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The highway network has to grow because of the increasing vehicle use, the effort to improve road safety, and the needs generated by economic development and efficient international transport. The negative impact of the motorway on agricultural holdings in its vicinity can be determined with general agricultural land valuation methods. However, this approach necessitates an in-depth analysis of land cultivated by each farm, which is rather labour-intensive. Impact on agricultural land should be assessed after the detailed plans for constructing a motorway are ready or even after construction. Nevertheless, simplified methods can be applied as early as the preliminary design stage or when evaluating potential alternative routes. Less labour-intensive, these methods can determine the harmful impact of a motorway on agricultural land with sufficient accuracy. The simplified and automated method presented for assessing the impact of a motorway on agricultural land uses GML files to automatically acquire data for the calculations, using the linear nature of the motorway. The prepared input data is then processed to optimally place the motorway in space. The final step is the visualisation of the road investment. The process has been automated to facilitate rapid analysis and employment of the data in linear project modelling and assessments of available options.

The Polish rural cultural landscape is inherently linked to a special, centuries-old system that combines agricultural tradition and biodiversity. One of such environmentally, ecologically, agriculturally, historically, and culturally unique areas is the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. Home to small agricultural holdings, this diversified mosaic is where agricultural, husbandry, craft, and local industry experience is handed down the generational chain. Developmental changes and progress are becoming the gravest threats to the area. The purpose of the paper is to assess traditional agricultural systems in the Lesser Poland part of the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland considering landscape features, agricultural biodiversity, food and livelihood security, traditional local knowledge systems, cultural values—in particular, systems of values—and social organisations that promote them. The research shows that biodiversity is entwined with cultural diversity. The vanishing of agricultural systems due to changed socio-economic conditions and environmental overprotection is a serious threat to the biological and cultural diversity in the upland. The authors employed a SWOT analysis—a tool that can investigate interactions and determine the best development strategy—to identify relationships between cultural and biological diversity.

The main aim of this paper is to document the gradual evolution of cadastral maps and associated land books in the area of today’s Austria as well as the more dramatic development of the cadastral ...

The article attempts to define and determine the intangible components of cultural heritage related to the spatial structure of land in a comprehensive way using computational methods. The components were quantified and a method of empirical evaluation of landscape durability was proposed for agricultural areas of significant cultural and historical value with an evident mosaic structure of fields, baulks, ponds, meadows, and forests. This method allows us to identify places more resistant to political transformation and those with greater cultural potential. The paper proposed an integrated approach to the measuring of the degree of preservation of spatial arrangements in the landscape based on a set of objects that describe the spatial land structure. The article classifies areas by the degree of preservation of rural spatial arrangements of land. The spatial analysis employed facilitated a synthetic quantification of the multi-criteria process. Three groups of factors were used: spatial assessment of land-cover type persistence (u), agricultural land structure persistence (w), and persistence of settlement buildings (z). The final results pinpointed areas in need of strategic intervention to sufficiently protect the rural cultural heritage, properly consider them in zoning planning, and ensure their sustainable development. The proposed tool can be used to monitor the degree of changes in the landscape layout structure when multiple time points are analysed as well.

We explore the agroecosystem energy flows in two former communist countries, Czechia and Poland, in the two decades after the fall of the totalitarian regimes. Energetic agroecosystem productivity, i.e., the energy content of crops, livestock products per unit of area is compared to energy inputs, i.e., external inputs from society, i.e., labour, industrial inputs, and external biomass inputs and linked to land use change and demographic and economic changes. Using the social metabolism concept and the Material and Energy Flow Accounting method, our analysis looks at the system from a biophysical perspective and explores the interactions between the economic system and nature. We calculate the Energy Return On Investment (EROI) indicators and also present an easily understandable index for policy makers, the Input/Output Index. After the end of communism in both countries in 1989, they both joined the EU in 2004. Along with this, both states started the integration towards a global economy. Our main research questions are 1) to what extent does the development of the energy flows and energy efficiency depend on the political organisation and the socioeconomic conditions and 2) if it follows rather more general trends or if it depends on the socioeconomic structure of the agricultural system. In the first decade immediately after 1990, the agricultural production radically slumped in both countries together with an overall slowdown of the economic performance. The production started to grow again and stabilised in the second decade mainly due to joining the EU in 2004. The integration to the global markets raised the volume of trade by a factor of 5 in Czechia and 10 in Poland. The number of agricultural workers decreased 1/3 in both countries over the whole period. Also, the cropland has been decreasing in both countries by about 20% and production has concentrated to more fertile areas, while the abandonment of agricultural area occurred mainly in less favoured areas. Both agricultural systems underwent structural changes in respect of change of ownership, economic conditions and subsequently the structure of production. Recently, the crops of economic significance dominate and Czechia exports raw materials as e.g., cereals and oil crops, and imports mainly fruits, vegetables and processed food. Poland has become an important producer and exporter of agricultural products in Europe (fruits, meat). But this is rather an issue of scale than of gaining efficiency. Poland is less efficient in the case of its share of inputs per outputs of energy flows with 21% while Czechia is 17%. Final EROI is stable in both countries. In Czechia, it is slightly improving from 0.6 in 1993 to 1 in 2012, while in Poland, the FEROI is stagnating around 0.6. The External Final EROI has slightly improved in Czechia from 2.8 to 3.8, while in Poland, it has been continuously decreasing from 2.6 to 2.2. The Internal Final EROI shows a declining share of the biomass reused in Czechia: from 0.8 to 1.4, while keeping its volumes in Poland at the value of 0.8.

Agricultural land consolidations help solve structural problems caused by land fragmentation. The FAO classifies the impacts of land consolidation at three levels: firstly, there is the micro-level, where land consolidation aims at changing the farm structure. Secondly, there is the meso-level where land consolidation has broader aims of changing rural communities by improving the infrastructure, the natural environment, and the management of natural resources, landscape and, consequently, the spatial distribution of economic activities. Finally, there is the macro-level where the focus is on changes which can positively affect the whole country by reducing the disparities between rural and urban areas. Therefore, one of the advantages arising from the implementation of consolidations should be positive socio-economic changes in rural areas, resulting from the implementation of agricultural land consolidations. In this study, the Authors took on an assessment of the effects of consolidations at the meso-level. Another aim of the study was to identify the effects of consolidations on changes in socio-economic development of rural areas. A question was raised as to whether there is a correlation between the rate of changes in socio-economic development of rural areas and the implementation of agricultural land consolidations in this area. The level of socio-economic development was assessed based on an indicator of the rate of changes, calculated as the difference between the levels of commune development indicator for the years 2004 and 2016. In order to determine the synthetic indicator, one of the taxonomic methods, namely Hellwig’s synthetic measure of development, was applied. The study concerned communes of Lubelskie and Malopolskie Voivodeships in which both traditional and infrastructural consolidations had been implemented over an area of at least 15% of the commune’s area. The study indicates an increase in the level of socio-economic development of the communes in which traditional consolidations were implemented. The study results indicate that the implementation of traditional consolidations of agricultural land is one of the factors contributing to an increase in the level of socio-economic development of rural areas. At the same time, it was found that infrastructural consolidations understood as a corrective tool, implemented at the time of the construction of linear infrastructure projects, do not always serve their function of an improvement in the land layout in rural areas. The conducted study indicates that in the communes in which infrastructural land consolidations have been implemented, no improvement in the conditions of socio-economic development has taken place.

The article attempts to determine the effect of perceived flood risk, based on identified flood hazard zones, on the level of activity in the market of land property designated for housing developments in the historical town of Sandomierz, Poland. The study employed graphical, analytical, quantitative methods, and spatial analyses with GIS tools. The proposed methodology, involving spatial interpolation of the phenomenon (Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) and Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW)) and an expert opinion survey, facilitates the assessment of the market activity in towns where transactions are scarce. Trade in property is lower in areas at risk of flooding than for the remaining parts of the town. The potential flood hazard zone affects both the activity of the property market and the average prices of land. The study demonstrated that both a flood and flood risk affect the levels of market activity and the prices of residential land. However, this impact differs at various times and locations and is greater immediately after a flood. Properties located in the most attractive location within an area are characterised by a greater sensitivity to this risk.

The final decision of the owner of the plot who plans to build a house depends on many factors most of which are of legal and financial nature. The authors demonstrate that the decisions regarding specific location within the plot of land are influenced by intangible components as well, namely the intention to have the best view. The view is often related to the occurrence of landmarks with prominent visual impact in the landscape that determine visual connections. The rural landscape is determined by the spatial arrangement including the buildings, the shape of public spaces, ownership divisions, and the land distribution. Being an element of rural cultural heritage, the arrangement of buildings is influenced by a vast number of factors such as geographical, historical, physical, and socio-economic ones. This article focuses on determining the interaction between the settlement locations and zones with an excellent, unique view of characteristic, well-known architectural landmarks. Mapping of viewsheds of many features is a critical element of the landscape planning process and facilitates the protection of cultural heritage assets. The analysis involved LiDAR DTM (Digital Terrain Model created in Light Detection and Ranging technology), digital photographs, and historical maps. In terms of the administrative subdivision, the area comprises 20 localities. The landmark visibility analysis for locations of the buildings covered a 140 km2 area of Carpathian Foothills in southern Poland. The article combines experiences in the field of landscape architecture, spatial planning and the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology. The examples show that the modern development layout refers to the historical structure and the development of a new settlement tissue has a cultural background and is influenced by spatial landmarks.

The paper presents multidimensional interactive data charts as a tool to support presentation and characteristics of spatial phenomena. The phenomenon of socio-economic development of provinces has been analysed, as defined in multidimensional space of variables. Classification of objects was performed using the method of zero unitarization. Statistical data have been obtained from public sources, compiled in the form of a matrix, and then subjected to normalization in order to bring the tested objects to direct mutual comparability. The studies allowed us to observe great diversity in socio-economic development of regions. The analysis of line distribution of development meta-variables (indices) revealed that their biggest values concerned the group of social factors, and the smallest concerned the natural (environmental) ones. In the conclusion, it was pointed out that interactive visualizations of data complement the tabular form of their presentation, and they facilitate an analysis of phenomena in spatial terms, while showing their internal structure and also the correlations between individual objects.

The aim of the paper was to analyse the correlation between socio-economic development and the prices of undeveloped real estate, as illustrated with the example of the Zagnańsk municipality (Silesia province, Kielce district). The level of the municipality’s socio-economic development was evaluated using the zero unitarization method, by means of the normalization of 12 diagnostic variables. The analysis of unit prices of properties was performed on the basis of data from the register of property prices and values, obtained from the District Office (Starostwo Powiatowe) in Kielce. Classification of administrative units was performed using the typology method. In order to determine the correlation between the level of development, and the prices of property as well as features that describe the surveyed object, Pearson’s correlation coefficient (also referred to as Pearson’s r) was applied. It was demonstrated that improving the conditions of socio-economic development significantly affects the increase in the prices of undeveloped land.

The ongoing technological transformation, socially accepted and corresponding to the requirements, becomes relevant for regional development. Understanding this development requires an insight into the related driving forces. One of those, which has induced both direct and indirect changes to land use, and accelerated the urban growth, is the construction of motorways. Many studies have analysed the impact of motorway construction on changes in the landscape structure and urban land cover as well as in biological and landscape diversity, but relatively less attention has been paid to determining the impact of the infrastructure development on agricultural land and sustainable development of rural areas. We are of the opinion that applying hypotheses on infrastructure development (motorway construction) as a driving force derived from a case study can be a way of holding a more integrative view on regional sustainable development of rural areas, and can contribute to choosing the best variant of a motorway route. The aim of the paper is to present a theoretical framework and methodology for analysing the impact of a motorway on agricultural land and regional sustainable development. The change of land features and a decrease in their income value were determined by means of a simplified method. In the initial stage, it analyses the route of the motorway axis and determines the starting parameters, taking into account the width of the roadway, the category of lands taken over for the construction of the motorway, the layout (distribution) of plots, and the arrangement of existing roads and designed viaducts. The initial parameters were selected in order to ultimately enable the evaluation of the impact of the construction of the motorway on four main directions as well as the determination of the role of individual factors distinguished in this impact. The analysis provides a scientific basis for the understanding of sustainable development of rural areas and its protection in the spatial planning processes on local and regional levels. Establishing the changes of farms' value is necessary, among other things, to determine compensations for the losses caused by the motorway construction. It should be performed at the stage of elaborating the detailed design of the motorway, or immediately after completing the investment process.

Buildings together with related constructions and also with facilities of technical infrastructure create settlement units. A settlement network is made of interconnected settlement units that crea...

In Poland, land consolidation works are mainly carried out in the southern part of the country. In three administrative regions (voivodships): Lubelskie, Podkarpackie and Małopolskie, in the years 2004–2013, a large number of land consolidation projects were carried out compared to the national average, namely, above 20 thousand hectares in each of the regions. In other three regions (Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Zachodniopomorskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie) there have been no land consolidation projects, although research shows (Jędrejek et al., 2014) that the need for consolidation works is found in all regions. According to Woch and Głażewski (2014), one of the reasons for this is the difficulty in the implementation of land consolidation projects resulting from the need to preserve the valuable natural qualities of the environment in protected areas. The aim of the article is to analyse and assess the natural potential of individual municipalities, as well as to juxtapose the calculated indices against the area size of the already completed land consolidation works. In the article, we attempt to answer the following questions: Is there a relationship between the natural conditions of the municipalities where the consolidation work on agricultural land was carried out, and the area size of the implemented consolidation projects in the studied area? Is the impact of the natural potential of municipalities positive or negative in relation to the on-going land consolidation projects? What are the environmental conditions of the municipalities in which the consolidation of agricultural land was carried out? The study involved the query of literature on the subject. Analysis and evaluation of natural conditions was made on the basis of research following a spatial-statistical approach. The potential of the natural environment has been analysed in terms of valorisation of the agricultural production space, analysis of the forest cover (afforestation) index, and the index of protected areas. A synthetic assessment of the natural environment potential index was made, and then Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated between the calculated environmental potential index, and the area size of the completed consolidation projects. The research area comprised the Lublin region (Lubelskie voividship). Administrative unit of the municipality served as the primary entity under assessment. The units in which land consolidation projects were carried out in the years 2004-2013 were analysed in detail. Research has shown that the potential of the natural environment in the majority of municipalities in the Lublin region has been determined on the medium level. It has also been shown that there is correlation dependence between the area size of the completed land consolidation projects and the level of the potential of natural conditions. The quality of the natural environment in rural areas is potentially threatened by the intensification of agricultural production, because economic expansion may affect the disappearance of natural habitats and reduce biodiversity. Therefore, preservation of natural potential is antagonistic to simultaneous actions aimed at improving the conditions of agricultural production. On the other hand, the threat to forms of nature protection comes from the lack of modernization of infrastructure in rural areas, including sewage and waste management, which are inseparable activities in the implementation of the land management and agricultural works.

The aim of the paper is to propose methodical solutions concerning synthetic agricultural analysis of production space which consists in combined (synthetic) – in spatial and statistical contexts – analysis and evaluation of quality and farming utility of soils in connection with soils erosive risk level. The paper is aimed at presentation of methodology useful in such type of analyses as well as demonstration to what extent the areas of farming production space being subject to restrictive protection are exposed to destructive effect of surface water erosion. Own factor (HDSP.E) was suggested, which is a high degree synthesis of soil protection in connection with degrees of surface water erosion risk. The proposed methodology was used for detailed spatial analyses performed for Tomice – the Małopolska rural commune (case study). The area model elaborated for the proposed methodology’s purpose faced with soils mechanical composition allowed to make a model of surface water erosion in five-grade scale. Synthetic evaluation (product of spatial objects on numerous thematic layers) of quality and farming utility of soils and also zones of surface water erosion risk allowed to assign spatial distribution of HDSP.E factor (abbreviation of high degree of soil protection combined with erosion). The analyses enabled to determine proportional contribution of the most valuable resources of farming production space that are subject to soil erosion negative phenomenon. Geoprocessing techniques used for the analyses of environmental elements of farming production space were applied in the paper. The analysis of spatial distribution of researched phenomena was elaborated in Quantum GIS programme.

The aim of this article is to present research about some aspects of material entities that are part of the cultural heritage of Poland. The article examines characteristics of protection of this cultural heritage as expressed in activities dating from the early nineteenth century to modern times and indeed extending to the present moment which is much more digitally framed. Such activities now include some use of digital resources. In this article, special attention is paid to the fact that currently in Poland the classic analogue form of monuments registration dominates at the national, regional and local levels. A more developed digital historical monument database has great potential for progress in various ways. Apart from the fundamental function of gathering and recording information about cultural heritage, such a database also has a large information-disseminating, educational, and marketing potential. It can be used to create new digital resources for communication and presentation of cultural heritage, and for planning purposes.

The authors present the results of a comparative analysis of selected techniques and programming tools for building interactive data presentation in the form of diagrams and maps generated in the browser.The results of an inventory of land use structure, which are a part of a geographic information system database of the commune of Tomice in district of Wadowice, were employed as input data.The research has shown that the tested tools have a similar design capacity; which makes it difficult to determine which of them is the best. Different factors contribute to choosing a particular tool. They include technical specification, project budget, license conditions, technical support and visualization possibilities.

Rozwój społeczno-gospodarczy definiowany jest w przestrzeni wielowymiarowej, a jego analiza wymaga znajomości licznych czynników m.in. ekonomicznych, opisujących struktury i mechanizmy funkcjonowania gospodarki, stan środowiska przyrodniczego, a także uwarunkowania demograficzne. Z drugiej strony, proces pozytywnych zmian ilościowych i jakościowych zachodzących w sferach społecznych, gospodarczych oraz produkcyjnych ma wpływ m.in. na kształtowanie się cen gruntów rolnych. Praca ma na celu próbę analizy i oceny zależności między poziomem rozwoju społeczno-gospodarczego a średnią ceną gruntów rolnych w Polsce w latach 2009–2014. Grunt rolny został skategoryzowany w grupach: dobry, średni oraz słaby. Badania zrealizowano w oparciu o dane statystyki publicznej (GUS), a także analizę literatury przedmiotu. Do badań wykorzystano metody statystyczne oraz metodę opisowo-porównawczą. Do określenia podobieństwa pomiędzy województwami w zakresie zależności poziomu rozwoju społeczno-gospodarczego oraz średnich cen gruntów rolnych posłużono się macierzą odległości euklidesowych oraz metodą taksonomii przestrzennej. Obszar badań obejmuje Polskę w podziale na województwa. Średnia cena gruntu rolnego przyjęta do analiz (według danych GUS) stanowi m.in. podstawę obliczania przez banki kredytów inwestycyjnych.

The object of this article is to analyze and asses the legal and economic consequences arising from the adoption (or change) of a local spatial development plan. The paper also presents, based on the example of the rural commune of Tomice in the Malopolska Province of Poland, how to estimate income to the commune budget from the collected planning fees. The analyses are based on planning studies, including the local spatial development plan from 2004, and the study of conditions and directions of spatial development from 2012. The council of Tomice Commune adopted the local spatial plan due to the increasing demand for residential areas. According to the plan, over 930 acres of land have been allocated for investment purposes, which is approx. 22.4% of the total area of 4,155 ha. The local plan was developed for all the six cadastral units of the commune, with one hundred percent surface coverage. The physiographic conditions and the location of Tomice Commune encourage the settlement of the urban population (from Wadowice or Krakow), which entails the need for housing investment areas. In 2012, the Tomice Commune adopted a change in the study of conditions and directions of spatial development. The proposed re-zoning of the area is in line with the policy of transitioning from an agricultural character towards the sustainable and multifunctional development of the commune. It is worth noting that the provisions of the plan of 2004 take into account the collection of a one-time fee for the sale of real estate whose value has increased as a result of the adoption of the plan. The amount of this fee for investment areas was set at the level of 30% of the increase in value, in accordance with the provisions of the Polish Act on Spatial Planning and Management. Due to the fact that the currently valid local plan has been in effect for 10 years, it can be assumed that the commune will proceed to make some changes to it. The article estimates the potentially generated income, assuming that changes in the study passed in 2012 with regards to designating land for investment purposes constitute an indication of provisions in the future local plan.

Events associated with growing suburbanisation and transport infrastructure lead to changes in the use of rural land reaching further and further from the central city. The present research focuses on the impact of the location of the municipality of Skawina and the functioning of its rural areas in the impact zone of Krak&oacute, w. The first step to determine the transformations in the municipality of Skawina caused by the growth of Krak&oacute, w and its suburban zone was to investigate the internal conditions in the municipality, such as its spatial development or functional structure, and external conditions such as its demographic transformations. Next, the development of the settlement structure in recent years and land management changes were investigated. The paper focuses on the introduction of typical urban features and functions into rural areas to identify the transformations and their dynamics. The status of the space was diagnosed by interpreting the map documentation for the administrative boundaries of the municipality of Skawina, regarding the presentation of the spatial development in 2006 and in 2014 to 2016, by verifying the existing planning documentation, and by visiting the site. The conclusions can be the basis for guidelines to protect the traditional rural and cultural landscape near Krak&oacute, w.

Intensity of land use could be considered as an indicator of rate of anthropogenic impact on landscape (CAI) and the coefficient of ecological stability (CES). These two bio-indexes are based on the land use categories. The CAI coefficient is the ratio of the sum of percentile areas of land characterized by considerable human impact in relation to the sum of percentile areas of lands with low or none anthropogenic pressure. The CES index describes the structure of land use in one unit according to land use categories weighted by given coefficients. The calculation of the complex integral index enables to know the potential of the environment, i.e. a natural resource reserve with a structure that allows self-regulation of ecosystems and expresses the environment's resistance to bearing anthropogenic loads. The aim of the study is to analyze the historical land use changes (in the period of 1845-2016) in rural areas of Southern Poland using bio-indexes such as the anthropogenic impact on landscape (CAI) and the coefficient of ecological stability (CES). The analysis led to the conclusion about the strong dynamics of changes during this period which is largely due to the growth of the percentile areas of lands with considerable human impact especially after the historical transformation in 1989 in Poland. At the same time, the attention should be paid to the land use changes as an effect of growing suburbanization. The results of the study can be used by public authorities, citizens and governing bodies to form a system of measures to calculate environmental potential and modelling changes which ensure the environmental protection and sustainable development of rural areas. Keywords: anthropogenic pressure, dynamics of land use changes, environmental potential, environment’s resistance, rural areas, sustainable development Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.012

The developed, innovative method of estimating the impact of motorway on agricultural land allows determination of all the losses associated with the directions of this impact. The basis for the determination of losses is the analysis of variability in land use and the quality classes and location of access roads to the land along the axis of the planned motorway. The approved measure of the multidirectional impact of the motorway on agricultural land is a change in the value of land, which is designated taking into account the differentiation of their suitability for agricultural production. The developed method of determining the impact of motorway on agricultural land was presented on the example of A4 motorway section between Bratkowice and Mrowla. The existing section of motorway was assessed and then for the same section the calculations were made again, but with an alternative location of the motorway overpasses. In the case of the existing section, the construction of one kilometer of the section of motorway under consideration will result in a reduction in the value of agricultural land of 1725 cereal units. Acquisition of land for the construction of the motorway and its negative impact cover about 69% of the total reduction in value of agricultural land. The remaining 31% of the land value reduction is related to the increase in transport and the deterioration of the parcels layout. On the other hand, in the case of the section with alternative arrangement of viaducts, the value of agricultural land is reduced of 1538 cereal units. Acquisition of land under construction and its toxic impact will be equal 75%, while the combined effect of transport growth and deterioration of the layout makes 25%. Keywords: value of agricultural land, motorway impact, farm land layout Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.112

The innovative method of assessment of the motorway impact on agricultural land presented in this study allows to estimate all losses related to the directions of this impact. The basis for the determination of losses is the analysis of land use variability and bonitation classes as well as the location of access roads to the land along the axis of the planned motorway. The applied measure of the motorway's impact on agricultural land is the change in land value, at which determination only the diversity of its suitability for agricultural production is taken into account. The developed method of determining the impact of the motorway on agricultural land was presented on the example of the A4 motorway section between the villages Jasień and Bobrowniki Małe. The existing motorway section was evaluated and then the obtained data were compared with the results obtained for the alternative version of the motorway running on the same section.

Summary The rural landscape in Poland has been changing for the past several dozen years. The changes are visible in the land use and land cover. Technological progress, changes in people’s outlook and a low profitability of agriculture resulted in transformations of rural landscapes, especially in the areas of high level of land fragmentation, as it is the case in the south part of Poland. These changes are accompanied by growing awareness of environmental or cultural landscape protection related issues. Recent years have also brought new forms of environmental protection, for example the programme Natura 2000, being the result of agreements with European Union. The network of Natura 2000 cover the areas of special protection of birds, habitats, and according to the Act on Nature Conservation – areas of special interest for the Community. The goal of this form of protection is a preservation of valuable or engendered elements of biodiversity. The question arises then whether in the era of landscape transformations and changes of land cover qualifying a particular area as part of Natura 2000 network has any influence on the way of land use. The aim of the article is an analysis and evaluation of land cover changes, also in the areas covered by Natura 2000 programme, within the piedmont commune of Nowy Targ in Malopolskie Voivodeship. Moreover, a thesis is proposed that submontane lands, specifically used, due to large terrain height differences, are faced with less intense urbanization pressures and land transformations. Is it also the case of the Nowy Targ commune, covered in more than 22% by the Natura 2000 areas?

The innovative method developed for estimating the motorway impact on agricultural land allows determining all the losses associated with the directions of this interaction. The basis for the determination of losses is the analysis of the variability of land use and quality classes and location of access roads to the land along the axis of the planned motorway. Adopted measure of the multi-direction motorway impact on agricultural land is specified change in the value of land, at which determination only the diversity of the land suitability for agricultural production is taken into account. The developed method for determining the motorway impact on agricultural land is shown on the example of the planned motorway section. The construction of one kilometer of the motorway section will reduce the value of agricultural land amounting to an average of 1,350 cereal units. Taking over the land for the motorway construction and its negative impact covers about 85% of the total loss of value of agricultural land. The remaining 15% loss of the land value is associated with increase in transport and deterioration of land configuration plots. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/enviro.2017.132

Designing and implementing investment projects are activities that have a direct impact on the natural environment and pose a threat to sustainable development of rural areas. The issue of agricultural production space protection during the implementation of linear projects in Poland is often only mentioned at the design stage as the final element. The aim of the study is to propose a tool to enable an assessment and modelling of a motorway design variant in order to minimise the impact on the agricultural production space. Four indicators introduced in the modelling procedure include the loss of agricultural land, a decrease of land productivity in the vicinity of an investment project, changes in the spatial structure of areas divided by the investment, and difficulties resulting from the accessibility of areas. The superiority of the proposed method over consolidations implemented in the vicinity of a motorway is due to the introduction into projects not only of elements organising the space but also attributes that prevent the reduction of the production capabilities of the land located in the vicinity of the motorway (Module I) and, secondly, the elements decreasing the re-organisation of the space (Module II).