of planning. In order to increase the potential of the areas, the strategy of phytoremediation, that is, the use of plant species to combat alterations in environmental conditions, can be of interest [60].…”

“…A major dilemma regarding big cities is that, on the one hand, their population density is very high and inhabitants demand space for many different purposes, such as new housing areas, space for recreation, or economic purposes but, on the other hand, vacant natural areas are scarce [4]. Therefore, urban wasteland (abandoned and unmaintained areas in a city [5]) is of special interest for city planners [1,5]. The significance of urban wasteland, including urban post-industrial areas, for nature conservation, has been discussed for decades [6][7][8].…”

“…Warsaw is the biggest city in Poland. It suffers from a rapid increase in population and strong urbanization pressure [5]. In 2020, Warsaw had a population density of approximately 3372 residents per square kilometer [21].…”

Tourism and rewilding: an introduction – definition, issues and review

“…However, while the general relationship between wild areas and tourism and recreation opportunities is well noted (Cerqueira et al, 2015;Saarinen, 2016Saarinen, , 2019Saeþórsdóttir & Hall, 2019), there is a surprising lack of specific studies of rewilding and tourism. In addition, urban rewilding provides a number of significant urban ecosystem services including urban biodiversity conservation (Lawton, 2019;Sweeney et al, 2019); ground water recharge and improvements in water, air and soil qualities; and economic and aesthetic services such as greenspace (Anderson & Minor, 2017), health benefits (Mills et al, 2017) and informal recreation (Hall, 2013;Kaae et al, 2019;Nejman, Łepkowski, Wilczyńska, & Gawryszewska, 2018;Rupprecht, Byrne, Garden, & Hero, 2015;Rupprecht, Byrne, Ueda, & Lo, 2015).…”