An activist of two big traditions. Skaryna and Ukraine Scholarly research of Francysk Skaryna legacy has been initiated by J.V. Bacmejster in 1776 and V.S. Sopikow in 1813. Further research conducted in the XX century by Alexander Bilecki, Pavel Popov, Yaroslav Isayevich, U. Anichenko and contemporary studies of Halyna Kovalchuk, Alexandr Nauvov, Mariola Walczak-Mikolajczak and others demonstrate how important were Skaryna’s activities on the border of two big traditions. In this context it’s worth to focus on a topic “Skaryna and Ukraine” in all its depth: biographical, publishing, polygraphic, academic, bibliographical. Ukrainian episode in Skaryna’s life and his birth town of Polotsk is related to the cult of Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk who established the fi rst female monastery and is considered a patron of female monasticism of Rus. Polygraphic context of Skaryna’s activities is tied to Western Europe. Upon the receipt of a doctorate in medicine at the University of Padua he visited Venice – one of the most prominent centers of printing and publishing including Slavic, Greek and Hebrew texts where he also mastered modern printing techniques. In Prague Skaryna used two color printing technique to publish The Song of Songs and print the title page of Biblia Ruska. In Vilnius two color printing technique has been applied to print fi ve chapters of the Bible and just one title page of Psalter.

They are linked to many issues in the economic, political, and social sciences. Their role in the changing world cannot be overestimated. Their significance, though unlikely to wane, will nonetheless be changing. What are “public goods” and what is their future?

We talk to Prof. Jan Marcin Węsławski from the PAS Institute of Oceanology in Sopot about how scientists work with members of the public and the benefits it brings.

The article concerns problems with shaping contemporary housing estates. By analyzing housing structures designed in recent years, the aim was to demonstrate the importance of creating the continuity of public spaces in order to achieve places seen as attractive and presenting features of high quality urban space. Essential for the research is the question about the conditions which should be fulfi lled when creating the ideal residential place which then leads to a series of answers. These included indicating a good location with functional and aesthetic urban/architectural solutions. Environmental issues are important as well. Regardless of whether it is a multi-family dwelling or a single family house, a good neighborhood and its location in a well-connected place with necessary basic services within walking range are important. It is also signifi cant how the public space was shaped and whether a natural network was created. Due to factors such as the specifi city of the structure’s location in the city and diff erent surfaces of designed estates, as well as the variety of residential buildings being constructed, it is often diffi cult to assess them unambiguously. Importantly, this assessment also includes social and economic aspects as well as technical issues. However, by using multi-directional research it can be noted that the forms of public spaces within housing complexes play an important role in the creation of high-quality structures, perceived as attractive not only by the residents.

Transport is one of the factors influencing the development of metropolitan areas. However, for its efficient work, numerous optimizations are required. Main tasks are shortening travel time, improving service quality and increasing the number of passengers served. The author has presented current studies on the field in optimization of public transport, mainly ways to optimize the transport network construction, based on large data sets about the population and their communication behaviour. Methods of combining various types of public transport with each other are presented. In the paper also are presents authors studies on the communication accessibility within the city of Cracow. Estimated distances from buildings to various types of public transport stops. The results were presented in aggregated form. Calculated communication speed of three types of public transport functioning in Cracow has also been discussed.

The purpose of the author was to indicate the deficiency of development management instruments currently used to the territorialization of policies in stimulating intra- and intersectoral partnership cooperation. Her reflections were based on the results of research commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Development and Investment by a team in which the author participated. These studies have revealed that the weakest impacts of the so-called territorial instruments include the ability to mobilize various stakeholder groups to take action and to create partnership cooperation. Against this background, the author has undertaken the analysis of the potential impact of territorial tools on the partnerships development and has attempted to present recommendations for practice and further research in this area.

The aim of this paper is to look at the quantitative dimension of public space resources in Polish cities, a comparative analysis of these resources, determining the share of public space in the urban spatial structure and referring this structure to European cities. The concept of ‘public space resources’ has been introduced, and is defined as those areas in the city that fulfill or can fulfill the functions of public space. This concept, and then the proposal of its operationalization, aimed to draw attention to the spatial and physical aspects of public space, which would allow to broaden and supplement social approaches in the study of public space. The quantitative approach to public space proposed in the paper also enabled a comparative research to assess the role of public space in the structure of Polish cities in a more objective manner and refer it to European cities.

The new evaluation rules proposed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education in July 2018 are set to cure some of the ailments of the existing system, notably the “punktoza” phenomenon (i.e. publishing for volume, not scientific quality). However, it should be pointed out that the method of fixing old “bugs” might in fact create some new ones. In this article I discuss three elements of the proposed regulations, namely: the principle of “inheritance of prestige”, treatment of chapters in edited volumes, and possible variants of ministerial registry of academic publishers. To address those issues empirically I use an existing dataset covering citation of books in 2009–2013 (Torres-Salinas et al. 2014). While the new evaluation rules apply relatively high value to chapters in edited volumes, they in fact have disproportionately low scientific impact. What is more, the correlation between citation of books and chapters in edited volumes is very low, casting doubt on the assumed “inheritance of publishers' prestige”. Finally, there seems to be a high risk that the registry of publishers will not reproduce the exponential distribution observed in the actual structure of scientific impact (and apparently sought by the new system), thereby jeopardizing validity of such evaluation.

The increasing threat of terrorist attacks in Europe and social demands for governmental actions towards facilitating an information exchange between the national authorities responsible for public security, lead to the spectacular shift towards collection of passengers’ data. Initially, the idea had concerned mainly aviation passengers’ data and was limited to international flights only. But soon it was extended in order to include the Passenger Name Records (PNR) from domestic transport. Recently, we can see tensions to expand the PNR collection scheme to other means of transport including maritime routes. The paper studies the most developed system created in Belgium and assesses its influence on possible all-European solutions. When presenting the main problems connected with profiling the passengers and data sharing between institutions, it discusses a lack of precise privacy impact assessment and the need for necessity and proportionality studies to be carried out both at the level of Member States and in the EU discussion on the implementation of the so called PNR Directive and on the new requirements for the digital registration of passengers and crew sailing on board European passenger ships included in 2017 amendments to Directive 98/41/EC.

The aim of the article is to show the dependence of what is our/mine and Other/Alien in thinking about conflicts around investment projects. Investments related to the development of space and resources of the Earth, especially if they cause any (real or potential) changes, generate negative emotions which often become the embers of conflict.

Paradoxically, participation in such conflict may benefit the parties involved. Positive outcomes include: meeting needs (attention and significance), fulfilling (new) social roles, learning about other points of view, finding themselves in new social groups or embedded in local communities. Living in the social theater of life, each person plays different roles, which can lead to tension and a sense of ambivalence. In this situation, the individual has a sense of identity dispersion, being able to be simultaneously in several groups opposing each other. The conflict surrounding the Orzesze mining project can serve as an example here. This and other examples show that what is mine and the Other/Alien, with all its separateness, is, however, more or less intertwined with each other. So, the phenomenon of mutual dependence between the Other/Alien and conflict can provide an interesting perspective when looking at conflicts in managing the space and resources of the Earth. Conflicts, in particular mining-related ones, are an extremely complex phenomenon with great potential – both negative and positive. The appreciation of the benefits mentioned in the article, which result from the mutual dependence of the parties involved in the conflict along with their readiness to go outside their comfort zones, provide an opportunity for mutual understanding and reaching agreement which could lead to a positive change consistent with the idea of sustainable development.

In this complex situation, the incorporation of not only sociological but also psychological aspects becomes an important element of the states’ and companies’ resources policy and cannot be neglected any more.

The author presents changes which took place in the 3 eld of ideas of presenting art to the city audience at the end of the twentieth century. She draws attention to the importance of a movement of so-called “new museology”, which revised the museum practitioners’ attitudes towards art viewers. She presents taken from Poland and Europe practices of realizing artistic practices outside exhibition halls, directly in the public space, with immediate access to the viewer, who also is invited to participate in a process of creation of the art work together with the artist. She indicates a consequence of this practice, which is a formation of a so-called “new audience” – conscious of their expectations towards cultural institutions. In the end, the author mentions a research project on the phenomenon of the “new audience” initiated in the framework of the international project “Artecitya”.

The public character of school has recently been called into question more often. I examine the question given in the title in terms of three different aspects (juridical, institutional and performative), each of which is linked with a number of disturbing transformations of public schools (privatization of that which is public, re-feudalization, and commodification of education). By virtue of such an analysis and with reference to research on the essence of what is public, I make an attempt to formulate the key meanings of the public character of school.

Cities play a special role in the process of sustainable development of the country. The city management plays a fundamental role in this challenge. The mayor should become a manager and manage the city based on a strategic marketing management model. Thanks to this, it can optimally use available financial instruments that give the opportunity to achieve strategic development goals of the city.

The urban form creates the city structure, whose spatial values not only shape the functionality of the city, but also its identity, whose the most important determinant is the urban tissue. The subject of the study is the analysis of selected historical areas of Cracow in the scope of composition and readability of their urban structure. The analysis focuses on the identification of the most important aspects of spatial renewal processes of these spaces. These processes aimed at strengthening their potential as local centres, that can become a factor stimulating the development of the individual urban units. The increase in the attractiveness and quality of public spaces will positively affect the degree of their perception by the inhabitants and the social relations taking place in them. This in turn, influences the degree of the social involvement in development processes and the creation of more or less spontaneous, bottom-up activities.

Particular diligence in the preparation of documentation and conducting a tender procedure for construction works must be made by public contracting entities, who are subject to additional restrictions. In Poland, the largest public contracting entities are the sectoral ones. These are the entities (defined in Art. 3 of the Public Procurement Law Act) operating in the sectors of water management, energy, transport and postal services. The paper presents the analysis of tender offers for the execution of construction works or design and execution of construction works related to the reconstruction, construction and revitalization of railway lines, announced after the amendment to the Public Procurement Law on June 22, 2016. The considered examples are selected tender procedures covering the scope of construction and assembly works on railway lines throughout the country. The authors paid particular attention to the tender criteria applied and the requirements for the potential contractors for works in the field of railway infrastructure.

The article presents a scientific research concerning the role and development of one of the most important leisure and recreation areas in Warsaw — Pole Mokotowskie, located near the city center, in three districts: Ochota, Śródmieście and Mokotów (part of the area is the Park of Józef Piłsudski). The research concentrates on determining the influence of contemporary spatial transformations of the park area on the spatial composition of the park.

In 1847, the City Council of Pest opened a new central necropolis. In 1956, the cemetery was declared to be a National Pantheon and Graveyard. Nowadays, about half of the territory of the cemetery is settled, the individually or artistically remarkable tombs are protected, and the rest of the site is being re-designed as green area. In some parts of the cemetery, burials can still be carried out, but the major part of the graveyard is functioning as a public park.

The public demand for urban parks, citizens’ use and habits are different in every age and region. But do public parks have some eternal, unchanging values in a field of social welfare? Can we regard the idea as a value, which brought to life the 18th century public park movement in today’s rushing, tinsel and digital world? Can we find any general aspect in park use forms, which is true, even to the casual visitor or a tourist in a historical garden or a daily guest in an average city park. The Budapest Városliget is one of the world’s first urban park, in some ways perhaps the first. The site was used for urban recreation from mid-18th century, and then the city of Pest decided to develop a public park to increase the livability of the city. The plan was drawn up by Heinrich Nebbien between 1813–1816. Although Nebbien’s plan realized partly due to the lack of resources, in the capital’s life the Városliget have been acting – with changing functions and space structure – as a vital part of the open space recreation for 200 years. This article focuses on the role of urban public parks, and analyses the relationship between changing space structure and use on the example of Városliget. The Városliget analysis is based on the structural and park user surveys, which were made during the last three decades. The history of the urban park clearly illustrates that cramming new functions beyond the historical outdoor recreational activities has not increased the value of the park, but significantly deteriorate what is value and what makes the park loveable. It is almost understandable that the park is not on the international tourism program, it does not appear on the map of the capital’s iconic creations, institutions. But it could be there. Everything predestines for it: two centuries of history, the idea of its birth and creation, its location in the city structure, its current old and valuable trees. The Városliget is a value in itself, without stuffing and subsuming with new institutional functions.

The paper aims to analyse the relationship between the city space and the art present in public spaces and narrative located therein. Analysis of selected examples of contemporary art in urban space and literature allows the conclusion, that interdisciplinary narrativity descending from a literary work, allows for the transfer of meanings from public art objects to the city space and individual narratives of recipients. Not just the meanings, that the artists intend to convey, but also the meanings individually interpreted by those, who observe the work.