Search

Greenery fosters sustainable outdoor environments and promotes walking and healthy lifestyles. Greening children's home–school routes can be seen as an environmentally sustainable solution that enhances their daily interaction with nature. However, the uneven distribution of greenery and route networks within cities results in varied opportunities for pedestrians, including children, to experience greenery. This study evaluates the urban heterogeneity of trade-offs between exposure to greenery and route length. We focus on the shortest and greenest hypothetical home–school routes for all children in the city. For this purpose, we conducted a spatial analysis using multiple spatially explicit data sets on primary schoolchildren, pedestrian street networks, and high-resolution urban green space maps, with Łódź (Poland) as the case study city. Children who opt for the greenest hypothetical routes instead of the shortest could increase their exposure to greenery by 18%. However, maximizing exposure to greenery requires choosing routes 9.5% (46 m) longer than the shortest alternative. The trade-off between the shortest and greenest home–school routes is more pronounced for children in the urban core area compared to other city zones. This urban heterogeneity should be considered when allocating new greenery to support active transportation. • Children have to walk more to enjoy greenery. • Highlighting the trade-offs between distance and exposure to greenery. • The greenest routes are greener by 18% than the shortest alternatives. • Maximizing exposure to greenery requires choosing routes longer by 9.5% than the shortest. • Trade-offs between distance and exposure vary between urban zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking is a primary physical activity that connects city inhabitants with nature, contributing to the development of healthy and sustainable cities. While green walking environments are typically associated with manicured urban parks and street greenery, other potential settings include urban wildscapes. These areas are shaped primarily by nature and offer a sense of being in nature or even the wild. This study explores whether city inhabitants are willing to walk through urban wildscapes and the factors influencing this willingness. We surveyed 524 residents of Warsaw, Poland, assessing their willingness to walk through eighteen urban wildscapes for both utility and recreational purposes. Random effects models indicated a higher willingness to walk through urban wildscapes for recreational walks compared to utility walks. City inhabitants preferred scattered greenery and grasslands for utility walks, while dense greenery and forests were favoured for recreational walks. A broader acceptance of walking through urban wildscapes could reduce the costs of maintaining urban green spaces and provide ecological benefits by preserving these areas in their 'wild' state. These findings contribute to discussions on social-ecological connectivity and the need to consider 'nature of the fourth kind' when planning green corridors that address societal and environmental needs. • Urban wildscapes are preferred more for recreational walks than for utility walks. • Scattered greenery and grasslands are favoured for utility walks. • Dense greenery and forests are preferred for recreational walks. • A greater focus on urban wildscapes is needed to enhance walkability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The visibility of street trees, and dense tree and shrub canopies in an area of 5 and 10 m around home-school routes is scarce. • The median coverage of greenery in the visibility area of 5 m around home-school routes is equal to 15%. • Poor visibility of greenery may indicate limited aesthetic appreciation for children. • Environmental injustice can be understood as welfare-related inequalities in the visibility of greenery along home-school routes among children. • Promoting an active home-school commute needs urban planning actions towards greening the walking routes. The multiple positive effects of an active school commute have convinced many cities to promote home-school walks among children and increase the awareness of designing healthy, child-friendly routes. One of the ways to ensure a child-friendly and healthy daily walk to school is to increase the greenery that children encounter on their way. This paper aims to evaluate welfare-related disparities among children in the visibility of greenery along their home-school routes and link them with distributive (in)justice regarding aesthetic appreciation. We hypothesise that children who belong to poor welfare-related status group have lower visibility of greenery along their routes to school than other children. Furthermore, we hypothesise that aesthetic appreciation provided by the greenery surrounding home-school routes is not equitably distributed to all children. For this purpose, we conducted a visibility analysis for primary school pupils in Lodz (Poland). In particular, we quantified the amount of greenery in the visibility areas of 5, 10, 30 and 50 m along the home-school routes of children. Our results show that the median visibility of greenery along the home-school routes is lower for shorter visibility distances (5 and 10 m) and street trees, dense tree and shrub canopies what could be further related to limited aesthetic experiences. We found that children who belong to poor welfare-related status group have less greenery along their home-school routes than others. This could indicate a distributive environmental injustice may occur not only in terms of the availability of green spaces for inhabitant's homes but also reveal disparities in the visibility of greenery during daily commutes. Our findings contribute to the ongoing discussion on making cities greener. In particular, they may be used by urban planners to identify priority streets for implementing urban green initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• People experiencing homelessness are diverse in terms of perception of UGS. • UGS hold distinct meanings for their users. • Participants of the study are subject to procedural and interactional injustice. • Topic of homelessness should be included in the just planning and management of UGS. The accessibility and attractiveness of urban green spaces (UGS) for individuals experiencing homelessness might be considered an example of the provision of environmental amenities for the most disadvantaged communities in the environmental justice discourse. We studied whether these people feel that they are condemned to spend time within UGS and what their personal narratives and perceptions of UGS were. The analysis was based on the triangulation of methods used in our case study city, Lodz, in Poland. First, we compiled a map of where people who live on the streets were recorded, based on data from the City Office of Lodz. Second, we conducted semi-structured and detailed interviews with streetworkers in order to obtain information regarding the use of public spaces (UGS in particular) by people who are homeless. Finally, we carried out interviews with (homeless) individuals whose activities took place within green surroundings. Our study showed that UGS are important to people experiencing homelessness, not only from the point of view of necessity or a lack of any other choice but – more importantly – from the perspective of individual preference and the fulfilment of personal needs. In this sense, our findings broaden the understanding of the accessibility and attractiveness of UGS to one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Residents in both Warsaw and Łódź are subject to unequal accessibility to urban green spaces. • The greenery associated with transportation routes, multi-family housing and agriculture have the greatest potential to complement formal UGS. • In Łódź, it is children who are most disadvantaged in terms of access to UGS, while in Warsaw it is elderly citizens. • Disparities among children and elderly citizens in access to formal green spaces can be reduced by informal green spaces. • Preservation of unmanaged areas can allow access to green spaces and enable more contact with nature close to home. Urban green spaces (UGS) offer a wide range of ecosystem services to city dwellers, contributing to their health and well-being. The resources of formally designated UGS, such as parks and forests, are frequently underprovided, however. This results in unequal access to UGS, which has become an environmental justice issue. We investigated the potential of informal green spaces (IGS) to complement existing formal UGS to reduce distributional inequity in UGS availability. We focused on the most vulnerable groups of citizens, children and elderly residents, for whom the availability of UGS plays a particularly important role. The study was performed in two Eastern-European cities, Warsaw and Łódź, both characterised by a well-developed system of UGS but of different spatial composition and UGS configuration. We focus on unmanaged areas within IGS and link them to the provisioning of recreational ecosystem services, such as enabling direct contact with nature. We identified different categories of formal and informal UGS based on publicly available data, supported by NDVI values, followed by UGS availability analysis of formal and informal UGS in the service area of 300 m for each residential building. We found that informal UGS are equally important as formal ones, and they may contribute to better access to selected urban ecosystem services. Both cities are characterised by unequal distribution of formal UGS. In Łódź, children are least favoured in terms of UGS availability, while in Warsaw, elderly citizens are most excluded. In both cities, it is the green areas associated with transportation routes communication routes, multi-family housing and agricultural lands along with grasslands that have the greatest potential to improve the equal availability of UGS to residents. We propose maintaining various types of unmanaged green areas in cities to help limit disparities to UGS access, and it would also increase their importance in the provisioning of recreational ecosystem services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's home–school walks are a perfect opportunity for green routes and active transportation. However, the availability of greenery along them likely varies among different socio-economic status (SES) groups. If low-SES children have less exposure to greenery than others during these walks, this might represent environmental injustice in transportation. We assess socio-environmental inequalities regarding children's exposure to greenery in three alternative home–school routes: the shortest, simplest, and greenest. We used a mixed-method approach, linking viewshed analysis, space syntax and network analysis using multiple Lodz (Poland) datasets. Exposure to greenery along all three types of home–school routes is consistently lower for low-SES than high-SES children, signalling environmental injustice. In particular, even the greenest home–school routes of low-SES children are less green than the simplest and shortest ones of high-SES children. Combining the knowledge of pedestrian movement and environmental justice is needed to understand and address these injustices adequately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective urban planning, and urban green space management in particular, require proper data on urban green spaces. The potential of urban green spaces to provide benefits to urban inhabitants (ecosystem services) depends on whether they are managed as a comprehensive system of urban green infrastructure, or as isolated islands falling under the responsibility of different stakeholders. Meanwhile, different urban green space datasets are based on different definitions, data sources, sampling techniques, time periods and scales, which poses important challenges to urban green infrastructure planning, management and research. Using the case study of Lodz, the third largest city in Poland, and an additional analysis of 17 other Polish cities, we compare data from five publicly available sources: 1) public statistics, 2) the national land surveying agency, 3) satellite imagery (Landsat data), 4) the Urban Atlas, 5) the Open Street Map. The results reveal large differences in the total amount of urban green spaces in the cities as depicted in different datasets. In Lodz, the narrowly interpreted public statistics data, which are aspatial, suggest that green spaces account for only 12.8% of city area, while the most comprehensive dataset from the national land surveying agency reveals the figure of 61.2%. The former dataset, which excludes many types of green spaces (such as arable land, private and informal green spaces), is still the most commonly used. The analysis of the 17 other cities confirms the same pattern. This results in broader institutional failures related to urban green infrastructure planning, management, and research, including a lack of awareness of green space quality (e.g. connectivity) and benefits (ecosystem services), and the related political disregard for urban green spaces. Our comparison suggests that a better understanding of green space data sources is necessary in urban planning, and especially when planning urban green infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise pollution has been recognized as one of major threats to the health of urban residents. Increasing green space availability can create a natural buffer to the adverse effects of living in an urban environment. These positive effects of urban green space can be directly related to an objective reduction of noise levels and – indirectly – to the subjective perception of noise exposure. In our study carried out in Lodz, Poland, we explored the relationship between objective noise levels and the subjective perception of noise exposure by urban residents in relation to urban green space availability. We refer to objective noise exposure expressed as GIS modelled L den derived from noise maps (compliant with the Environmental Noise Directive, 2002/49/EC), and subjective (self-reported) perception of noise exposure as declared in a questionnaire-based survey. We compared the percentage of green space in a buffer, the objectively measured noise level, and the perceived exposure to noise to find the most appropriate radius of the green space buffer. We decided to choose the green space coverage which is not correlated with an objective noise level to avoid potential multicollinearity in regression models. This contrasts with most studies, in which the radius of the buffer is set a priori . We thus compared the selected buffer of green space coverage – 300 m (representing green space availability) – with perceived noise exposure. We used the spatial error probit model to differentiate the impacts of objective and subjective noise indicators, at the same time including also the factor of green space availability. We found out that the direct effect of objectively measured noise levels, education, the presence of noisy neighbours, and building characteristics were the most important variables influencing the self-reported perception of noise by urban residents. The indirect effect of green space availability on noise perception was not strong, yet statistically significant. Although our study does not provide clear-cut evidence, it indicates that the indirect, psychological effects of urban green spaces can positively affect the life satisfaction of urban residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developers are interested in the fact that people are keen on living close to urban green spaces – and especially that they are willing to pay for it. This study aims to investigate to what extent developers capitalise on green space proximity, and to what extent they use green space proximity as a selling point in their marketing communications. We investigate developers' activities around 107 public parks and green squares in Lodz, Poland, between 2011 and 2021. We focus specifically on how many new residential buildings were built within a 500-metre buffer around the parks, divided into an inner buffer (within 100 m) and an outer buffer (within 100–500 m). (Despite being farther, the outer buffer is still considered to be near the park.) Our results show that most new residential developments occurred around large and very large parks, parks characterised by the highest multifunctionality, and – most importantly – parks otherwise known to serve as amenities (positively influencing real estate prices). The most attractive parks tend to attract the most developments. Furthermore, the larger the park, the smaller the share of standard new developments. Additionally, we found that luxury developments were more likely to be advertised as benefiting from green space proximity, even if they were not located within the inner (100 m) buffer. We discuss these results in the context of external benefits reaped by developers as well as various cases of abuse or greenwashing claims in marketing new residential developments. We indicate how developers who build up informal green spaces (most new developments were sited on land that was previously not built up) reap external benefits provided by publicly maintained green spaces, and how this fits into the neoliberal urban green growth machine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green space (UGS) is a broad and potentially very inclusive term. Although most discussions on UGS focus on urban parks, there are many other vegetated areas in cities. Many are not formally recognised and protected, hence they are called informal green spaces (IGS), and yet they provide ecosystem services similar to parks. Based on a detailed overview of the different categories of UGS, we shed new light on how the different categories of UGS are included in urban planning and provide a snapshot of the disturbing urban land use transition – from UGS to other uses – which is partly related to the lack of formal recognition of IGS. The novelty in our study is that we mapped and analysed all UGS in our case study area, following two rivers that cut through Lodz (Łódź), Poland – from one peri-urban area (partly rural), through the city centre, to the peri-urban area on the other side of the city. The urban structures and the gradient of buildings in the studied area coincide with the urban structures for the whole of Lodz; therefore, our research area is a representative part of the city and its heterogeneity. Out of the seventeen UGS categories we distinguished, only six are formally recognised and account for 24% of all areas covered by UGS. Only 7% of the area we identified as UGS is designated as different types of vegetated areas according to local zoning plans. The analysis highlights broader challenges related to the planning and management of urban green and blue infrastructures. • Urban green spaces (UGS) need to be defined broadly to include all vegetated areas. • We identified UGS based on land use datasets and confronted them with a vegetation cover map. • Out of 17 UGS categories, only six are formally recognised (24% of UGS area). • The share of informal GS is large, and the scope of unprotected informal GS is even larger. • Collaboration between public and private actors is particularly necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial conflicts related to the use of urban green spaces typically result from conflicting preferences and institutions not being able to account for the equitable distribution of benefits. Our study focuses on the value conflicts and contestations around using an urban green space as a "social good" and the political processes of defining what makes it "good." It investigates the institutional setting and the preferences of 415 forest users in a series of entertainment events organized in a large municipal forest (Lagiewniki) in Lodz, Poland. The low socio-economic status group benefited at the cost of the high socio-economic group, whose members typically chose to change their routes in the forest to avoid the nuisance related to these events. The fact that the lower socio-economic status group benefited seems to have been an unplanned side effect of leasing the deteriorating site (to reduce municipal costs) to a company that chose to pick a low-hanging fruit and not invest in developing the site but only cater to the less picky clientele. The local authorities responsible for leasing the site turned a blind eye to the various nuisances caused by these events and disregarded local conservation provisions. We put this case in the context of the "lumpengeography of capital" (Walker, 1978), which suggests that due to the relative scarcity of capital and the abundance of green spaces, some areas remain in a stage of disinvestment, perhaps only temporarily awaiting the next wave of capitalist redevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social processes that took place in the past left a mark not only on cultural heritage but also on ecosystems and biodiversity, which is now depicted in the concept of biocultural diversity. The related “biocultural value” represents yet another dimension of the value of urban green spaces which we attempt to integrate into monetary valuation with the use of hedonic pricing. We compare the impacts of different green spaces on property prices in Łódź, Poland, differentiating green spaces based on their biocultural value. Furthermore, we use quantile regression and analyze the heterogeneity of estimates according to the price of the apartment. Our study indicates that while there is a general desire to live close to the green space, biocultural value does not translate into any positive impact on property prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the application of Limosilactobacillus fermentum S8 from organic whey in meat processing and investigation the effect of bacteria on the concentration of nitrosyl pigments, colour formation, physicochemical characteristics and microbiological quality of uncured cooked meat products. 3 canned meat batters' were produced: control with salt and sodium nitrite (100 mg/ kg), treatment with salt, treatment with salt and L. fermentum S8 (107 cfu/g), then the cans were stored and cooked. The tests were carried out after production, 32 and 56 days of cold storage. It was shown that the use of L. fermentum in the processing of uncured meat caused the increase concentration of nitrosyl pigments and redness (a*) in the products after cooking. The addition of bacteria had a significant impact on the lowering pH value and the redox potential of the cooked products. The product from L. fermentum was characterized by a similar microbiological quality as compared to the traditionally cured and non-cured products (P < 0.05). [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a social preference survey performed in Warsaw, we assessed the preferences toward alterations in urban green spaces (UGS) that should take place to ensure safe recreation. We identified how peoples' personal characteristics are linked to the preferred changes to formulate recommendations for alterations addressing post-covid challenges while keeping the resident's preferences in mind. We used 1–7 scorings of images of different types of urban landscapes, which we photomanipulated to represent varying levels of crowding, followed by questions regarding recreational behaviour, anxiety towards COVID and preferred changes. Various urban landscapes were, on average, comparably suitable for recreation, only highly urbanized landscapes receiving lower scorings. The respondents declared that vegetation density and overall share of vegetation were of the highest importance in assessing images and claimed that crowding had little effect on their preferences. Those statements were inverse to their choices when assessing recreational preferences based on images: the presence of people in all cases decreased assessment of the scenery. There was a clear respondents' need for more wild and cultivated vegetation and more places for spending time in UGS. Any repressive actions by distancing people spatially in UGS, isolating seniors or introducing entry limits did not meet social approval. We also identified two major behavioural patterns: people who were primarily driven by fear of COVID-19, visiting green spaces closer to their homes and having less need for UGS alterations. The second group was those frequently visiting UGS who did not reveal fear of COVID-19, those who did not favour wide paths or the importance of UGS located nearby, and opted for more wilderness. These two approaches to recreation are likely to persist after the pandemic, which supports the need to increase UGS diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that transport infrastructure policies have significant consequences on the environment, housing, business, and people's everyday movement. With the use of space syntax geometric (sum of angular deviations) and topological (number of directional changes) measures and conventional network metric distance, this article analyses the change in transport infrastructure in Greater Cairo between 2011 and 2021 and quantifies its likely impact on access to 57 public parks. The study advocates for a better understanding of the streetscape changes produced by transport infrastructure policies and how they may impact access to urban green spaces (UGS), particularly parks. The results suggest that the accessibility of 40 parks was reduced at both neighborhood and city-wide scales. Moreover, more than one-quarter of the total study area, including both densely populated marginalized areas and upscale neighborhoods, was significantly negatively affected by streetscape changes. Furthermore, the average distance traveled to parks increased from 3566 (m) in 2011–3612 (m) in 2021. These distances are high compared to the few hundred meters recommended in pedestrian accessibility strategies. These findings are not only important for policy makers in Egypt but will also be helpful to other similar contexts around the world by understanding and forecasting the likely implications of design changes and suggesting targeted strategies for improving access to UGS and, in turn, maximizing UGS use rates. In particular, our findings contribute to the debate on the problems caused by inner-city elevated highways. Lastly, this study provides a general analytical framework that can be applied to other cities across the globe to assess the effects of transport infrastructure changes on access to UGS. • Access to public parks is quantified in Greater Cairo in 2011 and 2021. • Space syntax and conventional network metric proximity measures are complementary. • The transport infrastructure changes significantly hinder access to parks. • Overpasses and bridges frequently increase the walking distance to parks. • Both affluent and disadvantaged neighborhoods are negatively affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With this paper, we enrich the environmental justice debate by investigating differences in the provision of parks in Lodz, Poland, at three levels: availability, accessibility, and attractiveness. A park is 'available' when it exists within a suitable distance from where we live; it is 'accessible' when we feel that we are welcome there, and we can freely reach and safely use this park; it is 'attractive' when we willingly want to use it and spend time there. Our research hypothesis is that the most vulnerable groups of inhabitants concentrate around parks whose provision is affected by the largest number of barriers at each of the three levels, while the least vulnerable benefit from the vicinity of parks that are the least affected. Apart from the statistical analysis – the correlation between the indicators that represent the three levels of park provision and those that represent the most and least economically vulnerable using Pearson's coefficient – we scrutinize three case study parks. The results confirm that there are inequalities at the level of attractiveness for the most vulnerable groups; meanwhile, no statistically significant results were recorded for the least vulnerable groups. The differences would probably be more explicit had socioeconomic segregation been higher in Lodz. The results may also be influenced by the unique postsocialist and postindustrial legacy of our city. The ongoing revitalization of the city center and the increased activity of developers may exclude the most vulnerable inhabitants and deepen segregation. • Proposed research framework incorporates three dimensions of green space provision. • Some inequalities found for the most vulnerable groups, seniors and the elderly. • No statistically significant results recorded for the least vulnerable groups. • Results affected by chaotic spatial planning and postsocialist legacy of our city. • Policies preventing inequalities should address all three levels of park provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socioeconomic disparities in urban green space (UGS) availability and environmental injustice may occur not only at the scale of whole cities, selected districts/neighbourhoods, but also at lower spatial scales, such as urban blocks or even individual buildings. The latter – microscale UGS disparities – reflect differences in UGS availability among inhabitants who belong to different socioeconomic status groups and inhabit different buildings or parts of buildings. This article evaluates whether disparities in UGS availability and environmental injustice may occur in microscale in cities characterized by low socioeconomic segregation in general, such as those located in Central and Eastern Europe. For this purpose, we identified microscale socioeconomic disparities in UGS availability in the central zone of Lodz (Poland) using the localized modelling technique. Then, using a spatial microsimulation experiment, we demonstrated that an increase of segregation in Lodz's central zone would increase disparities in UGS availability and the occurrence of environmental injustice there. We demonstrated that the way the patterns of segregation interplay with microscale disparities can be further linked with temporal evolution of housing stock and local housing policy. Our findings may be useful for urban planners to stimulate the spatio-social diversity of inhabitants by focusing on microscale UGS disparities. • Socioeconomic disparities in green space availability may occur in small spatial scale – microscale. • Microscale disparities may appear even if socioeconomic segregation is low. • Green space disparities often reflect historical evolution of housing stock. • Need for stimulating socio-spatial diversity by urban planners to promote green space equity. • Understanding that segregation and environmental justice are linked is important for urban planners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated the possibility of replacing existing lawns located in urban parks with patches of energy crop plantations as a way to reduce maintenance costs. We selected six sites located on the edges of urban parks in Warsaw (Poland), characterized by low aesthetical value, high noise levels, and low vegetation diversity. For these sites, we evaluated replacing existing vegetation with selected energy plant species from a social and economic perspective. We conducted face-to-face interviews with park visitors to assess the public's perception of the aesthetic value of the energy crops using a series of computerized visual simulations. Also, we analyzed the costs and benefits of energy crops cultivation over a 20-year cycle and compared them with the maintenance costs of the current management of lawns in parks. The results from the survey showed that after introducing energy crops in all the cases, the attractiveness of the parks' interiors would increase compared to existing conditions. Replacing existing lawns would have a minor effect on vegetation diversity, and this would only concern species typical for turf lawns common in urban landscapes. We found that over 20 years, the production of biomass from 9 of the 13 species is related to lower costs than those related to maintaining existing lawns in Warsaw. Only for H. salicifolius, L. thuringiaca, S. pectinata, B. napus is the production of biomass non-profitable in comparison to maintaining existing vegetation. For all other species, we found losses in the production of biomass over 20 years. However, these losses are still lower than the costs of lawn maintenance, suggesting that planting ECs is more profitable than the existing green infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Hotspots of residential density are used as a signal of urban sprawl. • Hotspots increase in number with increasing distance to the city centre. • The occurrence of urban sprawl in Lodz corresponds with green space availability. Acknowledging urban sprawl as one of the major threats to the functioning of urban environments, the article focuses on its possible association with urban green spaces (UGS). UGS can act as an attracting factor influencing housing demand in cities. However, the spatial distribution of UGS may affect sprawling dynamics. Therefore, the analysis focuses on finding linkages between urban sprawl and green space availability within three concentric zones of the city of Lodz. Hotspot analysis has been used as a method to describe sprawling dynamics in relation to UGS availability. UGS availability was defined as a percentage of the area of parks and forests in a 1000 m buffer. The results showed that the highest UGS availability in the peripheral zone of the city was linked to an increase in the number of residents between 2000 and 2015. The peripheral zone was also characterized by stronger clustering of hotspots of residential density. Starting from the peripheral zone, UGS availability was 6.01%, 3.45% and 2.86% of the area of each respective zone. ANOVA analysis confirmed that the average availability of UGS for newly registered residential buildings differs statistically between the rings at the 0.05 level. While most urban residents still live within the central (yet continuously depopulating) zone, it is characterized by the smallest UGS availability (2.86% covered by UGS), which might raise concerns regarding the occurrence of possible environmental injustice in terms of uneven access to benefits provided by UGS. Hotspot analysis can provide valuable input into the discussion regarding the application of specific spatially targeted measures, for the sake of sustainable urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the predominant acute leukemia among adults, characterized by an accumulation of malignant immature myeloid precursors. A very promising way to treat AML is differentiation therapy using either all- trans -retinoic acid (ATRA) or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 (1,25D), or the use of both these differentiation-inducing agents. However, the effect of combination treatment varies in different AML cell lines, and this is due to ATRA either down- or up-regulating transcription of vitamin D receptor (VDR) in the cells examined. The mechanism of transcriptional regulation of VDR in response to ATRA has not been fully elucidated. Here, we show that the retinoic acid receptor α (RARα) is responsible for regulating VDR transcription in AML cells. We have shown that a VDR transcriptional variant, originating in exon 1a, is regulated by RARα agonists in AML cells. Moreover, in cells with a high basal level of RARα protein, the VDR gene is transcriptionally repressed as long as RARα agonist is absent. In these cells down-regulation of the level of RARα leads to increased expression of VDR . We consider that our findings provide a mechanistic background to explain the different outcomes from treating AML cell lines with a combination of ATRA and 1,25D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to position postsocialist cities in Central and Eastern Europe in the broader debate on urban environmental justice. The article crosscuts through all three dimensions of justice (distributive/distributional, procedural/participatory, and interactional/recognition) in the context of urban green and blue space provision. Environmental justice is still an emerging topic in postsocialist cities, constrained by market-orientation and neoliberal trends within society, privatization, and the primacy of private interests. The respective situation in postsocialist cities provides insights into the international debate on environmental justice, by highlighting some extremes related to neoliberal and populist governments and very rapid processes that lack long-term democratic consensus within societies. The findings of this study are discussed in the context of a postsocialist legacy, which includes broad tolerance for inequalities, a lack of solidarity in society, a lack of responsibility for the public interest, and extreme individualization and disregard for social interests. This has gradually led to the corporatization of local authorities and various business–government coalitions. This setting is more likely to favor business models related to the use and management of urban green and blue spaces than the environmental justice discourse. • Broad tolerance for inequalities, lack of solidarity in society, lack of responsibility for the public interest • Extreme individualisation and disregard for the social interest • Corporatisation of local authorities and various business–government coalitions • Urban green and blue spaces poorly considered in planning • Justice consideration far from being accepted as guiding principles for urban greening [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Every park has barriers limiting its availability, accessibility and attractiveness. • Very small parks are characterized by higher intensity of barriers than big parks. • The highest intensity of barriers was noted in the center and on the outskirts of the city. • Comparing our results with the spatial distribution of city residents we will reveal a full view of UGS provision. • The utility of the proposed system of indicators depends on the availability of the underlying data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to establish a third molar developmental database to model dental age of Polish youngsters, to investigate the rating level of the scores when dividing a year interval into a quarter of a year and to examine sex differences, left-right and upper-lower jaw asymmetry. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional sample of 1048 orthopantomograms of 644 females and 404 males aged between 12 and 26 years was investigated using the scoring system of Gleiser and Hunt modified by Köhler. Reference tables according to age were split in a whole year and in quarters of a year using descriptive statistics. The various developmental stages between males and females were analyzed with a paired t-test and the cusum method. Differences in mineralization between the quadrants were analyzed with a two-factor ANOVA and the Duncan post hoc test. The single quadratic and support vector regression were performed to describe the relationship between score and age. Results: Dividing age classes in quarters of a year discriminated better between individuals provided that there is a sufficient sampling size for all age classes. The mineralization tempo occurred significantly at a faster rate in males. The maturational events in the upper arch developed significantly at earlier ages for both genders. Obtained chronological age had nearly the same standard error of estimate when calculated with both regression methods. Discussion and Conclusion: Comparing the results of the present study with those of other population groups suggests that there are differences in the ageing process of the wisdom tooth. This is the first database of Polish youngsters (15-24 years) with their respective regression equations to yield age estimations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]