Łukasz Kowalski

Summary:

A fight for souls? Sport in socialist Polish cities – the case of Krakow, Lodz and Wroclaw.

The article examines relations between sport and socialist authority in a context of urban space. The focus is put on the role played by sport in 1945-1989 in Poland, influence of national and urban policies on sport infrastructure, types of sport facilities
and their location in urban space within this period. Historical maps of Krakow, Lodz and Wroclaw, history of these cities and sport clubs located there were analysed.
After the World War II big Polish cities experienced heavy urbanisation, industrialisation and population inflow. Sport became a factor integrating new, diverse society. Furthermore, it was used as an instrument of propaganda by socialist authorities.
The authors give examples of positive and negative effects of state intervention into sport. Among positive aspects the growth in participation in amateur sport and development of sport infrastructure can be mentioned, whereas lack of modernisation of sport facilities, favouritism
of certain sport clubs, closures or changes of names of the others, as well as forced transfers
of players are some of negative effects.
The authors present the distribution of sport infrastructure in urban space and diverse tempo of its development. Particularly intense investments into sport infrastructure took place in 50’s, 60’s and 80’s in Krakow, in 70’s in Wroclaw, as well as in 1956-1960 and 70’s in Lodz . The main determinants of new objects localization were: city level politics, network of formerly built facilities (old cores of concentration, settlement patterns), vast spaces (especially in the context of large sport complexes). Unequal distribution of sport objects and diverse accessibility (especially concerning settlements built in 70’s and 80’s) contradict the socialist postulate of sport’s universality.
The shortages of sport infrastructure are reflected in the contemporary “space of sport” of Polish cities.

In 2010 only about 50% of children aged 3–6 years in Małopolska region attended kindergartens. Such low index is to some extent an effect of the supply-demand mismatch. The problem becomes even more vital in the context of recent changes in education law.
The introduction of obligatory attendance to kindergartens for 5-years-old and postponement of obligatory attendance to schools for 6-years-old children will probably contribute
to increase in demand for places in kindergartens.
The paper presents a model of location of new places in pre-school institutions
in Małopolskie voivodeship. The authors based the model on potential model. The spatial accessibility to places in kindergartens was analysed in the context of contemporary demographic changes in Małopolska region (mainly in terms of natural increase and net migration rate). All statistical data used in the potential model were reduced to centroids
of municipalities. The euclidean distance was used. The authors assumed that 90%
of journeys to kindergartens take place on distances shorter than 5 km, 99% – on distances below 10 km.
Analysis of demographic indicators in municipalities enabled authors to identify
15 most optimal locations for kindergartens in terms of population changes. Comparison
of these demographic data and spatial accessibility to kindergartens creates basis
for estimating future demand for places in such institutions.
The presented model is supposed to serve as a location tool, both for private investors and local governments.

ABSTRACT Management and development of bicycle network is a challenge for big Polish cities. Sufficient data about cyclists, their daily trips and problems is lacking. The authors used internet survey to map places perceived by cyclists as problematic. During 2 months 532 persons have responded, mapping 1 235 spots and 1 140 sections requiring repairing and improvement in reference to bicycle traffic. This dataset was completed with 1 174 respondents’ comments and 1 085 investment suggestions which facilitate interpretation of messages. Generally the most important problems were: for spots – dangerous intersection – 32%, for sections – places where vehicles drive too close bikers – 25% and bumpy surface – 22%. Problems were concentrated at the busiest city’s intersections and roads where cyclists were conflicted usually with car drivers – organization of bicycle traffic was defec tive. It is difficult to analyze such a big dataset at the level of a city – each spot has it’s unique characteristic. In order to find places of the highest concentration of necessary improvements the authors used point and line density maps. Later they analyzed in detail 6 hotspots, using information provided by respondents. Applied methodology of mapping problems in bicycle network by its users, proved to be good and effective. In a very short period we gathered big, reliable set of data, which was easy to interpret. Studying of the urban infrastructure based on the users participation will improve managing of cities in the future, not only with reference to the bicycle’s issues.