Small-scale retention as an element of the eco-city concept in the context of strategic planning documents in Poland

Contemporary cities should be developed based on concepts grounded in ecology and sustainable development. The eco-city is one of such concepts which emphasises the role of hydrological resources, especially small-scale retention, in environmentally- and user-friendly spatial development.Pro-environmental concepts are manifested mainly as provisions reflecting the above principles in the strategic documents of cities. The aim of this article was to verify the hypothesis postulating that in “Studies of the Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development” (SCaDSD) [in Polish: “Studia uwarunkowań i kierunków zagospodarowania przestrzennego” – SUiKZP], which are the fundamental strategic documents for Polish cities, the approach to small-scale retention is diverse and often insufficient from the “eco-city” perspective. To achieve the research goal, SCaDSDs were analysed in a comparative study (7,061 data records for spatial planning and small-scale retention were analysed). The study demonstrated that in SCaDSDs, small-scale retention solutions are diversified both quantitatively and qualitatively, which may hinder the implementation of the eco-city concept in terms of small-scale retention. SCaDSDs focus primarily on the protective and cleansing roles of retention, including protection against flood risk and access to clean water which is a basic human need. SCaDSDs should offer a multi-functional approach to retention and thus fully implement“eco-city” principles. This is a particularly important consideration because the role of strategic planning documents is to provide up-to-date directions for the sustainable development for modern cities.