Land Management Using Land Reserves to Alleviate Emergencies on the Example of Warsaw

Abstract

Some of the most important contemporary threats to the population are global emergencies, such as pandemics, refugee waves, and climate disasters. Urban areas with high-density housing and limited access to services have been primarily affected. There is often a lack of time, resources, and space to develop primary services available near places of residence. In the face of progressing urbanisation and the expanding pandemic, it is necessary to rationally manage urban space, ensuring the use of unused, post-industrial areas, on the one hand, and minimise the negative effects of crises—the spread of a virus, the occurrence of an urban heat island, or the relocation of refugees. One beneficial solution in cities is effectively managing empty, undeveloped urban areas to develop cities in a way that is future-proof from new emergencies. In this study, we aimed to search for optimal solutions which can help to alleviate the negative effects of emergencies in the city using the decision-making model of field reserve management. Two districts of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland, were chosen for this study: one was typically urbanised, namely, Mokotów, and the other had large undeveloped areas for construction, namely, Białołęka. We analysed the land reserves of these districts. Spatial analyses of the data made it possible to identify optimal locations that constituted land reserves that can be used for essential services. Based on the analysis results, planners can effectively create a set of recommendations for local governments. Thanks to these recommendations, municipalities can manage their land reserves and eventually adapt them for the abovementioned purposes. As a result, it is expected that the effective management of land reserves using publicly available spatial data will improve preventive actions in an emergency, such as a pandemic. In addition, the proposed design solutions are universal; since they are based on the data on available field reserves and their statuses, management in emergencies will be possible.