The article discusses the tools used for air quality management in the health resorts in Poland including legal instruments, documents and activities at the regional and local level with an example of formal and legal activities. such as the so-called anti-smog resolution to limit the emission of air pollutants from the municipal and housing sectors and thus minimize the risk related to air pollution. The issue of pollution emission resulting from the spatial conditions, including spatial planning, was also indicated. The analysis of the results pertaining to the PM10 measurements from 2017-2018 available for the resorts in Lower Silesia with reference to selected resorts in other regions of Poland and the health risk assessment according to the concentration-response functions for the PM-based on long- and short-term relative risk estimates derived from epidemiological studies were conducted. The exposure assessment was based on the available mathematical modelling results for the PM10 and PM2.5 concentration distributions, which was performed using the CALPUFF model for 2017. In the case of average risk indicators, the obtained values indicated that the values (for all the stays and areas of all zones (total A. B and C) peaked for the Cieplice Shiskie-Zdroj health resort (over 1.1% per annum) and were lowest for Czerniawa and Swieradow-Zdroj (about 0.7%). The highest relative risk indicators in 2017 were observed for cardiovascular diseases for the first two stays in January / February (for the Cieplice Slaskie-Zdroj health resort - over 5%) and for both December stays (over 2.5%). In other health resorts. the risk indicators were significantly lower. The lowest health risk indicators were observed in July, regardless of the location of the health resort and the analysed health effect (rarely exceeding 0.3%). The scale of risk in this case was much higher compared to the short-term risk.

This descriptive paper outlines the post-industrial setting and industrial heritage in both a concrete case – south-western Poland – and some general respects, with the aim of contributing to the available knowledge about the contemporary post-industrial areas in Central Eastern Europe. To produce such an outline and to offer such a contribution, the paper offers an overview of the changes that happened in Poland since the transformation of 1989/90 with the special focus put on the industrial sector in the small- and medium-sized towns in the south-western border region of Poland. Moreover, the paper describes how the political and economic changes have impacted industry in Poland immediately after the transformation, as well as how the evolution of the political and economic situation has been shaping the industrial sector along the years until today. Further, to solidify the broad background of post-industrial regions, the paper touches upon topics that are more specific and interconnected: location of industry, employment rate changes, regional development policies, local development inequalities, and vocational schooling system. The most specific descriptions in the paper focus on the industrial heritage in the towns and cities in the region of Lower Silesia. Apart from reviewing the industrial history of Poland and of the selected western regions, this paper looks into the future by commenting on the transition between the so-called 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 industry phases and discusses whether small- and medium-sized towns in the Polish border areas are able to become connected to the future industrial network.

The aim of this research was the analysis of air quality in selected Polish cities in 2008-2018 combined with health assessment based on the methodology and software of World Health Organization (AirQ +) as well as an analysis of main directions of activities aimed at improving air quality in Polish cities. The results of calculations and spatial analysis of exposure indicate the year 2010 as the one with the highest concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5, as well as Małopolskie and Śląskie Voivodships (agglomerations: Upper Silesia, Krakow and Rybnik-Jastrzębska) as the two most threatened by negative impact on human life and health. In a detailed analysis of the Wrocław agglomeration, for 2017, the estimated number of deaths of adults caused by short-term exposure to PM2.5 with a limiting concentration above 10 μg/m3 (in accordance with WHO guidelines on air quality) was over 130 people, and the estimated number of patients hospitalized because of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases due to the above exposure was 160 and 80 cases, respectively. The analysis showed more than 80 cases of asthma attacks in children with asthma caused by short-term exposure and three death cases in infants due to long-term exposure to PM10.

The case study selected in order to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented solutions for improving air quality with the WRF-CALMET/CALPUFF modeling system as an element of decision support was the subject of this paper. Its character can be considered unique due to its geographical location, topography and the functioning PGE GiEK S.A. Turów Power Complex (ELT), and, in particular, the PGE GiEK S.A. Turów Coal Mine (KWBT). The conducted analyses have defined three scenarios of emission changes: (1) scenario related to the activities of the energy complex resulting from the minimizing measures indicated in the report on the environmental impact of the mine, (2) scenario resulting from the so-called “anti-smog” regional resolution and (3) scenario compiling the abovementioned scenarios. According to the analyses, the lowest values of the annual mean PM_2.5 concentration were noted in the eastern part of the studied area and did not exceed 14 µg/m³ (56% of the permissible level). The best results in improving air quality were proven for scenario 3, i.e., a 10% reduction in concentration values over the entire analyzed area of the commune. In the case of this scenario, as the most effective and health-promoting solution, only in 25% of the area was the improvement in the residents’ health below 5%, while the reduction in the estimated number of premature deaths by over 15% was observed in nearly one third of the studied area.

Most of Europeans living in cities are exposed to concentrations of air pollutants in excess of the thresholds given in the WHO guidelines and EU legislation. Due to this fact, for the urban air quality systems, the mechanisms of proper information and warning of the inhabitants as well as legal, economic and spatial planning instruments should be improved. The analysis of Polish air quality management system and its’ selected components (exemplary measures, information-spreading methods, spatial planning instruments) in four selected Polish cities (Wroclaw, Warsaw, Poznan and Cracow) indicated the need to develop effective solutions, among others, in terms of: emission requirements for combustion of fuels of power of up to 1 MW; admission of high emission fuels on the market; legal and coordination issues at the level of implementation of the area development policy and coordination of activities covering issues within the scope of the structure of planning documents including mainly: ambient air protection programs, spatial developments plans in communes and voivodeships, low emission economy plans, plans of sustainable development of public transport, plans of providing heat, electric power and gas fuels to communes, acts of regional parliaments, introducing limitations based on the Environmental Protection Act and strategies of voivodeship.