In 2015, in another amendment to the Act on Spatial Planning and Development a provision was introduced about the need to perform balancing of the area for development. One of the balancing components is to estimate the capacity of two types of areas: the first are characterized by a fully developed compact functional and spatial structure, whereas the second are intended for development in local plans. Capacity is understood as the ability to locate new buildings in these areas. Such approach brings down the discussed aspect to the local scale. The article proposes an innovative approach to the capacity problem of sub-regional areas, i.e. functional areas of urban regional centres. The thesis was adopted that effective management of these areas'development imposes the presentation of capacity problems in a supra-local scale. The purpose of the study is to present the method (based on the set of indicators) used to construct the initial characteristics of municipalities included in the functional area, as a basis for estimating the capacity of particular areas. Such approach allows balancing the spatial resources of different functional areas across the entire functional area, protecting valuable natural areas from excessive anthropopression, protecting and preserving open areas, reducing the costs ...
In accordance with the integrated territorial approach, the urban functional areas of regionalcentres require a coherent, comprehensive and coordinated development policy. Currently, there are neither legal nor organizational regulations in Poland solving the problem of multi-level management. In such situation the coordinating role can be attributed to spatial planning in both regional and sub-regional scale. One of its elements is the real capacity assessmentof the land planned for development.The article presents the method of analyses being the basis for estimating area capacity in the urban functional area of Wroclaw.The conducted analyses covered 25 rural and urban-rural municipalities, and as the reference areas the municipalities of Oława, Oleśnica and the core area i.e.Wrocław. It was adoptedthat the generally available statistical data will be used in the analyses and on this basis a set of indicators, divided into spatial, demographic and environmental criteria, was proposed. The scope of analyses covers the years 1995, 2005 and 2015. The purpose of the study is to characterize the functional area of Wroclaw in terms of its potential capacity and to compare the obtained results in time and space. The suggested balancing method can be useful for determining rational planning and spatial management directions at a ...
