Impact of Spatial Development of State Agricultural Farms and Unification of Residential Developments on the Cultural Landscape of Rural Areas – Revitalization Issues

The form of rural development of Western Pomerania forms a distinctive cultural feature of this region due to its typology, traditional timber frame and brick structures. Factors that influenced the condition and the preservation state of rural areas in the first years following the Second World War are vastly connected with the political situation of Western Pomerania, spoliation and the destructive activity of the Red Army. The establishment of State Agricultural Farms has had a significant impact on the current form of architecture and led to deformation of the cultural landscape in rural areas. The development complexes built in the 1960s and 1970s were characterized by their use of repeating forms of construction development. In the effect, the characteristic images of villages until the mid-20th century, became subject to total unification, by use of identical, typical solutions, straight from RBM catalogues. The character of these buildings very rarely shows any connections with regional buildings, which is closely connected with the creation of new social class of the so called worker-farmer. The pseudo-urban objects created are of a scale that is inappropriate for rural areas and are devoid of any architectural detail. The typical and ready designs used in their construction, together with prefabricated elements caused the total unification of development. The current problem is how to revitalize these areas in a way that will take into account the typical objects that are patterned after urban objects and thus extremely incompatible with canons of rural development. The problem of transformation should be considered an interdisciplinary issue, since it is subject to various disciplines, and thus perceived from different viewpoints. The rural area revitalization schemes introduced in recent years in the Western Pomeranian voivodeship and based on development strategies, already brought significant results, and the support of local authorities for social activity promoting local cultural heritage forms a significant aspect for further development of these areas.


Introduction
The village has always manifested the tradition and culture of a region, regardless of whether Polish historical pre-war regions or the current territory of Poland are referred to. The tradition of rural architecture has been distinctly represented by the types of buildings peculiar to a given region, as well as the forms of those buildings, the type of building material used and colours. This was illustrated by the shaping of cultural landscape together with the rural layout. In the landscape one could discern the layouts of villages with dense, distinct or closed layout of buildings or those with a dispersed layout, but always according to the rural layouts peculiar to a given region. In connection with the previous century, traditional rural buildings most often form a complex of functionally interconnected objects, including (apart from sacral and administrative objects) the following: farmsteads with barns and gate buildings, livestock buildings and residential ones, grange buildings located at manor and park complexes, as well as mills, windmills, sawmills, distilleries, breweries and industrial objects. The buildings associated with the village, especially those from the last century, have been subjected to numerous changes in recent years as a result of war damage and the development of technology and industry. In the era of civilizational and cultural transformations the village has also changed irreversibly in the social, sociological and economic as well as rural landscape and architectonic respect. For many centuries the village had been occupied by people strictly related to agriculture. In its area there were objects adjusted to the rural function, which in their form and size corresponded to the climatic conditions and the types of crops and breeding. Over the last 70 years the village has changed its image and these changes have been coupled with the technological progress as well as economic and political changes. However, the largest transformations and destruction of the traditional form of the development of the village assisted change in rural community's lifestyle and mode of producing crops and breeding. Currently few village residents are involved in agricultural production and the development aimed at the rural function is increasingly losing its previous purpose [1]. According to M. Stanna [2] not only does the character of agricultural activity change, but also agricultural population gives way to landless population, for whom the village is the place to reside and work. More and more frequently new residents of the village, 'outsiders from the city', are looking for their own place here whereas they treat the village as a marketable 'commodity', a purchased 'idea' for life. This shows that the mode of the revitalisation of rural space is becoming an increasingly difficult problem. Not only does the village cease to produce crops, but a peculiar exchange of people living and working there is taking place. As a consequence, the observance of the appropriate directions of the revitalisation of degraded landscape areas by the people residing there is becoming impossible. This leads to mistaken decisions, the abandonment of verified solutions and generally accepted directions of revitalising rural buildings in a given region.
This paper discusses the possibility of the revitalisation, quality improvement and enhancement of the competitiveness of rural areas. It also analyses the influence of the establishment of the State Agricultural Farms on spatial development, as well as the influence of the implementation of universal repetitive architecture not related to regional architecture. These activities have irreversibly distorted the cultural landscape and space of the village, thus leaving West Pomerania with the largest changes in rural layouts in the country. The paper is based on research carried out in the north-western area of Poland, namely the area of West Pomerania. The analyses take into account the following: areas with rebuilt and adapted objects which have not been totally degraded; the areas where new buildings appeared so as to serve the agricultural production of the State Agricultural Farms and to fulfil the residential function by housing workers; as well as mixed areas, where new livestock and residential buildings have been introduced to the existing rural structure based on universal architecture.

The village in the north-western areas
Research into morphogenetic types of rural settlements and the history of rural settlement in the area of West Pomerania was conducted by H. Szulc (1988) [3]. This author discusses directions in the transformations of the spatial layout of the village. She proved that they are dependent on the following: natural conditions, the age of a settlement and its populations' social and economic structure as well as ethnic origin. Moreover, historical events exert vital influence on development [3] p. 88. A breakthrough event for West Pomerania was the Second World War. After the end of the war, as a result of the Potsdam Conference, this area was arbitrarily divided into parts located west and east of the Oder River. This division broke civilization and cultural relations in the existing settlement structure, which had existed for over 600 years. Rural settlements left by their inhabitants were populated by those coming from the pre-war areas of Poland, mostly the people displaced from the east. The settlement structures of these areas had resulted from ownership-related divisions, based on huge land estates. Later those estates provided the basis for divisions adopted and reinforced in agricultural lands by operation of the State Agricultural Farms. Transformations in the cultural landscape of the West Pomeranian village were mostly the consequence of the changes in ownership forms, which took place during the intensive reconstruction of the state's economy under the political system and economic order adopted in the Polish People's Republic [4]. In the research into rural settlements after the Second World War conducted by M. Chilczuk [5], the area of Poland was divided into megaregions. The north-western region is an area where dense villages with nodal development structure constitute the basic feature of rural settlements. This is also confirmed by Szymski [4], who additionally indicates villages typical of this region: rundlings, oval villages. In the typological aspect, this area is characterised by a slight prevalence of dense villages (...). Axis villages are definitely predominant here (...). A high proportion of rundlings and hamlets with a central settlement should be noted [4] p. 199. Common in this megaregion, independent rural estates located beside State Agricultural Farms are a totally new, postwar form of settlement ('State Agricultural Farms' villages' composed of several residential buildings). It has to be noted that they were established as a result of the state's agricultural policy and the mode of developing land estates in West Pomerania, by way of two decrees of the temporary Lublin government (the first decree pertained to the agricultural reform of 6 September 1944; the other of 6 September 1946 discussed the agricultural system and settlement in the western and northern recovered territories.). Based on those decrees, the existing State Management of Land Real Estate, the State Plant Breeding Institution and the State Horse Breading Institution were merged into the State Agricultural Economy Enterprises in 1949. The latter were renamed the State Agricultural Farms in 1950. The State Agricultural Economy Enterprises were large-area state-owned agricultural farms created from 1949 under the name of the State Agricultural Farms (PGR) and modelled on soviet sovkhozes. Their establishment resulted from the nationalisation of large-area land estates (in the western and northern territories based on post-German lands); in the Stalin period they also acquired the lands dropping out of the individual peasant economy due to collectivisation. In their majority they were economically ineffective, with high levels of waste. After the implementation of market economy and the abolition of subsidies, the farms were going bankrupt on a massive scale (in some cases with detriment to experiment farms they kept, planting cultivations, breeding facilities etc.). In 1991, under the Act on the Management of the Agricultural Estate of the State Treasury, the property of the State Agricultural Economy Enterprises was acquired by the State Treasury Agricultural Ownership Agency, which conducts the process of transformations and restructuring, and returns land to its owners. They became one of the most significant factors of the formation of the functional and spatial structure of villages in West Pomerania. In respect of the division of agricultural area, this territory was characterised by the prevalence of small and medium villages, with the average size of individual farms of 5-8 ha and the biggest proportion of state-owned farms in Poland, amounting to 50% of the area [4]. This situation was caused by the nationalisation of all post-German palace and manor complexes with their appurtenances, as well as grange complexes assisting them, which constituted over 50% of the usable area of Western Pomerania. The model of a cooperative farm was based on the functional patterns of soviet kolkhozes. In terms of plant and animal production this consisted in the brigade work system. In the initial phase of the operation of the State Agricultural Farms the cooperative members assumed the duty to create the base for the cooperative using their own buildings until the establishment of production centres concentrating necessary livestock and storage buildings. The construction, reconstruction and modernisation works in the populated farms were carried out at the lowest possible cost. New buildings were constructed based on universal designs with the use of the simplest technologies, disregarding regional or local traditions. The enactment of a number of new laws and regulations organised the construction system. Together with the development of agricultural production this resulted in the intensification of construction works in farms, thus contributing to the popularisation of prefabrication and standardisation in livestock and storage construction. Works aimed at creating a uniform type of a system for agricultural architecture were undertaken in 1963. Buildings in rural settlement units were divided into two sectors of agricultural economy: agricultural buildings, encompassing state and cooperative economy, and rural buildings involving individual economy in the non-nationalised sector [6]. These works initiated the process of standardisation and unification in rural architecture. In the course of further works 'catalogues of standard buildings' were created, which pressed regionalisation in voivodeships, including the areas of Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Poznań and Szczecin. These actions introduced universal elements into the existing landscape, without any connection to the local and regional character of the village. These activities were aimed at reducing the number of universal elements of a building capable of prefabrication to the necessary minimum, which contributed to the reduction of production cost, decreased assembly time, and time saving in the drafting of a design. It could be concluded that these activities contributed to a decrease in the level of aesthetics and the reduction of diversity of the form, which had an indubitable impact on the quality of creating the cultural landscape of rural areas and the presence of regional features. Endeavours to equalise the life standard in the city and village led to the popularisation of the execution of 'universal designs of detached houses' in the village. In consequence, city houses were erected with a superficial adaptation, e.g. a high roof or small decoration. The only advantage of the unification could be seen in the fact that after 1970 unification and prefabrication in the construction industry in rural areas contributed to an increase in the standard of the execution of residential and farm buildings. This also exerted influence on the improvement of their technical equipment, including the supply of water (from water network or deep water wells), or central heating. Still the problem of a combined sewer system as a communal network was not being solved, which resulted in the multiplication of holding tanks (septic tanks), contributing to the degradation of the natural environment. This situation continued until the 1990s, when the possibilities of co-funding such investments through European Union aid appeared.
In view of the changes in different layers of life and regional development based on reconstructions, modernisation and erection of new objects and settlements, the community still failed to associate themselves with the area they inhabited. The pre-war architecture of West Pomerania was unknown and not accepted by the new settlers for both political and cultural reasons. Therefore, it was easily damaged, rebuilt and modernised. New universal buildings and multi-family houses for agricultural workers, yet unknown to this landscape, denoted total abandonment of the rural construction tradition, which had been shaped there for years.

Current rural landscape based on the existing development.
In his book J. Bogdanowski [7] describes the region of West Pomerania as inimitable amidst the landscapes of Poland. "There is something which makes an impression that time has stopped in vast areas here and retained a peculiar sense of medieval traditions. Gentle hilly landscape with vast and almost clear medieval expanses surprises by still conspicuous traditional panoramas of history,", [7: p. 7].
The endeavours to preserve panoramas and unique complexes which Bogdanowski refers to consist in continuous work of numerous communities. Solely interdisciplinary approach which pays heed not only to agricultural development, but also to caring for the local community, economic aspects, as well as cultural landscape and architectural objects will enable comprehensive revitalisation of these areas. The modification of rural buildings began with the arrival of new settlers in these areas; the abovementioned events as well as political and economic shifts have exerted influence on a number of transformations in the layout of buildings and the buildings themselves. Generally, according to Niedźwiecka-Filipiak [1] in the simplest way the transformations of rural areas can be divided into two groups. The first encompasses the transformations of the whole layouts of traditional buildings, including farmsteads and houses; the other concerns changes in particular objects, e.g. their dimensions, form, finish, architectural elements, and the mode of use. While discussing transformations in rural layouts and buildings in West Pomerania it should be noted that village buildings distinguish this region in cultural terms due to their traditional beam and masonry structures and typology. The buildings here date back to the mid-19 c., the beginnings of the 20th c., and rarely to the 18th c. 3-4 building farmsteads which prevail here include wide-front residential buildings with gable roofs, located at the front or in the background of the farmstead (Figure 1). There is also diversity in the configuration of the layout of livestock buildings, barns and residential buildings in a farmstead. The indicated layouts are still in place today and are most often subject to the first type of transformations mentioned above. Usually in this layout of farmsteads livestock buildings and barns are demolished or reconstructed; in their place new object are erected with the same function or for a different purpose.  The architecture of the village which the settlers encountered included numerous objects from the mid-19 c. One of the examples of architecture popular in West Pomerania at that time was a form of a multi-building "Frankonian" farmstead, or "three-side" farmstead, with the yard surrounded by buildings and the residential building in the background; by the street the farmstead was most often enclosed by a fence or a wall with the entrance gate ( Figure 2). Beam technology which had already been popularised in West Pomerania (Figure 3) started to give way to other construction and material solutions with the passing of time. The objects from mid-19th c. illustrate the advancing process of unification driven by technological development in the construction industry. This led to the erection of building objects with the use of technology different from the previously popular beam technology ( Figure 4). Aside from the post-and-beam construction 'typical' of the whole area, in the 19th and 20th c. houses with mixed technology started to be erected. In those houses the walls of the ground floor were made of bricks and stone while the walls of the loft or knee walls were built with the use of frame construction; initially there sporadically appeared houses with plastered bottom and boarded top (Figure 4). The next phase of the transformations was the commencement of the erection of residential and livestock buildings having full masonry construction. This became a significant moment contributing to the change in the shaping of the rural architecture landscape in West Pomerania. The buildings which are currently located in the Pomeranian village include masonry buildings from the 4th quarter of the 19th c. to 1920s-1930s., with distinct borrowings from the tradition of city houses. Buildings made of red brick prevail here -not plastered, with wall base made of fieldstone. Yet there are also plastered buildings with richly decorated architectural elements in various forms (Figures 4, 5). A characteristic feature of the majority of buildings is their wide-front structure with a symmetric façade and covering gable roof or a gable roof with hip-roofs, covered with ceramic roof tiles. Buildings erected in the 19th c. and in the beginning of the 20th c. are usually similar to earlier frame structure houses in terms of their size and functional solutions. These buildings are most often situated in a farmstead with their ridge to the street. A distinct form of the objects of rural architecture is constituted by grange complexes, which are an exceptionally characteristic type of architecture in the Pomeranian village landscape. The most peculiar features of grange villages include their spatial layout, composition layout of the sole grange complex as well as a palace and park complex or a manor and park complex, and their mutual relations. The most frequent layouts of buildings here are palaces and manors located between a park and a farm complex, facing the farm buildings. Residential objects: the residence, bailiff's house and annexes were located in the climatically beneficial south or west side of the farm yard. The main entrance to the grange area was located next to the residence. Furthermore, the landscape of the Pomeranian village encompasses public buildings such as: schools, post offices, mansion buildings, as well as sacral buildings. Numerous churches date back to the Middle Ages. Many of these objects have survived in an only slightly altered form, thus creating the most permanent image of Pomeranian architecture. In connection with the research conducted by the author into the cultural landscape of the transformation and development of the Pomeranian village after the Second World War, the author claims that the elements distinguishing the identity of the cultural landscape of this region include: rural three or four-side farmsteads enclosed with a gate building or wall; residential and farm buildings made of red brick; beam structure buildings (unfortunately a small number of them have survived). The above have been erected in village layouts dating back to the Middle Ages, with the most frequent rural layouts including linear settlements, with rundlings peculiar to this region [9].

Changes in the rural architecture of West Pomerania after the Second World War
The factors which affected the condition and quality of the maintenance of villages in the first years after the Second World War are largely related to the political situation of West Pomerania as well as the predatory and destructive activity of the Soviet Army. The state of temporariness and uncertainty among the new residents lasting until the first half of the 1970s as well as the differences following from the national and cultural mosaic were deepened by the lack of the sense of identity and attachment to the place. New settlers created a community which comprised as many as five groups of people. According to M. Rzeszotarka-Pałka [10] p. 158-159 these included former inhabitants of Germany and 'natives': people displaced from the border areas of West Pomerania and from Central Poland (...); people displaced from the Eastern Borderlines; re-emigrants from European countries (mainly from France); national minorities. Ukrainians, Greeks, Macedonians, the Romani people. In consequence, the people did not associate themselves with the space they had encountered and did not uphold the culture, tradition and construction form; the existing landscape and architecture were alien to them, which resulted in the abandonment of the cultural continuity of this region.
In addition to the existing unfavorable political conditions, slow reconstruction of the war damage was additionally hampered by the situation regarding the integration of the community which had settled there. Constant uncertainty as to the lands they populated and the missing sense of community did not arouse the need to care for the existing buildings; the objects which they populated were subjected to only necessary preventive and renovation works. With the passing of time the development of the populated rural areas was changing. Completely different architecture, 'universal architecture', was being introduced into the already shaped cultural landscape and located irrespective of the existing rural layout, often in the areas of large land estates to supplement the existing buildings.
The establishment of the State Agricultural Farms in West Pomerania necessitated not only the construction of new objects for livestock, but also finding space to accommodate the people working there called 'workers-farmers'. In numerous undeveloped areas new State Agricultural Farms' villages appeared, comprising residential buildings for 'workers-farmers' (Figure 7), manufacturing facilities, and objects for livestock for the sake of the operation of the Farms. New farms belonging to the State Agricultural Farms were located also in the areas of granges, utilizing manors and palaces as residential buildings or as the support of farms. On the one hand this was an opportunity to rescue an object from damage and self-degradation, but on the second hand this led to uncontrolled extension and reconstruction (Figure 8). The activities described above illustrate the mode of intervention into the existing rural architecture, starting from the deformation of the overall composition of rural layouts, through changes in particular structures of the farmstead, to particular residential objects. New directions in the development of the village resulting from the activities described and changes implemented, also in the mode of agriculture and growing crops, were largely the reason for negative phenomena and the beginning of landscape transformations. The lack of understanding and respect towards the regional architecture and tradition led to spatial chaos, a mixture of the remnants of traditional architecture and universal, often multifamily buildings. Mixed with new livestock and industrial buildings, they led to the creation of a socially difficult space. Another change in the cultural landscape of the contemporary 21st c. village with an undefined direction of transformations concerns the remnants of livestock, industrial and residential buildings left in late 1980s as the legacy of the liquidated State Agricultural Farms.
The existence of the State Agricultural Farms was ultimately ceased in 1991, after the Sejm enacted a law liquidating them. As a result, there were hundreds of people, 'workers-farmers' left in the village in their former workplaces in the State Agricultural Farms' villages with no further job prospects. The buildings occupied by those people are universal and were created to cater for the living needs of the workers. In the typological aspect, these buildings are of a form different from the other rural buildings in this area. The space of the State Agricultural Farms' villages is still some individuality in the social aspect. The people there did not feel attached to the cultural landscape, their place of residence and surroundings due to the fact that in the majority they were impoverished, had different origin, culture, which led to even deeper lack of social integration with other village residents running their small individual farms [11]. The scale of problems resulting from the collapse of the state agricultural farms and associated social infrastructure leads to the situation in which communes are frequently unable to deal with the problems themselves. This perspective sets specific tasks for the regional development policy and requires an increased engagement of the local authorities of the voivodeship and the government administration [12] p. 22.
To date, these areas have been spatially isolated, with a slower pace of development and not very favourable prospects of changes. Therefore, such areas in the West Pomeranian voivodeship have been included in the revitalisation programme. In respect of that e.g. reconstruction or adaptation of the ruined buildings and objects will be supported, especially in the case of those related to the former State Agricultural Farms [13] p. 8. Additionally, this programme emphasises the development of space, as well as providing it with new functions or restoring e.g. the economic, cultural and recreational functions. The villages previously belonging to the State Agricultural Farms are favoured in these revitalisation projects, apart from problematic rural areas [13]. Another aim of the aid is to support the rural areas in which there are rural objects or complexes protected under the Act on the Protection of Historical Monuments; these areas are governed by the voivodeship programme for the protection of historic monuments [14]. In its structure the programme includes the following targets and tasks: the preparation of the Voivodeship Programme for the Protection of Wooden Beam Architecture and the Establishment of an Open-Air Museum or Ethnographic Park. The promotion of proper conservation and revitalisation of historical monuments pursuant to conservation principles as well as Supporting the owners and users of historical monuments in exercising proper care for monuments in the area of the West Pomeranian voivodeship [14] p. 110. All the abovementioned activities are leading to the revitalisation of rural areas. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that there are differences between the areas under the conservator's protection and the degraded areas which had previously belonged to the State Agricultural Farms. Very often these areas accompany each other in West Pomerania. Efforts should be made to base all activities connected with the development of rural areas, regardless of their historical origin, on the activation of the local community, without whom success is not attainable. Local society is a direct participant in all processes and changes in its place of residence, so without its initiative and acceptance it is difficult to conduct, and, first and foremost, sustain any projects related to the development of these areas. [

Conclusions
An important aspect influencing changes in the structure of a village settlement and the forms of its development is the constantly changing character of the agricultural activity carried out and the rotation of people inhabiting these areas. The problem of transformations should be considered from an interdisciplinary perspective due to the fact that it is analyzed by numerous fields, which means each time it is perceived from a different viewpoint. Economists and groups of agricultural experts research the village in respect of the changing directions of development and production in the agricultural market; geographers focus on transformations in the functional structure of the village and the spatial consequences thereof [2]; city planners analyses the directions of spatial development; architects and conservators perceive the advantages of the village in light of artistic values, caring for the rebuilding, reconstruction and revitalisation of buildings. All the researchers strive to achieve one purpose: the enhancement of the quality of space and life in the village in view of changes in people's needs and agricultural methods, together with the fulfilment of what is expected from rural regions by city population in terms of utilizing the agritourism function of these places.
The research into the development of rural areas conducted by the author for many years has proved that changes taking place depend on the location of a village; the largest and quickest changes occur in suburban villages, which is also referred to by Niedźwiedzka [1] Characterizing the most crucial factors influencing the spatial development of the village and residential housing as well as the cultural landscape and problems resulting from that, it is necessary to point out that:  The basic factor contributing to the degradation of the cultural landscape existing after the Second World War was the implementation of the nationalised economy together with the establishment of the new State Agricultural Farms.  New forms of post-war development, based on universal solutions, were hardly capable of being integrated into historical structures, thus generating clearly adversarial layouts with the existing buildings. As a result, the appearance of multi-family and farm building complexes led in many cases to the disintegration and degradation of historically shaped layouts of villages and land estates.  Impetuous liberation of privatization processes and the abolition of area restrictions on residential housing contributed to further imbalance in the already strained image of the postwar cultural landscape of the West Pomeranian village.  The implementation of nationalised farms in the village structure was an activity which had a detrimental effect on the cultural landscape; however, paradoxically, multiple times it was the only developmental factor, both in the economic and spatial respect.  It has to be noted that the adaptation of some palace and manor buildings inconsistent with their initial designation has led to the distortion of their original form; yet in many cases this has protected those objects against being completely ruined.
Launched in recent years, the abovementioned revitalisation programs for rural areas in the West Pomeranian voivodeship, based on developmental strategies, yield measurable effects, which can be exemplified by thematic villages operating for many years and joining educational and cultural functions in the areas left after the State Agricultural Farms. These activities contribute to the activation of local communities, giving them a chance for the promotion of the area or highlighting the artistic value of an object or rural layout. Good practices aimed at the revitalisation of the most precious areas and objects include activities undertaken in communes with a view to creating multimedia analyses and catalogues of rural objects precious for the cultural heritage of a given region, commune or village. An important aspect of development is local governments' support for social actions aimed at the promotion of the local cultural heritage by emphasizing regional differences, which provides a chance of activating residents. This in turn may have a measurable economic effect on the development of economy, thus arousing the willingness to care for the space and architecture of the West Pomeranian village.
A decent activity aimed at setting the developmental directions of rural settlements in a correct way, bearing in mind their functional and spatial conditions, seems to be the establishment of a digital system for the spatial analysis of terrain, which would ensure unbiased analysis, along with conducting in-depth interpretations of spatial relations excluding the error factor, which thus would result in clear and transparent assessment of the possibility of shaping the future architecture of a given area.