This paper refers to a current and complex issue of legal protection of historical parks in Poland. On the example of two selected facilities of cultural heritage: Natolin and Ursynów in Warsaw, the authors present a typical contradiction in the objectives of the different fields of public interest: the protection of monuments and nature protection. In the case of the historical park it results in example a considerable difficulty in the rational management of stands and other resources. From the point of view of the protection of cultural values, the appropriate maintenance stands generally in contradiction to the designated form of nature protection. Thus, any possible actions are very limited due to the complexity of the process of issuing a decision by the relevant public authorities. This often results in the progressive deterioration of the protected facility in both the cultural and natural values.

First public parks of Opole Silesia were established in the 1st half of the 19th century on the grounds of dismantled city fortifications gradually transformed into public green areas. Liquidation of early modern fortifications in Brzeg, the town founded in the 2nd half of 13th century on the left bank of the Oder, started at the beginning of the 19th century. At the initiative of municipal authorities promenades were realized and in the 2nd half of 19th century three parks, which constitute planty park, were founded. Park Nadodrzański, park Chrobrego and park Centralny has a total area of 15 hectares. Planty park of a landscape character surrounds the old town from the north, west and south and its layout reflects partially the former star--shaped fortifications. In the paper individual parks are characterized, their values which make them attractive and individual indicated along with contemporary threats.

The changes of communities living in towns of 19th century, increase of social recreation’s needs, willing to contact with the nature and counteraction results of industrialization have been the reasons of many residential gardens’ transformation into public parks. The Briggs’ brothers park in Marki laid out since 1883 as residential is one of that examples. Created as a part of industrial urban complex were opened to the public in 2nd part of 20th century. Negative changes of that park’s composition following process of its transformation are similar to changes characteristic for typical parks laid primarily out as public. Their scope based on changes of its ownership, main functions, but also on incomplete adaptation’s processes. The results of negative changes concerned: reduction of park area and modification of their arrangement, separation of functional and spatial relations between park and palace, destruction of park’s interiors layout and size, roads and plants structures and arrangement, lack of original architectural elements and equipment.

The paper contains reflections regarding the changing role of spa parks following the commercialization of the spas. Originally, these parks served as an instrument of psychological and physical treatment, while harmonizing the image of spas. Currently, spa parks by specifically understood “revitalization” have become primarily the part of the process of shaping the image of a town or a village – on one hand for the purpose of the real estate market, the other for the tourism market. The treatment of spa parks only as a catalyst for economic transformation results in the loss of their natural and cultural values. This is due to the fact that the spa parks converted according to the new needs in these specific settlements, lose their intimate nature and become highly frequented public spaces. In addition, the use in the planning of transformations of parks only the principle of mimicry, without taking into account new trends in the garden art causes, that they lose their original role of the focusing factor of elements of the spa town or the village, and become the pseudo decoration in the “theater of everyday life”. In this way, the pattern language which is characteristic for resort parks is deformed or constrained

The article is about industrial greenery – part of establishment of Donnersmarckhütte in Zabrze. They will be characterized relating to analysis of the urban planning integrity, their function and the landscape of the industrial city which they contributed. Passed dissertations are aimed at determining the greenery significance in his spatial-functional structure, both before and in our times, with particular reference to of aspects of threats of the landscape composition.

Specially designed landscapes accompanied mental hospitals built in 19th and at the beginning of 20th century and were meant to have a significant therapeutic effect. They often are beautiful English landscape park examples and in Britain they were designed also by famous landscapes architects of that time. Social attitudes towards mental illness caused their isolation which protected them from change for a long time until the healthcare system reform in the UK. The article identifies main threats to historic psychiatric hospitals of that period in Poland referring to British experiences.

Contemporary social needs generating changes in the way of using marketsquares, influence changes in the structure of their historical space. There are examples of towns’ marketplaces of north-eastern Poland presented in the paper. There are two groups of them: already subjected to the modernization (Białystok, Ostrów Mazowiecka, Augustów, Suwałki) and projects of future modernizations (Choroszcz, Knyszyn). They were discussed through the prism of analysis of green and its impact on the legibility of cultural values of the historical marketsquares’ space.