A smart city is one of the latest concepts in the development of modern cities. It has evolved from the foregoing smart cities 1.0 and 2.0 to the smart city 3.0, where members of the local community play the main role as not only the recipients of the introduced changes and modern technology, but also as the creators of urban space. One of the goals of a smart city 3.0 is to promote sustainable urban development by improving the quality of life, enhancing social participation, and involving local community members in planning and decision-making processes. This study set out to determine the role and significance of e-participation methods in the smart city concept. The results of questionnaires exploring the importance of e-participation in urban development are presented. The paper also discusses changes in the availability of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Poland. The secondary goal was to present the geo-questionnaire and Public Participation GIS (PPGIS) as modern research tools. Internet tools based on geoinformation systems have considerable potential for mobilizing social participation in spatial planning (Public Participation GIS). The present study postulates the need for modern social participation methods in shaping urban space and promoting the sustainable development of cities. The study highlights the main challenges in the research process. The cooperation between the authorities and the citizens contributes to the development of a civil society, informed decision-making, social involvement in public life, and more effective governance at the local, regional, and national level. Measures that foster cooperation between the authorities and local communities, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), and growing social awareness and social participation in managing development are the components of a modern smart city and the building blocks of an e-society. The study also revealed positive changes in access to ICT and their contribution to bridging the digital divide in Poland. Higher levels of social awareness regarding participation and e-participation promote the growth of smart cities.

Urbanization processes are some of the key drivers of spatial changes which shape and influence land use and land cover. The aim of sustainable land use policies is to preserve and manage existing resources for present and future generations. Increasing access to information about land use and land cover has led to the emergence of new sources of data and various classification systems for evaluating land use and spatial changes. A single globally recognized land use classification system has not been developed to date, and various sources of land-use/land-cover data exist around the world. As a result, data from different systems may be difficult to interpret and evaluate in comparative analyses. The aims of this study were to compare land-use/land-cover data and selected land use classification systems, and to determine the influence of selected classification systems and spatial datasets on analyses of land-use structure in the examined area. The results of the study provide information about the existing land-use/land-cover databases, revealing that spatial databases and land use and land cover classification systems contain many equivalent land-use types, but also differ in various respects, such as the level of detail, data validity, availability, number of land-use types, and the applied nomenclature.

The preservation of spatial order is one of the key objectives of spatial planning. Due to the dynamic changes associated with rapid urbanization, special attention should be paid to cities and the surrounding areas. The aim of this study was to measure spatial order in social, economic and environmental dimensions in the Functional Urban Area of Olsztyn, the capital city of the Polish voivodeship of Warmia and Mazury, and to propose indicators for measuring spatial order. Socioeconomic development should be balanced with environmental protection to promote spatial order and improve the quality of life. Functional urban areas should be regularly monitored to ensure that planning measures contribute to the preservation of spatial order, and to minimize local problems and conflicts. The municipalities belonging to functional urban areas should be regarded not only as distinct territorial units, but also as members of a cohesive area whose development in every dimension of spatial order contributes to an improvement in the quality of life for local communities.

Land-use/land cover maps constitute one of the key sources of information on urban space. To address the problems associated with the lack of timely and detailed land-use maps, the authors have developed a universal methodological approach for monitoring land use structure that is particularly useful in a rapidly evolving urban environment. Therefore, the main aim of this study was to develop a universal methodology for high-precision land-use analysis in urbanized areas in the context of large-scale mapping. The method uses geoinformation tools, photogrammetric data (orthophoto maps) as well as data acquired during a field inventory (involving a field survey and field mapping). The proposed approach is based on the modified existing approaches towards a detailed identification of land-use patterns while reducing the difficulties arising from the limitations of existing land use data sources. The methodology consists of several steps. First, the data sources for land-use analysis were selected. Subsequently, the classification of land-use categories in urban space was made. Finally, the method to high-precision land-use analysis for large-scale mapping was defined under the assumption that it is to be universal for use in countries with different levels of spatial and economic development. The proposed research method is based on an interpolation algorithm. It is highly valid, flexible, modifiable, accurate, and it can be applied to process publicly available and free sources of spatial data. Validation of the method on a test object (city of Ostróda, Poland) showed its high effectiveness, which is limited only by the type of data. The results obtained with the use of the proposed method not only supported the determination of the present land-use structure in the town but were also used to identify areas with the highest and lowest intensity and concentration of specific land-cover types.

Możliwości rozwoju turystyki na określonym obszarze są kształtowane przez wiele czynników o charakterze naturalnym i antropogenicznym. Na istniejący potencjał turystyczny województwa warmińsko-mazurskiego znaczny wpływ wywiera urozmaicona rzeźba terenu, czyste środowisko, wysoka lesistość i jeziorność. W pracy dokonano analizy i oceny potencjału rozwoju funkcji turystycznej województwa warmińsko-mazurskiego, wykorzystując metodę taksonomii wrocławskiej umożliwiającą wielowymiarową analizę porównawczą. Wydzielono sześć grup typologicznych skupiających powiaty o podobnych uwarunkowaniach rozwoju turystyki. Przeanalizowano również cztery podstawowe wskaźniki służące do pomiaru funkcji turystycznej: Baretje`a-Deferta, Schneidera, Deferta oraz Charvata, które zestawiono z wynikami dla województwa warmińsko-mazurskiego oraz Polski. Do obszarów o największych możliwościach rozwoju funkcji turystycznej należą powiaty mrągowski i giżycki, a także ostródzki. Obszary o najniższym potencjale obejmują powiaty położone w zachodniej i południowej części województwa (nowomiejski, nidzicki, działdowski) oraz powiaty położone przy granicy województwa warmińsko-mazurskiego z obwodem kaliningradzkim Federacji Rosyjskiej