Rybnik Coal Area

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Rybnik
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Wodzisław Śląski
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Jastrzębie-Zdrój
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Żory
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Racibórz
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Rydułtowy
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Pszów
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Radlin

The Rybnik Coal Area (Polish: Rybnicki Okręg Węglowy, ROW) is an industrial region in southern Poland.[1] It is located in the Silesian Voivodeship,[1] in a basin between the Vistula and Oder rivers, sited on the Rybnik Plateau (Polish: Płaskowyż Rybnicki) between Katowice (Metropolis GZM) to the north and Ostrava on the south-west. It is part of the Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area populated by 5,294,000 people[2] and the Kraków-Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan region [Wikidata] populated by about 7 million. According to scientific description by Paweł Swianiewicz and Urszula Klimska this area has 507,000 people,[3] according to European Spatial Planning Observation Network - 634,000 people (525,000[2] + 109,000[2] by Racibórz). Area: about 1,300 km2.[1]

Main cities

Adjacent main cities and statistics (30.06.2009):[4]

City / Town Population Area (km2) Density (km−2)
Rybnik 141,387 148.36 952.9
Jastrzębie-Zdrój 93,455 88.62 1,054.5
Żory 61,982 64.59 959.6
Racibórz 56,675 74.96 756.0
Wodzisław Śląski 49,386 49.62 995.2
Rydułtowy 21,833 14.95 1,460.4
Radlin 17,673 12.53 1,410.4
Pszów 13,753 20.42 673.5
Total 456,144 474.05 962.2

Area

Adjacent county (powiat) and statistics (30.06.2009):[4]

County Population Area (km2) Density (km2)
Wodzisław County 155,733 286.92 541.0
Rybnik city-county 141,387 148.36 952.9
Racibórz County 110,557 543.98 204.9
Jastrzębie-Zdrój city-county 93,455 88.62 1,054.5
Rybnik County[5] 74,331 224.63 327.3
Żory city-county 61,982 64.59 959.6
Total 637,445 1,357.1 469.4

History

The beginnings of ROW are related to a six-year plan and the modernization of nine old hard coal mines in the Rybnik-wodzisław region, e.g. KWK Anna or KWK Marcel. In 1952, the State Economic Planning Commission commissioned work on the preparation of a development plan for ROW. It was planned to build mines in the area of Wodzisław, Żory, Jejkowice and Kaczyce. Therefore, during the six-year plan, the old ones were modernized, but the construction of a new one, the first from scratch, of the 1 Maja Coal Mine in Wodzisław Śląski was started. In the following years, plans were started to build further new mines in ROW (Rybnik Coal Area).

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c (in Polish) "Rybnicki Okręg Węglowy" - PWN Encyclopedia
  2. ^ a b c European Spatial Planning Observation Network (ESPON)"Project 1.4.3". Archived from the original on 2009-07-28. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
  3. ^ "Społeczne i polityczne zróżnicowanie aglomeracji w Polsce" Archived 2009-01-24 at the Wayback Machine - Paweł Swianiewicz, Urszula Klimska; University of Warsaw 2005
  4. ^ a b "Population. Size and structure by territorial division" - Central Statistical Office of Poland, 2009, ISSN 1734-6118
  5. ^ Gmina Czerwionka-Leszczyny in Rybnik County membership in the Rybnik Coal Area is controversial because it lies on the border Rybnik area and Upper Silesian Industrial Region and can be considered as part of Upper Silesian Industrial Region.