Differentiation of residential development in Poland’s provincial capitals

Abstract This article classifies housing development according to horizontal and vertical intensity in the administrative capitals of each of the Polish provinces. Moreover, the distribution of individual types of residential development is assessed on the example of Warsaw. The function of the place of residence is an elementary urban function which translates itself into a large share of residential development in its structure. It assumes different forms which depend on many factors, such as the location in the given region of the world, conditions of the natural environment, housing tradition or location in the city. It should be borne in mind that cities tend to be heterogeneous urban organisms in which different periods of their development overlap which is reflected in the variations in the appearance of development in its individual parts. The character of buildings changes together with distance from the city centre: the farther from it, the less urban the development tends to be, gradually turning into a rural one both within the city boundaries and outside them. The distribution of residential buildings was analysed with the use of measures of centrography, i.e. centre of gravity, standard deviation and the standard deviation ellipse. Data on residential buildings in the cities analysed was obtained from Polish official geodetic and cartographic databases (państwowy zasób geodezyjny i kartograficzny [PZGiK]) – in particular, Database of Topographic Objects. In turn, layers with land parcels come from the Land-Parcel Identification System [LPIS]. Further analyses use information regarding the vertical and horizontal intensity according to the classification proposed by S. Liszewski (1978).