Project: “Inventory and valuation of selected degraded and polluted areas in Warsaw - natural and social potential of wastelands” implemented by the Capital City of Warsaw in the years 2017-2019.
The list of areas subject to the study embraced 25 lands constituting over 10% of the city’s area (ca. 350 ha), which is more than the total area of all urban parks. These included lands located over the Vistula River, post-industrial sites, former forts and railway sites, as well as any and all areas of housing estates (map provided on the last page of the brochure). Warsaw’s wastelands proved to be places that need to be viewed from a different perspective - as greenery resources serving recreational purposes, but also as areas where much can be done in terms of environmental engineering to improve air quality in the city. Above all, however, wasteland greenery should be recognized as a
new form of informal urban greenery which can be shaped by citizens in a participatory process and thus perform novel social functions, either temporarily or permanently.
Wastelands:
> clean the soil and air of pollutants;
> are habitats for a variety of plants and animals, including valuable and rare species;
> are intensively used for recreational purposes;
> thanks to their aesthetics are commonly regarded as areas of unrestrained use
Publications
> The recreational potential for wastelands as well as users’ preferences for wasteland aesthetics. Case study of Warsaw is available here: https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20184500018
> The right to wild. Green urban wasteland in the context of urban planning: https://doi.org/10.2478/udi-2018-0027
>Booklet is available here
Team: dr hab. Beata J. Gawryszewska, dr hab. inż. Piotr Sikorski, dr hab. Jarosław Chormański, dr hab. Axel Schwerk, dr hab. Marzena Wińska-Krysiak, dr Izabela Dymitryszyn, dr Tomasz Duda, dr Krzysztof Herman, dr Arkadiusz Przybysz, dr Aleksandra Przegalińska-Skierkowska, dr Daria Sikorska, dr Barbara Zajdel, mgr Maciej Łepkowski, mgr Ryszard Nejman, mgr Anna Wilczyńska, mgr Martyna Cziszewska, mgr Agata Jojczyk, mgr Wojciech Mejor, mgr Jarosław Matusiak, mgr Piotr Archiciński, mgr Wojciech Ciężkowski, mgr Maciej Góraj mgr Jacek Jóźwiak
On the right: development scenarios of urban wastelands in Warsaw