Материал: Russian Journal of Building Construction and Architecture

Russian journal of building construction and architecture

conditions of use of energy resources, including coal, in modern mostly open-pit coal mining over large areas.

Information and analysis of the technical means of urban development of coal mining areas in recent decades have been supplemented by GIS technologies [10, 30].

It seems that a comparative analysis of previously developed coal regions of Europe will allow to draw conclusions about the potential of urban development of the Russian coal mining areas, which will be useful also for old industrial, operating and new (potential) areas of coal mining around the world. Given that coal is one of the main energy resources and coal reserves are widely distributed in the world, the implementation of the identified urban development potential in the areas of coal production will contribute to the urbanization processes and serve as prevention and reduction of the areas disturbed by coal mining activities as well as to the sustainable development of the territory.

Foreign and domestic experience

Currently, coal mining areas in many countries refer to specific urban planning areas. However, it has not been always the case. Traditionally, many researchers have linked the growth of urbanization in the cities to a concentration of industrial enterprises. G. Zabel from the London School of Economics drew attention to the interrelation of population rate and energy consumption from 800 A.D., and made a forecast up to 2050 [61]. In the world, since 1850, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, we have observed a significant increase in energy consumption. Coal is the basis of this energy source before emergence of hydrocarbons and nuclear energy in the global energy mix.

It is known that in the countries pioneering in industrialization (UK, Germany) the highest population growth in the coal mining areas was recorded at the initial stage of industrial development [58, 59]. A similar fact takes place in Russia in the early 1930s. [9] Moreover, when production volumes are reduced, a decline of population in the coal mining areas is traced. Such decline is related to the restructuring of the coal industry in the 1950––60s in Western Europe and 40 years later in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary and others.), in Russia in the transition from the planned to a market economy in the 1990s [3].

The United Kingdom and Germany were the first to realize the features and specifics of urban development for the areas previously exhausted by the coal industry with the change in their functions [32, 33, 49]. The use of these features is considered at the local level of specific exhausted coal deposits, taking into account the previously wide-spread underground coal min-

76

ing method. As a result of the coal industry area revitalization, such areas received a boost of urban development. In recent decades, there have been some developments in Poland [50] and the Czech Republic [19, 23, 25––28, 39––45, 48], China [20, 60] and others [14, 17, 22, 34], which territory have coal mining areas.

However, it should take into account that only at the stage of "initial technological development" the coal mining was the industry designed to meet the domestic needs of local (autonomous) settlement forms with a weak development of transport communications with the external environment, which was not a coal consumer. For more than 150 years, there has been a smooth transition from the "spontaneous" specific settlement system tied to the proven deposits of coal and characterized by the close proximity roughly to the "coal mine and miners' village" (during the "early industrial development"), into the "planned" resettlement system for the coal mining region due to the development of transport links within the country and then abroad (during the "commercial development" period).

This area is integrated into the national and world coal production and requires modern urban planning not only in new coal mining regions, but also previously exhausted coal mining areas in the existing building system, as well as in currently active coal mining areas, taking into account their inclusion in the coal "transport corridors" being formed from the 2000s [3] (currently mostly marine corridors).

Moreover, the exhausted coal mining regions include those with fully exhausted coal reserves, and those not fully exhausted by the technical and economic conditions due to the changing global fuel and energy balance. However, the achievements of scientific and technological advances have expanded the range of the coal use in coal chemistry, which has increased the possibility of the use of coal and its derived products.

The issues related to the urban development potential, based on characteristics of urban land development in the coal mining areas, not only at the local and regional levels, but also at the inter-regional and national levels of urban planning, are extremely little explored. These issues are most relevant for Russia where the initial coal mining areas development period lags behind the UK and Germany. The vast expanses of Russia have potentially significant major coal basins (Annex 3), with a small number of the population in settlements.

Method

The research project uses mapping and statistical methods with the use of computer technologies –– Geographic Information System (GIS) –– ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced (ArcInfo), allowing to combine different thematic layers for analysis, namely layers of settlements coalfields, boundaries of various administrative territorial formations and hydrography.

77

Russian journal of building construction and architecture

The study subject and its research characteristics

The mapping study has been performed for the territories of three countries: Russia, Germany and the UK. The attention has been paid to the coalfields largest in each country. Moreover, in Russia the active old industrial Kuzbass coal basin (more than 150 years in operation) has been selected, and Germany is represented by the almost exhausted coal mining old industrial Ruhr coalfield. The territory of the United Kingdom, having a lot of old industrial coalfields, is almost entirely covered by the study.

In addition to the mapping, statistical study of the major coal basins in Europe, located in the UK, Germany, France, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine and Russia, has been carried out. The information about the population density, the ratio of the coal mining area and the total area of the coal mining land area and the total area of the country and its large parts within the boundaries of administrative-territorial formations. The study covers the European and Asian parts of the territory of Russia.

Data for the study

The statistical analysis uses official open statistics sources of the countries at January 1, 2015 (Note 4). In some cases, earlier data has been used. Accuracy within a thousand people is not essential for this study. For cartographic analysis settlements, public cartographic materials have been used: OpenStreetMap (Note 5) and information contained in the public domain has been applied [21, 62].

The best possible number of GIS layers, saturated with areas, i.e. settlements, coalfield, has been selected for mapping studies. The layers containing borders of different administrative territorial units, as well as rivers and lakes, are ancillary to the spatial characteristics.

The interrelation and relative positions of established settlements in coal mining areas have been analyzed. GIS has performed geographical reference of data on the areas –– large coal basins. Quantitative data on the population in the settlements located within the coalfields has been calculated with the use of the "reference sampling" function in GIS.

Results

1.Statistical analysis of the major old industrial coal mining regions in Europe and Russia. A table has been drawn for the key old industrial areas of coal mining in Europe and Russia, containing the population density data, the share of the coal mining land areas in the total area of the country and its large parts within the boundaries of its administrative-territorial units.

2.Cartographic analysis of the territory of the coal regions of Russia, Germany and the UK. Three schematic maps have been prepared, showing existing urban situation in the terri-

78

tory of the coal regions of three countries: Russia (Kuzbass), Germany (Ruhr) and the UK (Yorkshire, Wales, Fife and others), determined by the concentration of settlements and the ratio of the coal mining land area and the total area of the country and its large parts within the boundaries of administrative-territorial units.

3. Comparative analysis of old industrial coal mining regions in Europe and Russia. The comparative statistical and cartographic studies of the selected old industrial coal regions where coal has been mined for more than 150 years, has resulted in establishing that:

1.In European old industrial coal regions: Yorkshire, Wales, Fife (United Kingdom), Ruhr (Germany), Saarland (parts of the coal basin in Germany and France), Górnośląski (parts of the coal basin in Poland and the Czech Republic), Donbass (parts of the coal basin in Ukraine and Russia), Kuzbass (Russia), the value of population density per 1 sq. m. corresponds to the mean country value (or its major part within the established boundaries of ATUs), and in most cases is higher than this value.

The average value of the density of population per 1 sq. km in the UK is 266 (Yorkshire –– 384, Fife –– 272), in the large part of the United Kingdom –– Wales is 144 (South Wales –– 140); in Germany the value is 227, in its major parts of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia is 513 (Ruhr –– 694), in Saarland is 389 (Saarland –– 580); in France this value is 116 (French part of the Saar coal basin –– Lorraine –– 140); in Poland this indicator is 124 (Górnośląski –– 392); in the Czech Republic this value equals 133 (Górnośląski –– 526); in Ukraine this figure is 73 (Donbass –– 260).

2.In Russia in old industrial coal regions –– Donbass (a part of the coal basin in territory Rostov Oblast), Kuzbass –– the value of population density per1 sq. m is higher than the average for the country (or its large part within the established boundaries of ATUs).

The average value of the density in Russia is 8 thousand people per 1 square km, and in the coal basins of Donbass and Kuzbass the values of this index is 46 and 74 respectively.

3.In European old industrial coal regions: Yorkshire, Wales, Fife (United Kingdom), Ruhr (Germany), Saarland (parts of the coal basin in Germany and France), Górnośląski (parts of the coal basin in Poland and the Czech Republic), Donbass (parts of the coal basin in Ukraine and Russia), Kuzbass (Russia), despite the location of coalfields within several ATUs of different management levels, the population density is higher than this value for non-coal regions.

4.Despite the fact that the share of coal districts in the total area of the countries (their major parts in ATUs) is not more than a quarter of the territory, the proportion of the population lo-

79

Russian journal of building construction and architecture

cated in these areas in European countries is not smaller than the share of the area of such coal regions in the country. In particular: in the UK the coal mining area is 8 % and the population portion in this region is 9 %, respectively; in Germany this figure is 3 % (more than 15 %); in Poland––this valueis 2 % (13 %)in Ukraine thisindicator equals 9 % (9 %) (Note 6).

The proportion of coal districts in the total area of Russia is not more than 15% of the territory, and the proportion of the population located in the main coal mining regions is about 2%. Moreover, in relation to large parts within the borders of administrative territorial units of the regional level, the proportion of Donbass in Rostov region is 13 %, and the proportion of the population located in the of coal mining area is 14 % of the total oblast population; the share of Kuzbass in Kemerovo region 28 % and 74 % respectively.

80