Attractiveness of cemeteries versus socioeconomic and spatial development of non-metropolitan cities in Poland

Motives: Societies have developed a variety of services to meet their basic needs. One of them is to deposit and commemorate the bodies of the dead, for which cemeteries are used. Cemeteries and cities are thus interlinked.Aim: The first aim of the study was to verify whether cemeteries located in secondary cities with a high synthetic measure of socioeconomic development and with sustainable spatial policy on cemetery greenery are more attractive. Second aim was to verify whether attractiveness of cemeteries is related to their age. The study was conducted on a sample of 96 cemeteries located within the administrative boundaries of 10 cities of population between 50 000 and 300 000 inhabitants within city limits, that were representing various NUTS1 regions. Criteria of the cemetery evaluation based on the features of the cemetery were elaborated in terms of location, accessibility and development of the necropolis. Moreover, analysis of the current socioeconomic situation of cities was carried out.Results: Finally, the mutual correlation of indicators was examined using the Spearman correlation coefficient. The relationship between the cemeteries features, the socioeconomic development, share of municipal cemeteries as well elements considered in study of spatial policy on cemetery greenery in non-metropolitan cities has been noticed. As the result of performed analysis the guidelines on how to increase the attractiveness of cemeteries in non-metropolitan cities were developed.