Urban sprawl has been the subject of extensive scholarly investigation, as it is widely regarded as an unfavourable phenomenon with profound socio-economic consequences. Its fundamental forms have been delineated through specific Spatial Form Metrics (SFMs). In southern Poland, there exists a region whose dispersed development pattern is particularly distinctive. Owing to its considerable size—exceeding 5500 km²—it was deemed appropriate to analyse this area using the metrics and categories conventionally applied in urban sprawl research. The findings reveal a settlement pattern often described in the literature as resembling a ‘leopard skin’. Key urban parameters—such as density, intensity, dispersion, and clustering—were most effectively characterised by Shannon entropy levels calculated for these categories. In all instances, the entropy values proved to be very high, indicating minimal variation in development form across the study area. This outcome reflects the prevalence of numerous small, closely spaced building clusters, without the emergence of major concentrations capable of serving as nuclei for service centres with a developed public realm. As a result, structures that would ordinarily provide higher-order services and foster social integration fail to materialise. The implications for the open landscape are pronounced and predominantly negative: both agricultural landscapes and the still-existing, though limited, semi-natural landscapes are severely fragmented by scattered, unstructured building clusters. This fragmentation undermines rational agricultural management and impedes the conservation of self-regenerating areas that approximate the natural landscape. Against this backdrop, the present study examines the built-up structure of Area X in order to delineate pathways for a transition from environmentally detrimental settlement patterns towards forms of development that not only ensure the sustenance of urban life but also align with the broader principles of sustainable urban development, thereby safeguarding the continuity of urban life as a fundamental condition for long-term urban resilience.

The symbiosis and synergy of the activities of city users are crucial for the quality of the urban system. Particularly important for the functioning of the city is the symbiosis and synergy of use of urban places in the central areas of the city. For the efficient studying and planning of urban structures, it is required and necessary to develop objective methods of measuring the parameters of this structure, especially in the aspect of assessing the connections between the elements of this structure, and, above all, urban places and their uses. One of the critical issues is the development of tools and measures to study the level of symbiosis and synergy, especially for central urban areas. This article proposes a method of assessing the level and the intensity of symbiosis and synergy in central areas using the Sym_Syn method, which can be used to examine both the existing state of the urban structure and to plan directions for the improvement of this structure, if the study of the existing state indicates significant deficiencies in the occurrence of symbiosis and synergy of uses of urban places.

Urban and green public spaces are crucial to the quality of life and competitiveness of cities. They meet the expectations of residents and increase their level of satisfaction with the city. This study examines the relationship between the habits and expectations of residents and contemporary models of urban development in the Upper Silesian–Dąbrowa Basin Metropolis (GZM) in Poland. The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which contemporary models of creating high-quality, competitive cities align with the preferences and expectations of residents. The study was conducted as part of the project titled ‘Challenges of Public Spaces and Social Cohesion of the Upper Silesian–Dąbrowa Basin Metropolis’, which encompasses five related areas. The research presented herein concerns primarily public spaces and landscape. Survey research and a literature review were conducted on a sample of 3,301 respondents using the CAWI method. The results of this study reveal a discrepancy between the preferences and expectations of GZM residents and the values and objectives of spatial policy implemented by professionals and administrators. Residents prioritize direct access to greenery, open spaces, and privacy over the need for integration and city-forming spaces, which are perceived as less important. They focus on green areas irrespective of their quality, whereas urban planners and developers emphasize the need for shared public spaces with an urban vibe. However, the psychological significance of green areas for residents leads to a greater demand for their integration into urban areas, which could advance synergistically with the development of green infrastructure (environmental/nature aspect). This prompts a need for a revised model of transformation and regeneration of GZM cities.

Symbiosis and synergy among urban uses are key determinants of spatial quality, liveability, and resilience. While symbiosis denotes the coexistence of users and functions within specific places, synergy refers to the collective benefits emerging from their interaction. These dynamics are especially relevant in city centres and main streets, which serve as structural and social backbones of urban life. This article applies the SyM_SyN Method to Zwycięstwa Street in Gliwice, Poland, to assess the intensity and distribution of symbiotic and synergistic relations. The analysis identified significant spatial deficiencies that weaken the coherence and attractiveness of the street. The results demonstrate how a systematic, data-driven evaluation can expose hidden weaknesses in urban structures. Importantly, from the perspective of the smart city paradigm, liveability and responsiveness of urban spaces cannot be reduced to technology-driven systems of sensors and devices. They must also be understood in terms of human-scale interactions and the ability of urban form to support them. Beyond its methodological contribution, the study emphasises the practical implications for urban renewal: reinforcing positive interactions between adjacent uses enhances street vitality, improves social inclusiveness, and supports more sustainable development strategies. The SyM_SyN Method thus provides both an analytical framework and a decision-support tool for designing user-oriented, high-quality urban spaces within the broader smart and sustainable city paradigm.

We assessed whether demographic characteristics, reported AI use and attitudes predict the greatest perceived barrier to wider artificial intelligence (AI) use. The analysis included 3528 adults in six provider-labelled survey samples whose geographic membership could not be independently verified. All ten response alternatives were retained. Multinomial logistic regression, random forests, and histogram gradient boosting were evaluated using nested leave-one-site-out and random five-fold validation; CatBoost was added as an exploratory comparison. Random forests improved log loss over the corresponding training priors by 0.083 under sample holdout and 0.102 under random folds. Most of the raw loss difference between designs reflected the difference between their priors. Matching training sizes and the specified sensitivity analyses retained modest probability gains and weak classification. Under sample holdout, forest accuracy was 22.0% and macro F1 was 0.093, with zero recall for four categories. CatBoost showed similarly limited performance. These findings describe prediction with the evaluated models and available questionnaire variables. They do not establish geographic mechanisms or operational usefulness, and support directly asking respondents about their selected barrier.