dr Elżbieta Kozubek Office Director
dr Michał Czaykowski Deputy Director for Approvals and Opinions
Marcin RolnikDeputy Director for Organization and Administration
The current management of the Mazovian Office of Regional Planning in Warsaw.
Author: Mazowieckie Biuro Planowania Regionalnego
Bicycle infrastructure standards and bicycle route concept
Bicycle infrastructure standards and concept of bicycle routes of the province adopted by the Board of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship.
The Board of the Mazovian Voivodeship, mindful of the need to implement a coherent network of functional bicycle infrastructure within the voivodeship, adopted the following on June 28. Bicycle infrastructure standardsand the concept of bicycle routes indicated for implementation in the perspective until 2030 in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship. The document was prepared by the Mazovian Regional Planning Office in Warsaw.
The standards specify the conditions for effective planning, design and execution of bicycle infrastructure. They are based on examples of good practice and an analysis of problems faced by bicycle traffic in Poland.
The document also implements the provisions of the Spatial Development Plan of the Mazovian Voivodeship, which preliminarily defined a backbone network of bicycle routes based on routes of international, supra-regional and regional scope. In the Concept of bicycle routes indicated for implementationin the perspective until 2030, the routes providing connections of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship with routes of international and supra-regional range, as well as service to Warsaw and all sub-regional centers were detailed.and all sub-regional centers.
The standards should be attached to the specification of essential terms of the contract (ToR) in ordersand contracts for preparatory and construction works affecting cycling conditions in the province. This applies both to investments implemented by the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Self-Governmentand its subordinate units (such as the Mazovian Voivodeship Road Administration), as well as those implemented with the support of funds distributed by the Voivodeship Government, including European Funds for Mazovia. Thus, compliance with the Standards should be ensured in the case of investments in infrastructure for cyclists financed with funds at the disposal of the Mazovian Voivodeship.
The Standards apply to: construction and reconstruction of bicycle routes and their components, including roads for bicycles, pedestrian and bicycle trails, roads without separate bicycle infrastructure and pedestrian areas with permitted bicycle traffic, as well as traffic lights and engineering facilities – footbridges, tunnels and bridges. It is recommended that the Standards be applied during railroad and embankment projects, infrastructure with high potential for bicycle routes.
Due to the universal nature of the Standards, they can also be used by municipalities and counties of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship as guidelines for the design and construction of bicycle infrastructure not co-financed by the voivodeship government. For this purpose, they will be provided to all local government units in the province.
Bicycle infrastructure standards and the concept of bicycle routes indicated for implementation in the perspective until 2030 in the Mazowieckie Voivodeship are available in electronic version as an attachment to Resolution 1100/333/22 of the Board of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship and on the website of the Mazowieckie Regional Planning Office. You will soon be able to get acquainted with the course of the routes in the “Geoportal – Integrated monitoring of spatial development of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship” tab.
Change Mazovia with us
Voting in the Mazovia Citizens’ Budget begins on Wednesday, June 8. It will be the residents of the capital and surrounding areas who will decide which projects will be implemented.The Mazovian local government has allocated PLN 25 million for the implementation of the winning projects.
Among the projects selected for voting are educational and artistic workshops for childrenand adults, construction of bicycle paths, preventive training in improving driving techniques, purchase of ambulances and hospital equipment, modernization of sidewalks and many others.
The deadline for voting is June 30.
Mazovian residents can choose from 174 projects qualified for voting.
47 projects from the province-wide pool27 projects with positive evaluation from the Radom subregion21 projects with positive evaluation from the Plock subregion17 projects with positive evaluation from the Siedlce subregion16 projects with a positive evaluation from the Warsaw West subregion13 projects with a positive evaluation from the Ciechanów subregion11 projects with positive evaluation from the eastern Warsaw subregion9 projects with positive evaluation from the Ostroleka subregion8 projects with positive evaluation from the Zyrardowski subregion5 projects with positive evaluation from Warsaw
A list of projects eligible for voting on the Mazovia Citizens’ Budget website.
More information on the page of the Civic Budget of Mazovia.
Change in the provisions of the Anti-smog Resolution for Mazovia
Clean air in Mazovia is our common goal, the achievement of which will undoubtedly be accelerated by the amendment of the provisions of the current anti-smog resolution adopted by the Mazovian Regional Parliament. The amendment introduces a ban on burning coal in Warsaw starting in October 2023. In turn, at the beginning of 2028, the provision will also come into force in the counties of the suburban “ring road”.
What will change?
The most important changes relate primarily to:
The resolution’s introduction of a ban on hard coal and solid fuels produced using it:
as of October 1, 2023, within the administrative boundaries of the city of Warsaw;As of January 1, 2028, within the administrative boundaries of municipalities comprising the districts of Grodzisk, Legionowo, Minsk, Novodworski, Piaseczynski, Pruszkowski, Otwock, Warsaw West and Wołomin.
Introduce a ban on the operation of solid fuel (including biomass) boilers in newly constructed buildings for which an application for a building permit or notification was submitted after January 1, 2023, if there is a technical possibility of connecting the building to a district heating network, which is located in the area directly adjacent to the investor’s plot on which the installation is located.Introduce exemptions in the resolution for coal-fired boilers operated within the boundaries of counties located in the NUTS2 area – Warsaw Capital Region – coal-fired boilers installed before June 1, 2022 will be allowed to operate until the end of their useful life.Leave the possibility of using class 5 coal boilers until the end of their life.
All additional information on the current anti-smog resolution and its amendments can be found on the Mazovia website under the “Anti-smog Resolution” tab.
Attention contest! Start from Mazovia – 4th edition
This is the fourth edition of the “Start from Mazovia” competition, aimed at Mazovian start-ups that create innovative ideas and products and have been operating for no longer than 3 years. Companies that take partin the competition have a chance to win prizes with a total value of PLN 90,000, as well as gain valuable contacts, promote their ideas through various communication channels and publicity in industry media.
Who can apply to “Startup from Mazovia”?
The competition is dedicated to start-ups registered in the Mazovia province and operating no longer than 3 years from the date of the competition announcement.The competition is decided in the following categories:
INNO-TECH – for start-ups that create new products and processes and significant technological changesin products and processes, including product, process, system innovations; for a start-up in the growth phase at the sales stage;SOCIAL IMPACT – for a start-up with a positive environmental or social impact, regardless of the stage of development;START – for a start-up that creates an innovative project that is at the Minimum Value Product or prototype stage, which is likely to grow and scale effectively.
What does participation in the competition provide?
Assistance in development and, above all, financial support at the beginning of the business road is the dream of many entrepreneurs. Participation in the Mazovian competition gives much more! The total prize pool is PLN 90,000, and additionally it is also a chance to win special prizes from the competition’s Partners, including: substantive consultations related to business development and raising financing, the opportunity to participate inin training and mentoring programs, or presentation before a group of investors. Startups can also count on gaining business contacts, promotion of their idea in the media or a professional photo session.
Baltic-Adriatic transport corridor
The Baltic-Adriatic Transport Corridor is an initiative whose primary goal is to strengthen strategic links between countries and regions on the North-South axis by improving their transport accessibility, intensifying transportation and promoting new directions for the movement of people and goods.
The importance of the North-South transport axis, on which there has been invariably lively trade for several hundred years, although difficult to overestimate, has still not been sufficiently appreciated. With Poland’s integration into the EU came the chance to decisively strengthen the rank of existing connections. Decisive for the whole idea was the year 2009, in which initiatives for interregional cooperation undertaken for the realization of the VI Pan-European Transport Corridor gained the desired momentum and dynamics. On October 6, 14 regions representing Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia Austria and Italy signed an agreement for the “immediate realization of the North-South rail corridor” (Gdansk/Gdynia – Warsaw – Brno/Bratislava – Vienna – Bologna); in turn, on December 3, 9 regions representing Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria signed a joint declaration confirming the European and regional importance of the Gdansk-Brno-Vienna highway axis.
Another important date was June 23, 2010 when representatives of 7 Polish voivodeships: Pomeranian, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Warmian-Masurian, Mazovian, Greater Poland, Łódź and Silesian signed a letter of intent to strengthen interregional cooperation to create development conditions for the Baltic-Adriatic Transport Corridor in Poland. At the same time, the signatories of this agreement expressed the common view that the Baltic-Adriatic Corridor in the foreseeable future may become a key factor in the economic development of Poland and the regions located along its route.
Meanwhile, the culmination of all the efforts of numerous stakeholders to date was the establishment of the Association of Polish Regions of the Baltic-Adriatic Transport Corridor on March 30, 2012.
Among the statutory objectives of SPR KTBA were:
creating and promoting at home and abroad the development zone of the Baltic-Adriatic transport corridor delineated by the course of the A-1 highway and the E-65 and CE-65 railroad lines;Ensuring inter-regional consistency of strategic and spatial planning in the corridor zone in Poland;initiating projects for the economic development of the corridor zone, especially in its nodal points (initiating the establishment of logistics centers, intermodal terminals, special economic zones, etc.);monitoring of ongoing and planned transportation infrastructure investments (point and linear) implemented from public and private sources. The collected material is presented in the annual “Report on the status of work on the construction of linear and point infrastructure in the Baltic-Adriatic transport corridor zone in Poland”,initiating activities to raise the profile of intermodal transport in the corridor’s impact zone using the Vistula River waterway, rail transport and modern intermodal technologies.The Board of Directors of the SPR KTBA consists of – President of the Association Ryszard Świlski of the Pomeranian Voivodeship Government, as well as Aleksandra Banasiak of the Silesian Voivodeship Government and Marcin Bugajski of the Lodz Voivodeship Government.
Chairman of the Audit Committee is Leszek Ruszczyk, Deputy Marshal of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship, while members of the Executive Committee on behalf of the Mazowieckie Voivodeship Self-Government are Tomasz Slawinski and Michal Hackiewicz from the Mazowieckie Regional Planning Office in Warsaw.
The location of the continental part of the Baltic-Adriatic transport corridor covers the area from the ports of Gdynia and Gdansk to the ports of the northern Adriatic, Italy and Slovenia, although branches of the corridor also reach the Aegean and Black Sea basins. The corridor is 1,700 kilometers long, while 55 million people from five EU member states live in the regions it crosses. The Scandinavian part of the corridor, meanwhile, includes a connection from Oslo to Karlskrona. The Swedish part of the corridor has been given the status of “Gdynia-Karlskrona marine highway.”
The Baltic-Adriatic international transport corridor, the filling of which in the territory of Poland is the A1 highway and the E-65 railroad line and the Central Railway Line, is of considerable importance in both national and European terms. The Community institutions gave expression to this fact by placing the Baltic-Adriatic corridor on the list of 30 priority projects of the Trans-European Transport Network TEN-T, and for the second time last October when, together with a section of the Rail Baltica corridor, it was included in the prestigious Corridor No. 1 in the proposal for a modified TEN-T network.
An additional gas pedal of intermodal transport in Poland, including on the north-south axis, will soon become rail transport corridors, which in European nomenclature are called Railway Freight Corridors (RFC) and should be designated in all EU countries by 2015. They will be established on rail lines primarily intended for freight transport. Infrastructure management in the corridors is to be integrated, and maintenance and transport standards unified. Two rail routes are likely to run through Poland, i.e. corridor No. 5: Gdynia – Katowice – Ostrava/Zilina – Bratislava/Vienna – /Clagenfurt – Udine – (Venice Bologna/Ravenna)/Trieste – /Graz – Maribor – Ljubljana – Koper/Trieste, and corridor No. 8: Bremerhaven/Rotterdam/Antwerp – Aachen/Berlin – Warsaw – Terespol/Kovno.
Peri-Urban Regions Platform Europe
The PURPLE Group was initiated in 2004 to bring together the regions of the European Union. Thirteen regions are members of the association: Catalonia, Flanders, Frankfurt am Main, Île de France, Mazovia, MHAL (Province of Limburg), Nord Pas de Calais, Randstad Region, Rhone-Alpes, Southeast England, Stockholm, West Mislands.
These regions are working together to maximize the benefits of their proximity to urban agglomerations. At the same time, initiatives are being carried out in these areas aimed at minimizing the negative impact of large cities on the rural-urban character, landscape and natural environment of these areas, the goal of which is to preserve their uniqueness.
The goal of the PURPLE organization is to develop appropriate methods to enable the sustainable development of European peri-urban (“peri-urban”) areas.
METREX – Metropolitan Regions Network
The METREX (Metropolitan Regions Network) organization, in operation since 2005, is a network of approx. 40 European regions and metropolitan areas, where key decision-makers can jointly share knowledge, experience and expertise in European metropolitan affairs.
The goal of the organization is to address the challenge of territorial cohesion in Europe and promote polycentric relationships (linkages) at the metropolitan level, aimed at creating a framework for a polycentric Europe and taking action in this direction.
The Mazovian Regional Planning Office has participated in three projects within the METREX organization:
InterMERTEX – a program studying similarities and differences in the organization of governance and spatial planning in European metropolises,PolyMETREX – RINA North – South Inerface, where the possibilities of cooperation between metropolises of the eastern wall of the EU were studied,
PolyMETREX – RINA Metropolitan Spatial Vision for Central Europe, which aimed to develop a concept for cooperation between the regions of Central and Eastern Europe and create a counterweight to the Pentagon.
ARC – Airport Regions Conference
Airport Regions Conference (ARC) – the main objective of this organization is to influence European air transport policy and activate regional and local authorities in this process. This organization was founded in 1999.Its members are primarily regions with the largest airports in Europe, viz: Vienna, Flanders, A.V.A.R., Tallinn, Vantaa, Ile de France, Bavaria, Frankfurt/Rhine, North Westphalia, East Attica, Lombardy, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Haarlemmermeer, `Sør-Gardermoen, Arad, Mures, Barcelona, Catalonia, Municipality of El Prat, Mallorca, Canary Islands, Gothenburg Region, Stockholm Malar, Zürich, Hounslow, Surrey, Renfrewshire, West Sussex.
ARC’s activities focus on organizing meetings and seminars, creating studies and projects, and conducting research and analysis on aviation topics and regional development. Membership in the ARC is based on substantive cooperation, involving the exchange of experience, information, organizing training, supporting regional planning and strategic programming. In practice, participation in the ARC provides an opportunity to share experience in the field of air transport and regional development and to provide contacts with individuals and institutions interested in cooperation in this area.
The Mazowieckie Voivodeship has participated in the ARC since 2006.