Protected areas in Polish Baltic seaside spa towns in 2019 and spatial order

The aim of this paper is to present an overview of protected areas in Polish seaside spa towns in order to preserve their nature value while focusing on the spatial order. Analyses were conducted considering the status of works on the Landscape Act concerning the interior of Polish spa towns and advantageous effects of that Act in the town space. This review paper presents protected areas based on the resources of the Central Register of Nature Conservation Forms (Centralny Rejestr Form Ochrony Przyrody CRFOP) available at the website of the General Directorate for Environmental Protection (Generalna Dyrekcja Ochrony Środowiska GDOŚ), which data may find multiple uses. The material for analyses is related to all the six Polish seaside spa towns (as for 01.2020). Polish seaside spa towns have many common natural characteristics. All of the six towns are located on the Baltic Sea, have sandy beaches and dunes and they are situated in the vicinity of protected areas. Frequently a green belt, typically a pine forest, separates the seaside zone from the town. Despite its very long seaside line Poland in 2019 has only six seaside spa towns (Kołobrzeg, Świnoujście, Sopot, Kamień Pomorski, Ustka, Dąbki).