Artykuł podejmuje problematykę rozprzestrzeniania się osadnictwa drugich domów na obszarze polskiej części Karpat. Opierając się na dotychczasowych badaniach, przedstawiono uwarunkowania, czynniki oraz główne cechy i kierunki rozwoju przestrzennego tego zjawiska. Właścicielami drugich domów w Karpatach są głównie mieszkańcy miast i zespołów miejskich leżących na ich przedpolu. Przesłanki, jakimi kierują się przy wyborze lokalizacji dla własnego obiektu rekreacyjnego, są uwarunkowane potrzebami społecznej izolacji i bliskości przyrody. Drugie domy wykazują tendencję do rozwoju poza obszarami stałej zabudowy oraz przestrzennej koncentracji. Ich dyspersji sprzyja silne rozproszenie stałego osadnictwa. Zjawisko drugich domów jest współcześnie ważnym czynnikiem trwałych przekształceń i fizycznej urbanizacji przestrzeni wiejskiej w polskich Karpatach, w wielu miejscach jest także postrzegane jako źródło konfliktów przyrodniczych i funkcjonalnych. Coraz wyraźniej są dostrzegalne jego związki z zachodzącymi obecnie zmianami społecznymi w środowiskach miejskich, które przejawiają się między innymi w procesach suburbanizacji i dezurbanizacji.
Since the early 1990s, the Carpathian Mountains experience an intensive development of second homes, which contributes to lasting functional changes and urbanization of rural areas. The most important systemic changes that affected the dynamics and nature of this phenomenon include the introduction of free trade of land in the 1990s, the local government reform, which gave most powers to local authorities and the introduction of new regulations regarding land use planning and new building control. The estimated number of second homes in the first years of the 21st century was about 15,000 individual recreational houses. In the period 2000–2010, the Carpathian region was under high development pressure, so it can be assumed that the number of second homes currently exceeds 20,000. The owners of second homes are primarily residents of towns located in the Carpathian foothills. Second homes in the Carpathian Mountains are not distributed evenly. The factors differentiating their location are: a) accessibility from urban centres, b) location of important tourist destinations, and c) location of water reservoirs on Carpathian rivers. The regions with the highest concentration of second homes are: the Silesian Beskid Mts. (about 4,000 objects), the Wyspowy Beskid Mts. (about 4,000 objects), the Żywiecki Beskid Mts., the Gorce Mts. and their surroundings (about 1,400 objects), as well as the Sądecki Beskid Mts. A large concentration of such objects can be found around water reservoirs – Lake Rożnowskie, Lake Żywieckie, Lake Dobczyckie. An area importantfor the development of second homes is also the valley of the Raba river, especially the small towns of Myślenice and Pcim located in the mountainous part of the suburban area of Kraków, where there are approximately 2,500 of these objects. In the past few years, there has been a growing interest in purchase of land in the Bieszczady Mts., especially in areas around Lake Solina, in the Niski Beskid Mts. and in foothills areas near Rzeszów and Przemyśl. Very attractive areas for second home location are lands in the vicinity of national parks, such as the Babia Góra NP and Gorce NP, where some buildings were erected close to their borders. Since the 1990s, second homes are usually built outside permanent housing areas, in places that offer tranquillity and close contact with nature. Many buildings are located in places where permanent houses would not have been built, such as on steep slopes, very close to water bodies, in areas difficult to reach, and in a considerable distance from residential areas. Based on previous studies, typical locations of second homes in the Polish Carpathians can be indicated as following (see Fig. 2): – away from permanent settlements, on slopes, in the immediate vicinity of the forest (A), – alongside valleys and along roads on slopes (B), – in permanent forest clearings (C), – in the immediate vicinity of streams and rivers (D), – directly at water reservoirs (E) and on slopes overlooking water bodies (F), – within permanent settlement zones (G) or in hamlets (H), – between villages or between the village and its hamlets (I), – at the edge of permanent settlement zones (J), – in remote places at the end of valleys (L) and in high altitude mountain areas (K). Second homes are nowadays an important factor in the functional transformation of rural space in the Polish Carpathians. They contribute to permanent development and urbanization of attractive tourist areas in the mountains. Construction of second homes raises much controversy because of their expansion and their location, which are, in many cases, incompatible with the needs of nature conservation and the need to protect the space for the further development of tourism function. The effects of rapid development of second homes include also a number of social and economic transformations in rural areas. These changes however create a distinct range of problems, such as the relations between immigrant population and permanent residents, city residents moving permanently to villages, the impact of second homes on the stimulation of rural enterprise, spread of innovation, or rental of second homes for commercial purposes, which causes them to become competition for the villagers providing tourism services, such as renting rooms to tourists or running tourist farms (agritourism). The spread of second homes is also considered to be one of the symptoms of the suburbanization process of cities located in the Carpathian foothills. Gradually, some objects cease to have the recreation function and become first homes. This process has clearly started already in the end of the 1990s in the Silesian Beskid Mts. And in the northern part of the Wyspowy Beskid Mts. Furthermore, it is not limited to areas close to the conurbation of Upper Silesia and to Kraków agglomeration, reaching ever further into the Carpathians as a result of improved accessibility.
