Sustainable spatial policies in managing high-value cultural areas

2010

Nr 2(28)

The Polish social and economic reality, quick struc-

tural changes and intensied urban development pose a

signicant threat for preservation and protection of land-

scape. The European Landscape Convention [14] ratied

by Poland in 2004 specied a denition of landscape, un-

derstood as an area integrating natural and cultural compo-

nents. Polish legislation draws a thick line between regu-

lations concerning natural environment and those dealing

with cultural environment. The sole body to be responsible

for implementing the Convention provisions was the State

Council for Nature Conservation (Państwowa Rada Ochro-

ny Przyrody), which prepared a proposal for amendments

in the Polish nature conservation acts [2], environment pro-

tection acts [1] and spatial planning and management acts

[4]

. Then again, there is a provision set forth in the act on

monuments protection and care [3] which is already offer-

ing the broadest available possibilities to protect the cultural

and natural landscape in accordance with the requirements

and denition of the European Landscape Convention [14]

– following the concept of sustainable development and so-

cial involvement. Changes in the manner in which the cul-

tural landscape is perceived and in the methods employed

to protect its qualities are increasingly dened by factors

unrelated to conservation, but connected more with pres-

ent social needs or economic possibilities being treated as

superior aspects in conservation undertakings

University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Horticulture and Landscape

Design Faculty, Ornamental Plants and Landscape Design Institute.

Provisions of this amendment proposal concerning denition of the

landscape, broadening the denition of the landscape, landscape protection

denition, implementation of landscape quality standards have not been

implemented in the acts being amended [4].

In view of active protection of fortress landscape, a number of pri-

mary criteria have been established concerning adaptation, and secondary

criteria concerning directions of activities. The primary criteria include:

the manner of use in relation to recreational functions, land management

decisions, ownership forms, availability of the area in zoning plans. The

secondary criteria are the historical and natural as well as other additional

qualities. Auxiliary secondary criteria concern such factors as transporta-

tion issues and the surroundings [9].

At present, the only legal instrument following the

ongoing developments is the culture park notion, as it is

compliant with the contemporary, UNESCO recommend-

ed spatial formula, integrated landscape protection, cul-

ture and natural structures shaping the landscape [13].

The aim behind creating a cultural park is to preserve

and maintain the features of areas displaying valuable

landscape characteristics or their fragments, including the

relevant composition and view relations as well as har-

monious planning of development both within the park it-

self and in its surroundings [3]. It is only the cultural park

form that allows for comprehensive approach to the issue

of valuable area management, serving as a tool for local

authorities to supervise such areas by means of protection

plans, and consequently by local zoning plans [7].

A cultural park can be established by a commune

council by way of a resolution, in which the borders, man-

ner of protection as well as limitations and prohibitions

are dened [7]. In today’s fragmented spatial structures,

delineating clear borders may benet integration of ho-

mogenous parts of a landscape, intensifying its impor-

tance and identity, supports conscious management of the

area [9], [5].

A novelty in the Polish legal system is the provision

allowing for establishment of an “organizational unit for

managing a park”, which integrates passive protection

with management of the cultural resources. These statu-

tory provisions do not precisely dene either the formu-

la of the managing body or the range to be covered by

a cultural park protection plan – hence allowing room for

individual solutions, conditioned by the local characteris-

tics and protection objectives [7].

One of the recommended forms of management with

social involvement in case of complicated ownership situ-

ations is the intersectoral cooperation, which offers equal

chances for sustainable development of local communi-

ties. The cultural park formula motivates local authorities

to support this type of undertakings, also for the purpose

of preservation and promotion of their local heritage.

The public-private partnership initiative is gaining sig-

Katarzyna Pałubska*

Sustainable spatial policies in managing high-value cultural areas

150 Katarzyna Pałubska

nicant support the EU programmes and is of great rel-

evance in distribution of nancial means provided by the

Union [5].

Informative and educational activities aiming at local

communities and authorities are still insufcient, and er-

roneous interpretation of the cultural park as a land man-

agement form (i.e. ‘a green area’) and a source of limi-

tations and prohibitions obscuring local development is

a social barrier in popularising them. A document prepared

in 2005 by a team of the Cracow University of Technol-

ogy commissioned by the National Centre for Monument

Research and Documentation (Krajowy Ośrodek Badań

i Dokumentacji Zabytków) entitled Principles for estab-

lishing and management of culture parks, preparing pro-

tection plans [8] is a most exhaustive instruction support-

ing conservation professionals working on the local level.

The study dened a set of criteria that cultural landscapes

should meet in order to be qualied for protection when

implementing the cultural park formula:

– exceptional cultural value,

– complexity of the structure,

– ability to self-regulate (‘systemic’ character of the

landscape and the related necessity to involve local com-

munities with the entire sphere of social policies to the

protection activities).

Fulllment of the aims facing a cultural park largely

depends on the social attitude towards the very idea of

protection and on effective resolution of conicts which

may emerge between different groups of space users: pri-

vate owners, conservators, local governments and inhab-

itants. One of the principal ways to resolve conicts and

mitigate threats related to space management is to prepare

appropriate solutions while drawing up a protection plan

and zoning plan in consideration of the contemporary

methods of encouraging local communities participation.

A park cannot be created without successful liaison be-

tween the interested entities and co-nancing of organiza-

tional, design and conservation related activities. Hence

the guarantors of active protection of a cultural landscape

in form of a cultural park are the acceptance and support of

all interested parties

. As an indispensable part of process,

up-to-date information should be provided on the benets

of a cultural park and of the related developments [7].

Intensied informative and educational activities performed by

the author between March and December 2009 brought a signicant

improvement in the social attitude towards the idea to create the 19

Century Warsaw Fortress Culture Park. The project was launched with

a survey, which showed that in case of the selected defensive structures,

the inhabitants displayed total unawareness in identication of the his-

toric structure of the area, its history and need to preserve. Over 90% of

respondents did not understand the need to preserve the area in question

or its relations in composition of the larger fortress system operating at

the turn of 19

century. Seminars, workshops and promotion conducted

in cooperation with the city hall and owners, as well as distribution of

leaets, posters, and broadening activities beyond their local range by a

website and scientic articles brought an unexpectedly strong interest of

the citizens, local associations and scientic community from all over

the country. The effects of the promotional activities were gathered and

presented in a large publication entitled Warsaw Fortress: 19

century

fortication complex: consultations and assumptions to a protection plan

for the 19

Century Warsaw Fortress Culture Park [8].

The commonly observed aversion of the commune au-

thorities to passing new zoning plans, which is one of the

conditions to be met in order to establish a culture park, is

an obstacle to further expansion of this form of protection.

According to a report by the National Centre for Monu-

ment Research and Documentation published at the end

of 2009, only 20 culture parks were formally acknowl-

edged in Poland by 2003, and a number of initiatives were

blocked by rulings of administrative courts [16].

The initiative to create culture parks played a par-

ticularly important role in the experimental attainment

of historical defensive complexes. The year 2003 saw

the emergence of a country-wide drive to create fortress

culture parks, as a formula which suits perfectly the need

to protect largely dispersed and stretched defensive com-

plexes comprising integrated functional and spatial sys-

tems characterized by exceptional cultural and natural

values. The rst park of this type to be created in Poland

was the Srebrna Góra Fortress Cultural Park (Forteczny

Park Kulturowy Twierdzy Srebrna Góra) [11]

, and next

was the Kłodzko Fortress Cultural Park (Forteczny Park

Kulturowy Twierdzy Kłodzko). The Srebrna Góra park

is situated in Stoszowice commune, and, just like the

Kłodzko Fortress, encompassed a mountain fortress in its

unied borders. The communes of this region were most

interested in nding solutions ensuring self-nancing of

the preservation initiatives located in the communal areas.

For many years now, there has been some effort in creat-

ing fortress cultural parks in urban areas of large cities,

where the social and ownership issues dominate the con-

servation formula, such as in Cracow, Toruń, Przemyśl,

Zamość.

In case of the Przemyśl Fortress, the authors of con-

ceptual design from the Cracow University of Technology

proposed a complex of 14 Przemyśl Fortress Defensive

Landscape Cultural Parks, conceived partly as trans-bor-

der projects in partnership with Ukraine. In Cracow in

2003, 7 Cracow Fortress Defensive Landscape Cultural

Parks and one aviation park were accepted for establish-

ment. Works on creating the Zamość Fortress Cultural

Park commenced in 2006 and their aim is not only to

preserve the very nucleus of the UNESCO listed fortress,

but also to maintain the entire landscape surrounding it

and making it possible for the structure to be properly dis-

played in a harmonious open landscape.

In Poland there are also several cultural parks which,

despite their name, are not a form of legal protection but

an example of an idea for comprehensive management of

a dened area for the purposes of preservation and effec-

tive usage of highly valuable space of natural and cul-

tural qualities: the Gdańsk City Fortress Cultural Park and

the Hewelianum Centre, the Nysa Fortress Culture and

Nature Park, Cracow Aviation Cultural Park. In Warsaw,

advanced work on passing a resolution allowing for es-

tablishment of the 19

Century Warsaw Fortress Cultural

Park has been in the pipeline since 2005 [11].

The rst cultural park in Srebrna Góra was created back in 2002,

before the act on historic monuments protection and care was passed (in

2003).

Sustainable spatial policies in managing high-value cultural areas 151

References

[1] Act on environmental protection of 27 April 2001 (Journal of Laws

of 2008, No. 25, item 150 – unied).

[2] Act on nature protection of 16 April 2004 (Journal of Laws No. 92,

item 880).

[3] Act on historic monuments protection and care of 23 July 2003

(Journal of Laws, No. 162, item 1568).

[4] Act on spatial planning and management of 27 March 2003 (Journal

of Laws No. 80, item 717).

[5] Korzeń J., Myczkowski Z., Kaczyńska M., Korzeń K., Wielochow-

ska M., Projekt Planu Ochrony Wilanowskiego Parku Kulturowego,

typewriter copy – Fundacja Karkonowska, Jelenia Góra – Warszawa

2009, p. 89.

[6] Majchrowska A., Realizacja zapisów Europejskiej Konwencji Kra-

jobrazowej, Czasopismo Techniczne, zesz. 7A, Wyd. PK, Kraków

2007, pp. 179–184.

[7] Molski P., Postulaty utworzenia Parku Kulturowego Zespołu

XIX-wiecznych Fortykacji Twierdzy Warszawa, [in:] Pałubska K.,

Twierdza Warszawa: zespół XIX-wiecznych fortykacji: konsultacje

i założenia do projektu planu ochrony Parku Kulturowego Zespołu

XIX-wiecznych Fortykacji Twierdzy Warszawa, Miasto Stołeczne

Warszawa, Warszawa 2009, pp. 9–11.

[8] Myczkowski Z. et al., Zasady tworzenia parku kulturowego, zarzą-

dzania nim oraz sporządzania planu jego ochrony, typewriter copy

comissioned by KOBIDZ, Kraków 2005, p. 18.

[9] Myczkowski Z., Tożsamość miejsca w ochronie i kształtowaniu

krajobrazu kulturowego, [in:] Krajobrazy, ODZ in Warsaw and

ROSiOŚK in Kraków, Kraków 2000, pp. 199–214.

[10] Pałubska K., Tereny dziewiętnastowiecznej Twierdzy Warszawa jako

elementy struktury rekreacyjnej miasta, PhD thesis at the Architec-

ture Faculty of the Warsaw University of Technology, Warszawa

2009, p. 224.

[11] Pałubska K. (ed.), Twierdza Warszawa: zespół XIX-wiecznych

fortykacji: konsultacje i założenia do projektu planu ochrony

Parku Kulturowego Zespołu XIX-wiecznych Fortykacji Twierdzy

Warszawa, Miasto Stołeczne Warszawa, Warszawa 2009, pp. 145.

[12] Pilarczyk G., Bryła S., Program Hewelianum jako droga do rewi-

talizacji zespołu Fortu Grodzisko w Gdańsku, [in:] Wilkaniec A.,

Wichrowski M., Fortykacje w przestrzeni miasta, Wyd. Akademii

Rolniczej w Poznaniu, Poznań 2006, pp. 141–148.

[13] The Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural

Heritage adopted in Paris on 16.11.1972 by the UN General Confer-

ence (Journal of Laws of 1976 No. 32, item 190).

[14] The European Landscape Convention, adopted in Florence on 20

October 2000 (Journal of Laws of 2006, No. 14, item 98).

[15] Tokarczuk T., Granice krajobrazu w przestrzeni kulturowej, PhD

thesis at the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of

Cracow, Kraków 2006, p. 9.

[16] www.kobidz.pl/idm,871,parki-kulturowe.html

Zrównoważona polityka przestrzenna wobec obszarów o wyjątkowych wartościach kulturowych

Ochronę prawną złożonych struktur krajobrazu kulturowego oraz

zrównoważone wykorzystanie jego walorów do aktywizacji gospodarczej,

promocji regionu i rozwoju turystyki najskuteczniej umożliwia formuła

parku kulturowego. Aktywizacja lokalnych środowisk przy określaniu

zasad i granic dopuszczalnej ingerencji w planie ochrony stanowi bazę

do prowadzenia polityki przestrzennej w zakresie ochrony wartości kul-

turowo-przyrodniczych i zagospodarowania terenu. Utworzenie jednostki

zarządzającej parkiem kulturowym wspomaga budowanie partnerstwa

międzysektorowego, ułatwia zdobywanie funduszy, pośrednio wpływając

na poprawę jakości życia mieszkańców i kulturę przestrzeni.

Key words: sustainable planning, culture park, management Słowa kluczowe: planowanie zrównoważone, park kulturowy, zarzą-

dza nie

Sustainable spatial policies in managing high-value cultural areas

Katarzyna Pałubska

Abstract