Pedestrian accessibility of services as a measure of territorial cohesion at the neighbourhood level

Authors

  • Lukasz Damurski Chair of Urban Planning & Design and Settlement Processes, Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9384-9075
  • Jacek Pluta Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław
  • Wawrzyniec Zipser Chair of Urban Planning & Design and Settlement Processes, Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2020-0022

Keywords

territorial cohesion, neighbourhood, accessibility, services, public transport, pedestrians

Abstract

Territorial cohesion, despite its initial ambiguity, has been successfully implemented in national and regional policies across the EU. However, its operationalisation on the local level remains a major challenge. This paper asks whether pedestrian accessibility of services and public transport nodes can be used as a measure of territorial cohesion at the local level. The presented research was conducted in 2016–19 in five neighbourhoods in Poland representing various settlement contexts: large cities, medium-sized towns and suburban areas. It adapted particular indicators of territorial cohesion established by ESPON to the neighbourhood scale. The highest levels of territorial cohesion expressed by users’ satisfaction were achieved in a neighbourhood in a medium-sized town, whereas in geographical terms, territorial cohesion reached higher levels in large cities. Despite those differences, the proposed research method based on pedestrian accessibility offers quantifiable and comparable results on territorial cohesion on the neighbourhood level.

Author Biographies

Lukasz Damurski, Chair of Urban Planning & Design and Settlement Processes, Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

Łukasz Damurski - urban planner, associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland (since 2006). His research interests focus on local (neighbourhood) service centres, relationship between online and offline services, public communication and citizen participation in urban planning. He has conducted numerous research projects funded within grant programmes from the European Commission, Polish Ministry of Science and National Research Centre Poland. Since 2014 he has been a member of the Editorial Review Board in the International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR). His works – papers and books on various aspects of urban planning theory and practice – are characterised by a wide, political and axiological perspective. Currently he is working on a multi-disciplinary project on conversion and hybridization of services, i.e. the shift of traditional urban services to the internet.

Jacek Pluta, Institute of Sociology, University of Wrocław

Jacek Pluta, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Wroclaw. His research
interests are focused around the field of sociology of culture, urban sociology, social problems, quality of life
and entrepreneurship. He specialises in preparing and implementing methodologies in applied social sciences
(CAPI, PAPI, FGI). As an expert he widely cooperates with public authorities, NGOs and market actors in
social policy, social services culture and free time organisation. He is a director of many research projects,
including Ogólnopolskie badanie sytuacji, potrzeb i możliwości osób niepełnosprawnych (2008–2010), Strategie
sukcesyjne polskich przedsiębiorstw rodzinnych (2012–2013), Czynniki rozwoju przedsiębiorczości
na lokalnym rynku pracy (2005–2007), Ewaluacja Europejskiej Stolicy Kultury Wrocław 2016 (2016–2017),
Analiza funkcjonalna osiedli (2015–2016), Wrocławska diagnoza społeczna (edycja 2010, 2014, 2017), Strategia
Kultura Obecna! (2017), Strategia Wrocław 2030 (2018). He is an author and co-author of books: Atlas
problemów społecznych Wrocławia (2006), My, Wrocławianie. Społeczna przestrzeń miasta (2006), Problemy
społeczne w przestrzeni Wrocławia (2010), Stare i nowe problemy społeczne wielkiego miasta (2010), City and
Power – Postmodern Urban Spaces in Contemporary Poland (2018).

Wawrzyniec Zipser, Chair of Urban Planning & Design and Settlement Processes, Faculty of Architecture, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology

Wawrzyniec Zipser, Ph.D., urban planner, assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture at the Wroclaw
University of Science and Technology. He was born in Wroclaw, although his family roots reach cities important
for urban planning: Lviv and Prague. He has graduated from the newly-launched Spatial Management
(one of the first two in Poland) at the Faculty of Architecture of the Wrocław University of Science and Technology
where he obtained his doctoral title in 2005 based on a dissertation about the impact of large-scale
retail on shaping the city structure. He works as a teacher and researcher at the Department of Urban Design
& Planning and Settlement Processes at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology. He deals mainly
with the problems of settlement processes: on a local – regional scale, uses simulation tools and spatial information
systems

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Published

2020-09-01

How to Cite

1.
DAMURSKI, Lukasz, PLUTA, Jacek and ZIPSER, Wawrzyniec. Pedestrian accessibility of services as a measure of territorial cohesion at the neighbourhood level. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series. Online. 1 September 2020. Vol. 49, no. 49, pp. 31-48. [Accessed 17 November 2024]. DOI 10.2478/bog-2020-0022.

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No. 49 (2020): September

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