• Energy Research

The ongoing climate changes necessitate an effective climate policy. The energy transition is now an important topic and problem, especially in Poland. (1) The undertaken analysis of the problem of energy transition is important for political, social and technological reasons. Political, because it shows the weakness of the implementation of Polish energy policy in regards to climate change. Social, because energy transition will bring about significant social changes in the largest industrial region of Poland. Technological, as the departure from fossil fuels requires the introduction of other sources of energy on a massive scale, for which Poland is not prepared. The aim of the study was to critically analyse the activities to date in the field of energy transition in Poland. The second goal of the analysis was an attempt to answer the question of whether the process of energy transition and achieving the goals set in the EU’s European Green Deal are possible at all until 2050. (2) To achieve the goals, the system method and the decision-making method were primarily used. These methods allowed for an examination of the main determinants of the Polish energy transformation. (3) The main results include the confirmation, contrary to the announcements of the Polish government, that despite the adoption in Poland of the strategy “Poland’s energy policy until 2040”, the effective implementation of the energy transition before 2050 is not only very difficult, but may even be impossible to implement in the assumed time. This is due to political, economic, social and technological conditions. Coal energy is outdated, expensive and ineffective. Due to natural conditions, wind energy is not able to meet the energy demand of the industry. The development of nuclear energy is only in the planning phase. (4) To sum up, in the next thirty years, Poland will not be able to achieve the assumed effects of the energy transition, which is in contradiction with the official declaration of the government.

Currently, global urbanization trends offer various development models, but their main goal is to create a comfortable and safe environment for city residents. Most cities in Kazakhstan are small in scale and face several pressing problems, such as limited infrastructure, inadequate public services, economic challenges resulting in unemployment, environmental problems, and housing shortages. In this article, using the examples of the towns of Zhanatas and Karatau, an attempt was made to indicate the threat posed by wind to the sustainable development of monocities in the Zhambyl region. The working hypothesis of our study is that state policy supporting the sustainable development of small towns is insufficient and should be changed. Theoretical, empirical, and cartographic methods were used during the research, depending on the specificity of the analyzed territories. The unique climatic features of the cities of Karatau and Zhanatas, which are located in the study area, were taken into account and unfavorable meteorological phenomena were analyzed. The collected data were used to assess the impact of climatic conditions on the sustainable development of small towns in the study area. The research’s results allow one not only to determine the impact of wind exposure on the sustainable development of small towns in the Zhambyl region, but also constitute a basis for assessing, more generally, the opportunities and threats relevant to small towns.

There are many published bibliometric works in the literature on the broadly understood topics of tourism, sustainability, and security (STS). Most of these studies present an indexed approach, showing the impact of works, journals, spatial diversity, and the most frequently published or cited authors. The research and analysis undertaken in our work had a different goal: they were an attempt to answer questions about the degree of interest of researchers in the issue of STS, the dynamics of research devoted to the topics of STS, and internal differentiation in the broadly understood concept of security/danger in STS research. Data from the Web of Science journal database were used for the analysis. To determine the number of articles devoted to the topics of security, tourism, and sustainability, several combined keywords and simple statistical analyses were used. In the last 10, and especially 5 years (2019–2023), in each of the three topic groups, there has been an exponential increase in publications in journals indexed in the WoS database. In the sustainability category, risk and security received the most responses; in the tourism, COVID-19, and risk category; and in the tourism, sustainability, risk, and COVID-19 category. The use of keywords indicated thematic diversity in the field of security in each of the examined categories. The greatest interest among STS researchers was in studies related to the “COVID-19” threat. The results of the analysis allowed us to conclude there is an ongoing process of securitization in tourism research.

(1) Investigating, collecting data with specific character, as well as registering and investigating data concerning ornaments and colors, patterns as expressive possibilities of designs of Romanian folk textile are important activities to do. The first goal of the research undertaken was to collect, preserve, and protect knowledge about old patterns and weaving techniques in selected regions of Romania, and the second to use old patterns for the modern needs of folk handicraft weaving and the clothing industry. (2) In the undertaken research, material was obtained from antique textiles, clothes, and paintings on canvas, from selected objects in the Maramureș region and Bihor region. The selection was made by the ReliefF method. The specimens of specification throw weight by the geometry method was used to characterize the types of weaving techniques. Principal component analysis methods were used to reduce the amount of data of the vector of textural features. (3) The research on selected Romanian textiles allowed for the construction of a model of texture features that describes them. The results include the specimens’ measurements, analysis of fabric structures, yarn specification, and the reconstruction of the fabrics. Based on the obtained results, a simulation of fashion trends was performed. (4) The analysis of individual components increased the knowledge of weaving techniques in the studied regions and may be an inspiration for contemporary design in local and regional handicrafts as well as in the clothing industry.

This article follows two important interconnected aspects. On one hand, it investigates whether the political factors represented by the presence of ethnic minorities can be a catalyst for tourism development in cross-border regions, in addition to the development of transport infrastructure. On the other hand, it offers a comparative analysis and territorial diagnosis of the Bihor-Hajdú–Bihar and Maramureş–Zakarpattya cross border regions, analyzing the main tourist indicators and the advances made in the development of the transport infrastructure with a role in the development of tourism. The paper is based on desk and quantitative research involving national and regional statistic data. Research on the literature regarding Hungarian–Romanian and Romanian–Ukrainian borderland was also realized, in order to conduct comparative analysis useful to identify and evaluate the factors linked with tourism development. Using a multiscale approach, the objective is to determine if there is a correlation between the development of the transport network and the increase in tourist traffic. The results show that transport infrastructure plays a critical role in ensuring the connections of border regions. Although the two regions are contiguous, there is an obvious difference in cross-border traffic due to the presence of two different types of border. The transport network and tourism situation in Bihor has improved in the last years, especially under the impact of cross-border cooperation, but the accessibility remains relatively low. In Maramureş, the development of cross-border connections is based on cultural exchange, and less on economic relations. Transport accessibility is a strong point of the Hungarian–Romanian borderland and represents an obstacle for the development of tourism in the Romanian–Ukrainian borderland.

Konflikt zbrojny pomiędzy Rosją a Ukrainą spowodował znaczne ograniczenie dostaw surowców energetycznych z Rosji do Polski, a ceny energii w Polsce drastycznie wzrosły w drugiej połowie 2022 r. Konieczne wydaje się zatem zbadanie skali ubóstwa energetycznego (EP) w Polsce, aby skutecznie wspierać dotknięte nim gospodarstwa domowe. Ponieważ polityki wsparcia mają sens jedynie na poziomie gmin, celem podjętych przez autorów badań była analiza czynników i określenie zasięgu EP gospodarstw domowych na wybranym obszarze — powiatu augustowskiego. Drugim celem badania jest wykazanie, iż wybór metody badawczej i przyjętych kryteriów może prowadzić do znacząco dużych rozbieżności w wynikach, co może determinować wybór metody badawczej ze względów politycznych i ekonomicznych. W celu weryfikacji hipotezy o większym stopniu EP na wsi niż w gminach miejskich wykorzystano dane na poziomie gmin, w podziale na gminy miejskie i wiejskie. W badaniach wykorzystano obliczenia statystyczne oraz analizę bogatej literatury dotyczącej definicji i teorii pomiaru ubóstwa. Badania wykazały przestrzenne zróżnicowanie EP na terenie badanego powiatu (w którym wynosiło 27,85%) i jego gmin. W mieście Augustów EP wyniosło 11,00%, a w gminie Płaska, charakteryzującej się najwyższym poziomem ubóstwa, sięgało ponad 64,00%. Wybrana metoda badawcza, oparta na ustawowej definicji ubóstwa energetycznego, w istotny sposób ogranicza występowanie tego zjawiska w porównaniu z innymi metodami. W literaturze przedmiotu nie osiągnięto konsensusu co do definicji ubóstwa energetycznego. Doprowadziło to do przyjęcia odmiennych metod i kryteriów badania, co spowodowało istotne różnice w określeniu jego skali, co utrudniało prowadzenie polityki wsparcia gospodarstw domowych.

Rural areas and peripheral borderland territories are experiencing socio-economic marginalization featuring depopulation, population aging, and an increasing inequality gap in the quality of life compared to cities. Integrated rural tourism is argued to be ideal for supporting the well-being of rural communities, providing an additional income, decreasing unemployment, offering new and appealing jobs out of traditional rural activities, while preserving the conventional lifestyle. In this study, we discovered the tourism capacity of rural borderland territories affected by cross-border tourism using the data on the geography of cross-border movements, the distribution of tourist sights, and the density of tourist accommodation facilities. The geographical scope of the study covered two cross-border coastal regions—the Russian–Polish region on the Baltic Sea and the Russian–Kazakh region on the Caspian Sea. The statistical and geoinformation analysis were used to allocate areas of prospecting rural tourism integrated with cross-border movement. The research results on the development and distribution of tourist infrastructure suggest that: the rural territories of these regions feature tourist attractions and accommodation facilities at a different level of density and remoteness from the border crossing; each cross-border region is featuring different types of travel restrictions for tourists; and both border-land territories show asymmetry by the more active Russian tourists traveling abroad. Each of the regions under consideration is attractive for cross-border tourism while having different degrees of penetration of tourist flows into the interior territories and coverage of rural areas. The study resulted in a tourist flow model that allows integrating rural areas.

Understanding how event quality influences destination identity and tourist satisfaction is crucial for creating memorable experiences and fostering positive perceptions of a destination. The ‘Night of the Museums’ event in Oradea, Romania, offers a unique cultural experience, but little research has been conducted to understand its impact on destination perception and tourist satisfaction. This study examines the relationship between event quality, destination identity, tourist satisfaction, and behavioral intentions within the context of Oradea’s Night of the Museums event. Four domains of event quality (visit quality, interaction quality, outcome quality, and physical environment quality) are assessed for their impact on destination identity and tourist satisfaction. Results indicated that visit quality, interaction quality, and outcome quality significantly predicted destination identity, whereas interaction quality and the quality of the physical environment significantly influenced tourist satisfaction. Furthermore, positive event experiences increased the likelihood of tourists recommending the destination to others, which in turn significantly predicted the intention to revisit. These findings have implications for event organizers, destination management organizations, and policymakers seeking to enhance event quality, promote positive destination identity, and cultivate tourist satisfaction, ultimately leading to increased recommendations and revisitation.

(1) Background: In the context of differences among countries developing pre-entrepreneurship ecosystems in relation to agritourism, the need to define the specific challenges and facilitators in the group of post-communist countries is recognised. Given that, we aim to examine the differences between the countries belonging to the former USSR and the satellite countries of the former USSR. (2) Methods: For the realisation of the intended objective, we analysed studies of the literature on the subject, in terms of the theoretical treatment of the entrepreneurial eco-system in the field of agritourism, and current legal acts. Our own observations from stays in the regions in question were also used, along with statistical methods concerning the density of the transport network, comparative analysis of historical and political conditions, and SWOT analysis. (3) Results: Substantial differences were found between the components of the agritourism entrepreneurship ecosystem in Poland and Kazakhstan, primarily related to the level of transport infrastructure density (satisfactory in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, insufficient in North Kazakhstan), tradition of individual farming (well established in Poland, poorly present in Kazakhstan), support for agritourism development by central and local authorities (relatively high in Poland, incidental and with a short history in Kazakhstan), and finally, differences in the target group of agritourism service recipients (stable in Poland, undefined in Kazakhstan). (4) Conclusions: The research leads to the conclusion of the heterogeneity of the determinants of the development of the agritourism entrepreneurship ecosystem in countries collectively defined as post-communist. There are clearly different challenges and facilitations resulting not so much from the past political system as from the ethnic-historical considerations, the position of agriculture in the economy, and the degree and effectiveness of the involvement of administrative authorities in the development of agritourism. The study leads to a recommendation on the need for more efficient targeting of agritourism consumers abroad.