Changes of the City of Poprad from the Point of View of Landscape ...

Changes of the City of Poprad from the Point
of View of Landscape Structure
Vladimír, Solár
Department of Geography and Regional Development
17. novembra 1, 081 16 Prešov
solar.vladimir@gmail.com
Abstract: The city of Poprad has held a very significant, central
position in terms of settlement structure of the Poprad basin or the
greater region beneath the High Tatras from the very beginnings of
its development. The area demarcated by the current cadastre limits
was witness to many changes to the landscape structure conditioned
by a wide range of factors and conditions, out of which human
involvement appears to be the most significant one. It is the aim of
the paper to clarify the trends in development of the landscape
structure of the Poprad cadastre area. In terms of chronology, the
development of the landscape structure is, in connection with
relevant cartographic documentation, limited to the years 1782 –
2007. The knowledge of past and present trends in the development
of landscape structure is a determining factor for any further
development, even from an environmental point of view.
Key words: landscape structure, changes, development
INTRODUCTION
The paper builds on the fact that in the significant city which Poprad
surely is, there must have been some significant administrative,
natural and especially cultural- historical changes taking place in the
period of interest, pertaining to the make-up of the landscape
structure. The central position in terms of the Poprad river basin and
the close proximity of the High Tatras mountains exhibit a
significant influence on its dynamics, including even the changes in
the landscape elements themselves. The mapping of the elements of
the landscape structure belonging to the selected time period is one

of the elementary methods of research of landscape structure in
terms of the LANDEP methodology (Ružička, Miklós, 1982). The
environment of a geographic information systems (GIS), more
specifically the proprietary software Arc View, creates a suitable
environment for the processing and evaluation of landscape
structure, as presented in works by Boltižiar (2007), Ivanová (2006),
Olah, Boltižiar, Petrovič (2006), and others.
METHODOLOGY
The area of research is demarcated by the current cardastre limits of
the city of Poprad. It was created by a continuous merging of the
autonomous administrative units of Poprad, Matejovce, Spišská
Sobota, Stráže and Veľká. The demarcated region spreads over an
area of 6 293 ha. The analysis of the area of the city of Poprad makes
use of the analysis of elements of secondary landscape structure in
terms of the LANDEP methodology (Ružička, 2000). In order to
capture the dynamics of the landscape structure, the individual
elements are divided into eight groups: 1 Group of elements of forest
and non-forest vegetation, 2 Group of elements of permanent
grassland, 3 Group of elements of agricultural crops, 4 Group of
elements of subsoil and substrate, 5 Group of elements of rivers and
water areas, 6 Group of settlements and recreation areas, 7 Group of
technical elements, 8 Group of transportation elements. The elements
were identified with the use of analogue interpretation of
cartographic documentation from six temporal horizons, chosen
depending on their availability (1782, 1882, 1877, 1956, 1986,
2007). Digital vector processing of the maps was performed using
the Arc View 10 software base, where each polygon was assigned a
numeric and verbal attribute. Subsequently, area quotients of
landscape element groups in the respective temporal horizons were
evaluated and compared.
RESULTS
The area of the city of Poprad in the 1782 temporal horizon exhibited
24 landscape elements in six elementary groups, with a the largest
area quotient of 4584,87 ha in the third group of elements of
agricultural cultures. The lowest area was made up of the elements of
the fifth group – water courses and surfaces. In the latest and most

current temporal horizon of 2007, 61 landscape elements in eight
groups were identified. The largest area of 3501, 73 ha was taken up
by the third group of elements of agricultural cultures and, on the
other hand, the lowest area was take up by the elements of the fourth
group – subsoil and substrate. A complex view of the area division
of groups of landscape elements in terms of the researched temporal
horizons is presented in Table 1. Map 1 demonstrates the spatial
placement and proportional representation of the individual groups
of landscape elements in a chronological order.
Tab.1: Spatial rates of the groups of landscape elements
Group of
landscape
elements
Area
in ha
1782
Area
in ha
1822
Area
in ha
1877
Area
in ha
1956
Area
in ha
1986
Area
in ha
2007
1 703,74 662,11 766,68 768,88 744,17 777,32
2 795,79 1104,90
3
4594,8
4
4312,92
1002,8
2
4279,4
5
1462,4
2
3481,1
6
1279,10 674,28
3225,09 3501,73
4 0 0 0 1,25 1,25 3,40
5 24,02 24,88 24,88 24,49 24,41 24,43
6 112,58 118,13 130,46 291,24 605,35 732,70
7 0 0 0,33 147,67 208,66 240,24
8 62,04 70,07 88,38 115,89 204,97 338,90
Together 6293 6293 6293 6293 6293 6293
Source: Vladimír Solár (2011)
In terms of the researched timespan of 225 years, the landscape
structure of the area has changed significantly, or let us say that the
proportional representation of the landscape elements has changed.
The largest decrease of 1093,11 ha was present in the third group of
elements of agricultural cultures (Graph 1).

Significant increase of 620,12 ha of land was recorder within the
sixth group of settlement elements and recreational facilities, within
the eight group or elements of transportation (276,86 ha) and the
group of technological elements (240,24 ha). Apart from the
elements of the water courses and surfaces group, the most stable
areas include elements of coniferous forests situated in the western
part of the area and elements of large-scale fields in the south-west.
The proportion of natural elements (groups 1 – 5) to other elements
created by man (groups 6 – 8) was, in the year 1782, calculated as
35:1 or 97,23% to 2,77% in respect to the total and in the year 2007
as 3,8:1 or 79,15% to 20,85%, which indicates an almost eight-fold
increase.
Graph 1: Changes in the groups of landscape elements from
1782-2007
Source: Vladimír Solár (2011)
CONCLUSION
According to Lipský (2002), the observation and detailed evaluation
of the historical development of an area is one of the elementary
steps in solving current landscape-ecological problems. In terms of
the aim, trends in the development of the landscape structure of the
cadastre area of the city of Poprad were analysed and clarified. In the
last 225 years, the cadastre area of the city of Poprad went through
apparent changes in the landscape structure. It was especially the

connection of the city to the main traffic lines towards the end of the
19 th century that fuelled the development of industry and the
subsequent construction of settlements, which caused the rapid
decrease in agricultural land and a slight decrease in the area of grass
overgrowths. The other groups of elements exhibited an increase in
their area proportion, at the expense of the two previously mentioned
groups. Man, by means of his activities in the course of the last 225
years, has significantly influenced the development of the landscape
structure in the area of the city of Poprad, which is reflected by the
proportional representation of the individual groups of landscape
elements.
References
[1] BOLTIŽIAR, M. 2007 Štruktúra vysokohorskej krajiny Tatier.
FPV UKF v Nitre, edícia Prírodovedec č. 280, 248 p.
[2] IVANOVÁ, M. 2006 Zmeny v krajinnej štruktúre
podvihorlatských obcí Vinné, Kaluža, Klokočov, Kusín a Jovsa.
In: Geografická revue Katedra geografie Fakulty Prírodných
vied Univerzity Mateja Bela v Banskej Bystrici, Roč. 2, č. 2, p.
130-134, ISSN 1336-7072.
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[5] RUŽIČKA, M. 2000 Krajinnoekologické plánovanie –
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p.297-312

Shrnutí
Město Poprad tvoří centrum Popradské kotliny. V krajinné struktuře
na území města Poprad probíhaly ve sledovaném období r. 1782-
2007 neustálé změny. Nejmarkantnější jsou tyto změny patrné na
úbytku plochy ve skupině zemědělských kultur. Dlouhodobý růst
dosahovaly během celého období skupiny sídelních prvků a
rekreačních prostorov, technických prvků i prvků dopravy. Celkový
podíl přírodní složky v rámci krajinné struktury poklesl během
sledovaného období o 18,08%. Stabilní část území v celém období
tvořil jižní okraj katastrálního území města Poprad s prvky
jehličnatých lesů. Za celé období stoupl počet krajinných prvků z 24
v r. 1782 na 61 v r. 2007. Poznání trendů vývoje krajinné struktury je
důležité z hlediska predikce a trvalé udržitelnosti předmětného
území.
Príspevok je súčasťou grantového projektu VEGA č. 1/0451/10
Geoekologické dimenzie vybraných environmentálnych záťaží v Slovenskej
republike. Vedúci projektu: Prof. RNDr. Eva Michaeli, PhD