The COVID-19 epidemic appeared in Poland in early March 2020. Since then, the epidemic has impacted strongly on the socioeconomic nature of the country. Since April 2020, the region with the most confirmed cases is the province of Silesia (Śląskie). This paper has two main aims. First, the authors focus on explanations for the causes of the large number of confirmed cases in this region. The second issue is the mosaic pattern of COVID-19 cases in Śląskie province. The paper explains these patterns with reference to urban shrinkage, trans-industrialism, hard coal mining and polycentricity. The impact of these drivers is clearly visible in the local patterning of the pandemic. The authors point out that this specific relationship in this province complicates regional and local policy and indirectly affects state policy focused on the epidemic as well. The key problem is the negative impact of COVID-19 on hard coal mining. This sector, in turn, is considered by the Polish government as one of the most important from an economic and political point of view.

The problem of using the concept of post-industrialism to define regions with traditional industries is addressed in this article. It focuses on the diversity of industrial development in the Katowice conurbation (Poland) and the difficulties of situating the region in the widely-used taxonomy by Phelps and Ozawa, which assumes a one-way transition from the late-industrial to post-industrial stage. The authors point to the fact that only some of the towns can be described as post-industrial, since there are also towns in which traditional industries continue to develop relatively well and others at an advanced stage of re-industrialisation. The proposal is made that the Katowice conurbation can be described as a “trans-industrial region” in order to account for the various stages of development in the industrial sector in the towns of the conurbation, and to underline the dynamic nature and temporal variability of the industrialisation factor in the region.

Adaptation to climate change is becoming one of the main paradigms for how cities function and develop. The significant role of green infrastructure (GI) as a tool for cities to adapt to climate change is increasingly emphasized among practitioners of spatial planning and in the research literature. Thus, despite the local impact, green infrastructure planning necessitates the creation of a holistic and integrated city management system. The aim of the article is to identify the effects generated by projects implemented in the field of green infrastructure in big cities of post-industrial regions and to formulate determinants and barriers limiting the strengthening of cities’ adaptive capacity to climate change. In the methodological dimension, the article is based on the desk-research method (analysis of project documentation and specialist literature), logical reasoning and the case study method, enriched with a series of interviews and observation of the study area to present the selected projects implemented as part of green infrastructure. Solutions based on nature, green infrastructure and the adaptation of ecosystems are of strategic importance for the challenges of reducing the negative effects of urban heat islands and the risk of flooding, rational space management, regeneration of degraded urban spaces, the coexistence of urban and green space and, consequently, increasing housing, as well as cultural and recreation areas. This is especially true of post-industrial regions, such as the Katowice Conurbation in Poland, to which the examples presented here refer.

The growing role of logistics in the economic space of large metropolises is visible in an increasing number of objects of this kind as well as in their high spatial concentration. Taking into account these circumstances, a phenomenon known as ‘logistics sprawl’ is considered in the article. This is one of two problems concerning the development of logistics in metropolitan areas. Studying the Katowice conurbation in Poland, the authors note, however, that in this region the opposite phenomenon, which they define as a ‘logistics anti-sprawl’, is more noticable. Its characteristic feature is a location of logistics facilities not in the outer zone of the conurbation, but in its core. This phenomenon undoubtedly differs from the patterns of localization of logistics facilities in all major CEECs. It is caused by some chief factors which are disscused in the paper. Therefore, an attention is drawn on the period of socialist development of the region, its contemporary postindustrialism, urban shrinkage, as well as the polycentricity of the conurbation. The crucial question whether the expected reduction of the ‘sprawl logistics’ phenomenon may be based on the development model observed in the Katowice conurbation is also discussed in the article.

The study focused on the changes in vegetation and soils on an undeveloped area of coal mine spoil heaps. The process of vegetation changes was evaluated on the basis of historical cartographic materials and fieldwork. Changes of vegetation in nearly 200 years are presented herein. The main purpose of this study is to present an analysis of spatio-temporal changes in vegetation and their influence on soil features. The diversity of ecological species in terms of habitat requirements, tendency of hornbeam communities formation, and the relationship between forest communities and soil features was found. The basic soil properties were examined under selected plant communities (pH, C_org, N_t), available forms of elements (P, K, Mg), and as plant nutrients and heavy metal occurrence (Fe, Zn, Mn, Co, Cd, Pb, Sr, Cr, Cu). The soil organic carbon (C_org) content varied from 3.17 ± 0.007% to 17.7 ± 0.21% and significant differences were observed between sites. The highest total nitrogen (N_t) content was recorded in the soils of the sites that were represented by Populus-Betula stands (0.60 ± 0.01%). Soil acidity (pH) varied greatly, ranging from acidic (pH = 4.1) to weakly acidic (pH = 5.9). The highest value for Mg_avail (205.43 ± 0.5 mg·kg⁻¹) was noted in the soils under Calamagrostis epegijos (L.) Roth community and for P_avail (184.07 ± 3.77) and K_avail (346.19 ± 2.92 mg·kg⁻¹) under the Quercus-Pinus stand. On all sites, Zn was a dominant element and its concentration ranged from 526.1 to 1060.4 mg·kg⁻¹. Obtained results show how important it is to study the issue of vegetation changes and the formation of the landscape within an industrial city. The described results are important for the management of urban greening issues. Human influence on the disintegration and development of the natural environment is clearly visible. Due to the diversity of former mining areas and their time of creation, the studied area is one of the most important experimental areas for the determination link between vegetation and soil.