The Land Use of Decommissioned Coal Mines Areas in the Upper Silesian Agglomeration (Poland)

Abstract

Abstract The transformation of post-industrial areas of coal mines has been going on for over 80 years. Despite years of discussion and various international experiences, effective instruments and best practices for brownfields are still being sought. Today, in the face of rapidly changing social and environmental conditions, it is necessary to rethink the future of coal regions. To meet the challenges ahead, all experiences must be critically analysed and confronted with land development. This paper shows the main directions of decommissioned coal mines areas in the Silesian Agglomeration. For this purpose, it was necessary to identify closed mines’ areas and recognise they present land use. The research is based on a query of archival and library materials, field research, the author’s classification of land use, and cartographic and quantitative research. The study shows that the main direction of land use is industry (about 48.3%) and services (24.4%). Furthermore, until today more than half of the post-industrial land is undeveloped by mining facilities, and only about 7.4% of it is prepared for potential investment.