Bielsko-Biała
Bielsko-Biała, is a city in the Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, with a population of approximately 166,765 as of December 2022, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of. It is the core of the broader metropolitan area with around 335,000 inhabitants. It serves as the seat of the Bielsko County, Euroregion Beskydy, Roman Catholic Diocese of Bielsko–Żywiec and the Evangelical Church Diocese of Cieszyn.
Situated north of the Beskid Mountains, Bielsko-Biała is composed of two former towns which merged in 1951—Bielsko in the west and Biała in the east—on opposite banks of the Biała River that divides the historical regions of Silesia and Lesser Poland. The history of Bielsko dates back to the 13th century, while Biała was founded in the 16th century and obtained city rights in 1723. Despite the administrative separation, both towns effectively functioned as one urban area already in the 19th century. Industrialization, especially the textile and automotive industries, was of great importance for its development in the past. Between 1975 and 1998, the city was the seat of Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship and currently lies within the Silesian Voivodeship.
Bielsko-Biała is the administrative, economic, academic and cultural centre for the Silesian-Lesser Polish border region, sometimes colloquially referred to as Podbeskidzie. It is also an important commercial and industrial hub, as well as a road and railway junction. It is a significant tourist destination due to its numerous architectural monuments and its direct proximity to the mountains.
Toponymy
Both Bielsko and Biała derive their names from the Slavic stem *bělъ meaning "white". The river Biała was the first to be named in this way. The reason was probably the general impression of the color of the water: "white", that is, bright and clear. Some researchers also linked the city's name to the bleaching of fiber, which is questionable, however, due to the fact that in the 13th century the cloth industry in Bielsko was not yet developed.The German name was derived from the Slavic one. In medieval and early modern documents, the name of the town appears both in a form close to modern Polish and Czech and German. Over time, the official name Bielitz in German and Bílsko in Czech became established, while in Polish there were still various fluctuations in the 20th century, such as between Bielsko in the neuter gender and Bielsk in the masculine gender. In the case of Biała, the Polish wording of the name was the only official one, even when the town belonged to the Habsburg monarchy. The Germanized form Beil was used only in the local dialect. The Wymysorys language uses the form Byłc-Bejł which is close to how the two towns were called by the autochthonous German population.
The combined name Bielsko-Biała in Polish or Bielitz-Biala in German was used as early as the 19th century in the names of various societies, clubs, branches of institutions and businesses, in the titles of local newspapers, as the name of a railroad station, on maps printed jointly for both cities, and in many other publications.
Geography
Location and relief
Bielsko-Biała is located in the southern part of the Silesian Voivodeship, on the border of historical regions: Cieszyn Silesia and Lesser Poland. The city represents 1.01% of the area of the voivodeship and 0.04% of the area of Poland. The latitudinal extent is approximately km and the meridional extent approximately. The straight line distance from the city center to the Czech border is, and to the Slovak border.The greater part of Bielsko-Biała lies in the Silesian Foothills, which are part of the Western Beskid Foothills physiographic macroregion. Within the administrative borders of Bielsko-Biała—in the southern districts—there are also mountain massifs of the Little Beskids and the Silesian Beskids. Most of the mountainous areas of Bielsko-Biała lie within two landscape parks: Little Beskids Landscape Park and Silesian Beskids Landscape Park. At the same time, they are protected under the Natura 2000 nature protection programme.
The relief of Bielsko-Biała is quite diverse. Within the administrative borders of the city there are both upland and mountainous areas. The centrally located Bolesław Chrobry Square is above sea level. The lowest point are Komorowice Ponds at above sea level, while the highest peak is Klimczok in Silesian Beskids at above sea level. The upland part of Bielsko-Biała consists of dozens of hills, separated by valleys of rivers and streams, the central one being the valley of the Biała River. The Beskid massifs are separated by the Wilkowice Gate connecting the Silesian Foothills with the Żywiec Basin. There are 14 mountain peaks within the city limits: Cyberniok, Dębowiec, Klimczok, Kołowrót, Kopany, Kozia Góra, Łysa Góra, Palenica, Przykra, Równia, Stołów, Szyndzielnia, Trzy Kopce and Wysokie. In addition, the slopes of Czupel, Gaiki and Magurka Wilkowicka mountains partly reach the peripheral districts of Bielsko-Biała. On the south-western slopes of Stołów is the Stołów Cave, whose passages are long. In 2003, an entrance to the Deep Stołów Cave was also discovered on the slopes of Stołów. With a length of and a depth of, it is one of the largest caves in the Polish part of Carpathians. Several smaller caves can also be found in the Klimczok area.
Climate
Bielsko-Biała has an oceanic climate with cold, damp winters and warm, wet summers. However, using the 0 °C isotherm, the climate is a Dfb-type called of humid continental climate, which explains its considerable thermal amplitude for Central Europe. The extremes may still be moderated by the western patterns and winds of this direction, which still maintains hybrid characteristics in the city's climate. Foëhn winds help maintain a milder winter in Bielsko-Biała and average about 4 °C lower than the surrounding mountains each year. The sunniest days are between late summer and early fall, with a few months reaching 9 sunny days. In the 1960s 55 cm of snow cover was recorded.Air pollution
Bielsko-Biała is a city with relatively high air pollution. According to a 2016 report by the World Health Organization, it was ranked as the twenty-seventh most polluted city in the European Union. Then in a 2020 report by the IQAir company, it was ranked thirty-eighth in Europe and fifth in Poland. The biggest contributor to air pollution is the fact that many households, including in the inner city area, still use traditional heating systems based on burning coal. The environmental situation in the city has been gradually improving in recent years. This is influenced by municipal measures such as the "Low Emission Economy Plan", which has been implemented since 2015. In 2020, 454 coal-fired boilers in residentional buildings were replaced by gas or district heating using municipal subsidies.Bielsko-Biała belongs to the cities where the environmental condition has been gradually improving over the past few years. The number of days when the permissible daily concentration of suspended particulate matter PM10 was exceeded in the years 2018-2022 were as follows: 52, 30, 33, 41, 24, respectively.
The main contributors to air pollution are the use of outdated solid fuel sources in households, emissions of gases and particles from industrial plants, and traffic.
The operation of outdated heating systems and solid fuel combustion sources within the city promotes the formation of smog during the heating season. Smog has a negative impact on human health and can also have destructive effects on buildings, especially historical ones.
Pollution from traffic is concentrated within densely built-up areas known as "street canyons." The city's air quality is significantly influenced by transregional factors, such as the influx of pollutants from neighboring municipalities.
The quality of the water flowing through the city has been gradually improving. However, in 2022, the state of a significant portion of surface water, both in the Biała and Wapienica rivers, was classified as poor.
The city's ecological situation has been gradually improving in recent years, thanks in part to the actions of municipal authorities, such as the implementation of the "Low-Emission Economy Plan" since 2010. Between 2008 and 2022, with the city's support, over 7200 solid fuel boilers and furnaces were eliminated in residential buildings in Bielsko-Biała.
The first municipal Energy Management Bureau in Poland was established in Bielsko-Biała in 1997, and it currently operates as an energy team within the Department of Environmental Protection and Energy of the Municipal Office.
In 2022, there were three monitoring stations in the city as part of the National Air Quality Monitoring System, and the city installed 36 air quality sensors in urban areas to depict the distribution of pollutants within the city .
Districts
Bielsko-Biała is officially divided into 30 osiedla / dzielnice, which are auxiliary units of the municipality.
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- Bielsko Miasto
- Biała Miasto
- Dolne Przedmieście
- Górne Przedmieście
- Żywieckie Przedmieście
- Aleksandrowice
- Hałcnów and Hałcnów 2
- Lipnik
- Kamienica
- Komorowice Śląskie
- Komorowice Krakowskie
- Mikuszowice Śląskie
- Mikuszowice Krakowskie
- Olszówka Dolna
- Olszówka Górna
- Stare Bielsko
- Straconka
- Wapienica