Impact of Protected Areas on the Development of Suburban Areas: The Case of Kraków Metropolitan Area

Suburbanization is growing in Poland and is resulting in an increasing investment pressure on suburbs. In the market economy system, which has been in place in Poland for a relatively short time, land ownership is changing on a large scale and many hitherto agricultural areas are being converted into residential areas. Open areas, with naturally attractive locations, are most often targeted (Drzazga and Ratajczyk, 2005). Similar trends have been observed and described for the United States and western Europe (Watson, Plattus and Shibley, 2003; Diez de Pablo and Camina del Amo, 2009). For local communities, sale of land for non-agricultural use brings profits, both in terms of sale revenue and growing fiscal revenue for the communes. Sadly, however, the unrestrained urban sprawl usually leads to spatial chaos, as pointed out by authors including Lisowski and Grochowski (2008), Hołuj and Hołuj (2010) and Forman (2008). The chaotic urban sprawl results in increasing pressure on areas of high natural value, causing landscape degradation, biodiversity decline and pollution. In highly developed regions, designating a protected area helps to preserve the natural environment and landscape in a relatively good condition, but at the same time severely limits settlement and business activities. Restrictions resulting from nature conservation priorities are often perceived by local communities as an obstacle to local development, leading to conflicts (Fortin and Gagnon, 1999; Getzner, 2003).