Given the importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the European economy, it is essential to have adequate information about the various factors that determine their choice of location. However, the size of a company is often an aspect not covered in theoretical studies and empirical research on industrial locations and urban planning. This article examines the place of residence as a stimulator of SME development in suburbs. Multidisciplinary research carried out in the Gdańsk–Gdynia–Sopot Metropolitan Area, known as the Tricity, confirms this trend. The location determinants of SMEs in suburban areas were identified using a questionnaire. The survey was conducted in 251 enterprises located in seven municipalities with the highest suburbanisation rates within the Tricity. The study confirms that the municipalities characterised by the highest intensity of suburbanisation processes have higher business activity than other municipalities. Location decisions were largely made by business owners in line with behavioural theory. This means that SME owners more often consider personal factors than cost or demand factors. From the perspective of an entrepreneur, living conditions, the quality of public space, education and healthcare are significant

The main objectives of this research it to find out if modern daylight assessment and design methods can be useful for urban residential planning in Poland. The study gives a chance to describe and appraise modern daylight design techniques. The other purpose is to illustrate how daylight knowledge could be used as an incentive to rethink the way urban environments are created. Although daylight design is acknowledged in literature and case studies as a tool for fostering residents’ well-being, daylight design techniques are not common practice in Poland. A review of current Polish building and lighting regulations regarding daylight is presented. The results of the two pilot questionnaires show a lack of daylight training among future architects and urban specialists. The first survey carried out among 54 students illustrates the importance of daylight as a natural resource which is essential in sustainable approaches to urban planning. It also highlights the belief that daylight and electric light projects should be holistically integrated in the implementation of the city lighting plans. The results of the second pilot study show a growing demand for better daylight education and an urgent need for revision of the existing recommendations in Poland

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in the context of climate change and temperature fluctuations is an increasing challenge for contemporary cities. Numerous activities focus on mitigation and adaptation to the UHI effect using both appropriately selected design strategies and technological solutions. However, not all of these technologies support the postulates of ecological and low-carbon cities. Their design, implementation, and operation process sometimes causes conflicts or misunderstandings among designers, industry engineers, and residents. The aim of the research was to examine the relationship between UHI effect mitigation, adaptation, and energy efficiency strategies. A further goal was to build a matrix of synergistic elements and conflicts for respective actors and stakeholders, and an analysis of the elitist DAD (Decide-Announce-Defend) method and participatory ADD (Announce-Discuss-Decide) or EDD (Engage-Deliberate-Decide) in dealing with the UHI effect. The literature review and case study analysis methods were applied. In the study, the strategies of five chosen European capitals (Berlin, London, Paris, Vienna, and Warsaw) experiencing a UHI problem were analyzed. As result, a matrix of the most common goal differences of respective stakeholders in dealing with the UHI effect was developed. One of the main conclusions is the necessity of undergoing synergic collaboration between actors that are not cooperating yet, combined with risk analysis and appropriate education at different levels for a successful and socially equal mitigation and adaptation to the UHI effect.

Twenty-five years after the return of democracy and the beginning of basing the country's economy on neoliberal developmental paradigm, Poland adopted the regulations regarding management of urban policy, which had been wait for over a decade (accession to the EU). The National Urban Policy as well as the Act on revitalization have defined, in a modern manner, the field of cooperation between the local government, the administration and the residents; the transition to the second stage of a democratic society – the residents as the co-hosts of the urban space. Slow evolution of this relation, heavily laden by the legacy of the previous system, in recent years has gained significant dynamics – urban activism in a country with a relatively weak tradition of urban culture, among the new generation (the new Polish townspeople) has become not so much as a fad, but a cultural trend, a philosophy of life. It seems, that the difficult dialogue between a city of community worker-activists and a city of engineer-professionals is one of the major fields of research on the Cognitive City in Poland. After decades of domination of technocratic relations within city management, which used to leave the shaping of the vision for a city's development in the hands of an inner circle of administration, a period of radical and fundamental criticism of professional (technical) knowledge has followed, turning into a nearly complete deification of the social side's full competence. Public debate, as an ideological dispute about neoliberal city planning by nature, has been growing under the slogans “the right to the city”

Recent years, the European Environmental Agency, has been reporting air quality parameters in Poland, as the poorest among all the EU countries. Despite of adoption of the EU legislation on energy efficiency and energy performance of buildings, existing legal solutions occur insufficient in reducing air pollution in Polish regions. Lack of an effective schemes supporting complex thermal renovation of buildings, exchange of inefficient boilers, developing district heating based on clean and renewable fuels results in severe health problems and 40 000 of premature deaths related to air pollution. Availability of the EU structural funds may become a tremendous opportunity, especially for the residential sector, to conduct a massive scale modernization. Nevertheless, lack of a coordinated action involving all levels of governance may put the opportunity at risk. The article aims to answer the question on the readiness of the regional governments to effectively implement energy efficiency measures mitigating the problem of air pollution. Second objective is to analyse whether the Regional Operational Programmes allocating the ERDF funds to support specific development needs of the regions, have been constructed in a way that properly addresses the problems related to energy performance of residential buildings.