Summary
The first part of the paper deals with the publications reviewing the accomplishments of the Cracow centre of human geography and defines an academic school. In the view of the author, a school requires four elements: an exceptional personality with an academic as well as moral authority and managing skills (founder of the school), a group of stu-dents and partners, a study area important from the theoretical and prac-tical point of view, and a possibility to promote the results of research (conferences and publications).
This definition has been used to assess the Cracow academic schools of human geography.
The author then defines the Cracow schools of human geography and describes general conditions at the Jagiellonian University. This ana-lysis has utilised the Conzen’s morphological transformation cycle of an urban plot, well known in settlement geography.
Three phases may be defined during the 1 50 years of geography at the University. The first of them, known as initial or institutional began with the establishment of the first Chair of Geography in 1 84b and la-sted until the First World War. The second phase called the filling period in human geography covered the 25 years between the world wars, and it was closely associated with the names of two professors, Sawicki and Smoleński, and an assistant professor Ormicki. Phase three, called the
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culminative phase by the author, has begun at the end of the Second World War. Each of these phases is characterised with a different philo-sophy of human geography. In the first phase, geography was treated as a whole, the second saw emergence of a separate anthropogeography, and the third was typified with the development of a modern human geogra-phy, or socio-economic geography as it is known in Poland, with a deep division into narrow specialisations.
What will be the fourth phase in the development of human geogra-phy in Cracow and in Poland? The author does not give the answer.
The paper then characterises each of the Cracow schools. Within human geography the author has defined four of them, i.e. settlement geography, population geography, tourism geography and industrial geo-graphy.
The author seeks the roots of the settlement geography school in the urban landscape research initiated by professor Sawicki before the Se-cond World War. Following the SeSe-cond World War, professor Bromek further developed this direction which in my opinion remains the most important of the Cracow schools. The work on the spatial structure of Polish towns and settlements based on research into urban landscape or an urban land use picture, establish a strong position of the Cracow scho-ol. 20 doctorships and six associate professor titles given in this discipli-ne confirm its high ranking.
The second of the University’s human geography schools is the scho-ol of population geography. Again, professor Sawicki is regarded to be the founder, his research concepts implemented during the inter-war pe-riod by Ormicki and Kubijowicz. After the second world war, the conti-nuation of this work is associated with professors Szaflarski and Bromek, but the school witnessed the real development under professor Jelonek, who focussed particularly on migration, natural movement and demo-graphic structures. Within this discipline there have been 12 doctorships and four associate professor titles granted.
Another discipline, which may be called a school within the Cracow human geography, is geography of tourism. The unquestionable founder of tourism geography, and not just in Cracow but also in Poland, was professor Leszczycki who founded one of the Europe’s first Tourism Stu-dies. After the WW, II his work was continued by professor Wrzosek, but the true followers of professor Leszczycki were professors Warszyńska and Jackowski, who have played a great role in the development of both Polish and international geography of tourism. Within this discipline, only three researchers have become doctors, but there were as many as six associate professor titles granted, including fellows of other universities in Poland.
The fourth school in Cracow is the school of industrial geography. In spite of the earlier work, the true founder of the school is professor Wrzo-sek. The initial research in this discipline was focussed on the geographi-cal and historigeographi-cal issues (the concept of an industrial complex), and later on the question of technology and economy. Wrzosek’s follower, profes-sor Kortus, introduced new research direction (physiogeographical). Eight persons obtained a PhD, and four - the title of an associate professor.
The four schools of human geography determined the standing of the Cracow school of geography in Poland and abroad throughout the 150 years of its existence.
In the final part of the paper, the author carried out a SWOT analy-sis of the Jagiellonian University human geography and established its advantages, disadvantages, opportunities and threats.
Among the advantages, the author listed traditions, the existence of
the established schools, new innovative research and teaching directions (geography of religion), establishing of a specialised publication (Peregri-nus Cracoviensis), the intensive activity of geographers in the promotion of knowledge, and finally - the ever expanding international connections.
Disadvantages would include a methodological stagnation, absence of research innovation in some of the schools (settlement and popula-tion), absence of a clear methodological specialisation, weak develop-ment of social geography and of the geography of services, and the ab-sence of specialised academic periodicals.
The author has left the analysis of threats and opportunities, which required a self-assessment of the Cracow geographers, to the community itself.