Factors determining the formation of degraded areas in local government units and the effectiveness of revitalisation activities

Agata Girul

doi:https://doi.org/10.59139/stattrans-2025-037

Factors determining the formation of degraded areas in local government units and the effectiveness of revitalisation activities

Agata Girul Wroclaw University of Economics and Business, Wroclaw, Poland. E-mail: agata.girul@ue.wroc.pl & Statistical Office in Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland ORCID:https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0172-2315 Statistics in Transition new series, vol. 26, 2025, 4, pages: 15-34 Published online: 5 December 2025 https://doi.org/10.59139/stattrans-2025-037 Citation: Girul A., 2025. Factors determining the impact of the existence of degraded areas in local government units and the impact of revitalisation activities by intervention area. Statistics in Transition new series, 26(4), pp. 15-34 https://doi.org/10.59139/stattrans-2025-037

33 Views 6 Downloads

ARTICLE

(English) PDF

ABSTRACT

Modern local government units form important links in the socio-economic structure of the country and their development is closely related to the occurrence of degraded areas. This study focused on identifying the social, economic and environmental factors that determine the occurrence of degraded areas requiring revitalisation in Polish local government units. The article used unit data from a Statistics Poland survey based on the SG-01 report: Municipal Statistics – Revitalisation2. The PROFIT (PROperty FITting) multidimensional scaling program for local level territorial units was applied. The program takes into account the delimitation of rural areas based on the typology of Functional Urban Areas. The results were visualised through perception maps. Calculations and figures were made in Statistica 13. The focus on the problematic areas revealed the variety of challenges faced by local government units in their revitalisation activities. The survey was thus complemented by an analysis of the results of the undertaken revitalisation projects. The comprehensive analysis of the factors causing the degradation of areas in local government units and the effects of the revitalisation may prove important tools for rural and urban policy makers and planners in developing effective local development strategies and may have an impact on the quality of life of residents.

KEYWORDS

revitalisation, degraded areas, PROFIT, quality of life.

REFERENCES

Bock, B., (2016). Rural marginalisation and the role of social innovation: a turn towards endogenous development and rural reconnection. Sociologia Ruralis, Vol. 56(4), pp. 552–573.

Ferreira, C., Walsh, R. and Ferreira, A., (2018). Degradation in urban areas. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, Vol. 5, pp. 19–25.

Gatnar, G., Walesiak, M., (2004). Metody statystycznej analizy wielowymiarowej w badaniach marketingowych. Wydawnictwo Akademii Ekonomicznej im. Oskara Langego we Wrocławiu, Wrocław.

Jabkowski, P., (2010). O korzyściach wynikających z zastosowania analizy PROFIT. w: Praktyczna analiza danych w marketingu i badaniach rynku. Wydawnictwo StatSoft Polska.

Jadach-Sepioło, A., Olejniczak-Szuster, K. and Dziadkiewicz, M., (2021.) Does environment matter in smart revitalization strategies? Management towards sustainable urban regeneration programs in Poland. Energies, Vol. 14(15), No. 4482.

Jie, C., Jing-Zhang, C., Man-Zhi, T. and Zi-Tong, G., (2002). Soil degradation: a global problem endangering sustainable development. Journal of Geographical Sciences, Vol. 12(2), pp. 243–252.

Kalnina, M., Pelše, M., (2023). Overview of the current situation on degraded area management in Latvia. 23rd SGEM International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference 2023, Vol. 23, No. 5.1. pp. 439–446.

Kowalczyk, J., (2017). Polish model of urban renewal: formal and legal aspects of revitalisation in Polish cities. Anuarul Institutului de Cercetări Socio-Umane, C.S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor, No. XVIII/2017, pp. 145–158.

Lamb, D., Erskine, P., D. and Parrotta, J., A., (2005). Restoration of Degraded Tropical Forest Landscapes. Science, Vol. 310, pp. 1628–1632.

Leshchenko, N., Gulei, D. (2024). Complex revitalization of historically formed industrial territories in Kyiv in post-war recovery. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, Vol. 48(1), pp. 1–10.

Liu, S., Tan, C., Deng, F., Zhang, W. and Wu, X., (2024). A new framework for assessment of park management in smart cities: a study based on social media data and deep learning. Scientific Reports, Vol. 14(1), No. 3630.

Makuch, K., (2020). The impact of the sustainable development principle on the revitalisation process under the act of 9 October 2015 on revitalization. Nieruchomości@, Vol. III(III), pp. 83–93.

Mao D., Wang, Z., Wu, B., Zeng, Y., Luo, L. and Zhang, B., (2018). Land degradation and restoration in the arid and semiarid zones of China: Quantified evidence and implications from satellites. Land Degradation & Development, Vol. 29(11), pp. 3841–3851.

Mebrat, W., (2015). Natural regeneration practice in degraded high lands of Ethiopia through area enclosure. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy, Vol. 3(5), pp. 120–123.

Prince, S., D., Becker-Reshef, I. and Rishmawi, K., (2009). Detection and mapping of long-term land degradation using local net production scaling: application to Zimbabwe. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 113(5), pp. 1046–1057.

Raszkowski, A., Sobczak, E., (2018). Delimitation procedure of degraded areas and the area targeted for revitalisation. Economics of the 21st century, Vol. 2(18), pp. 30–38.

Stepina, M., Pelše, M. (2022), European Union funding support to Latvian municipalities for degraded areas revitalization. Research for Rural Development 2022, Vol. 37, pp. 233–239.

Sych, O., (2020). Revitalization as a component of urban strategy. Bulletin of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University Economic Series, No. 99, pp. 66–73.

The Law of 9 X 2015 on revitalization (uniform text Journal of Laws 2024, item 278).

Turek, A., Salach, A., Markiewicz, J., Maciejewska, A. and Zawieska, D., (2018). An example of multitemporal photogrammetric documentation and spatial analysis in process revitalisation and urban planning. GISTAM 2018 – Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management, pp. 223–230.

Wessels, K., J., Prince, S., D., Frost, P., E., Zyl and D., V., (2004). Assessing the effects of human-induced land degradation in the former homelands of northern South Africa with a 1 km AVHRR NDVI time-series. Remote Sensing of Environment, 91, pp. 47–67.

Xie, Z., Phinn, S., R., Game, E., T., Pannell, D., J., Hobbs, R. J., Briggs, P., R. and McDonald-Madden, E., (2019). Using Landsat observations (1988–2017) and Google Earth Engine to detect vegetation cover changes in rangelands – a first step towards identifying degraded lands for conservation. Remote Sensing of Environment, Vol. 232, No. 111317.

Yang, J., Yang, R., Chen, M-H., Su, J., Zhi, Y. and Xi, J., (2021). Effects of rural revitalization on rural tourism. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Vol. 47(4), pp. 35–45.

Zambon, I., Colantoni, A., Carlucci, M., Morrow, N., Sateriano A. and Salvati, L., (2017). Land quality, sustainable development and environmental degradation in agricultural districts: A computational approach based on entropy indexes. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Vol. 64, pp. 37–46.

Zheng, N., Wang, S., Wang, H. and Ye, S., (2024). Rural settlement of urban dwellers in China: community integration and spatial restructuring. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Vol. 11(1), No. 188.