1 Environmental & Socio-economic Studies © 2014 Copyright by University of Silesia DOI: 10.1515/environ-2015-0026 Environ. Socio.-econ. Stud., 2014, 2, 1: 1-8 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Landscape management on post-exploitation land using the example of the Silesian region, Poland Urszula Myga-Piątek Department of Regional Geography and Tourism, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Będzińska Str. 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland E–mail address: urszula.myga-piatek@us.edu.pl ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT More and more often, post-mining and post-exploitation areas, which have been heavily transformed by man’s economic activities, are no longer a danger to the environment, but they enhance the monotonous urban-industrial landscape of a particular region and are instead its identifying value. Activities regarding the planning of landscape development are very difficult. This paper emphasizes some of the problems that result from legal barriers with regard to the concept of the more diversified management of post-mining areas as substantial forms of the landscape. In the process of the complex shaping of the natural environment in reclamation actions regarding post-mining areas geographers, biologists and architects have a large role to play.. Due to the fact that landscape management falls within the scope of interest and competencies of many stakeholders, such as: government, regional and self-government institutions, nature, monument and state forest protection authorities as well as the scientific community from various disciplines, it is very difficult to reach a consensus in this matter and to develop uniform operating procedures. The landscape management problems on postindustrial areas have been illustrated through the example of the region of Silesia. The cultural landscape of the region has been intensively developed in the last thousand years, but signs of human impact are much older, dating back to the pre-historical and early Medieval periods. The Silesia region is currently undergoing a major spatial reconstruction. KEY WORDS: post-mining areas, cultural landscape, Silesian Upland ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Landscape management – scope of importance Post-exploitation lands – are areas in which direct mining exploitation was conducted, increased by surrounding areas subject to environmental changes – resulting from this activity. These areas cover a growing area on a global scale. The contemporary matrix of the post-industrial urban landscape is dotted with large and small fragments of abandoned spaces, which need to be incorporated into the city texture (NIKEZIĆ & JANKOVIĆ, 2012). Abandoned Polish mining areas are commonly heavily transformed so that they no longer endanger the environment. A disadvantage is that the newly created areas commonly contribute to the monotonous urban-industrial landscape, rather than providing additional value. This is partly due to legislation that hampers a more diversified management of abandoned mining areas as potentially valuable landforms. One of the legal barriers that restricts the possibility of making these areas more attractive, with regards to the utilization of the remaining exploitation holes (i.e. land depressions of at least 2 m deep, formed as a result of open-cast mining of energy, chemical, building or metallurgical resources) and waste heaps as important cultural and scenic elements (MYGA-PIĄTEK & NITA, 2008). Special forms of planning and landscaping have been introduced for these sites (CHAPMAN & WALKER, 1988; DETTMAR, 2007; DONADIEU, 2006). Economy and industry have been the causes and factors of development in post-socialist cities. Both of these have influenced the structural changes which were took place in Eastern Europe after 1989 (KISS, 2007; KORCELLI, 1995). Such lands are growing in size in Poland, with a particularly high concentration in the Silesian Upland (historically – in the regions of Upper Silesia and the Dąbrowa