The Agricultural Property Agency (APA) was founded on 16 July 2003 pursuant to the provisions of the Act of 11 April 2003 on the establishment of the agricultural system. The APA was established for the purpose of managing the agricultural property of the State Treasury in Poland. Its main tasks included the endorsement of ownership and structural changes relating to agricultural land in rural areas as well as the promotion of social goals. This article focuses on the social aspects of the APA’s operations based on an analysis of the data supplied by the Regional Branch of the APA in Olsztyn. The obtained information and materials were analyzed to identify programs and activities initiated by the Olsztyn branch in pursuit of social goals. The results of the analyses were presented in the table format. Community interviews were conducted and photographs were taken during the field study. The results were used to describe the social aspects of APA’s operations in rural areas.

The changes in the ownership structure were to be implemented by the Agricultural Property Agency of the State Treasury, which, under the Act of Law of 11 April 2003 on the structuring of agrarian system (i.e. The Journal of Laws of 2012, item 803, as amended), on 16 July 2003 became the Agricultural Property Agency with eleven local branch offices. For the purposes of this article the monographic method was used for the overview of relevant literature and legal provisions, whereas the statistical analysis was employed in the data of the Central Statistical Office and reports on the activities of the Agricultural Property Agency. Until the end of 2015 the main objective of the Agricultural Property Agency was to restructure and dispose of the assets within the Agricultural Property Stock of the State Treasury. Since its foundation, the Agency expanded the Stock by 4.74 million ha. Over time, the operating conditions for the Agency were in a state of flux – they were being adjusted to the changing socio-economic situation. At the beginning, leasing was the basic form of disposal of the Stock land. After Polish accession to the European Union an increased interest in the acquisition of agricultural property was observed. By the end of 2014, as a result of land sale, free-of-charge land transfers or other transactions, approximately 3.2 million ha were disposed of, i.e. about 70% of the whole land which was taken over. Currently, according to the legal provisions, long-term lease is the basic form of disposal of the Stock land.

The issue of brownfields and their analysis in Slovakia have not been given such emphasis over the last decade as in the neighbouring EU countries, such as in Austria or in the Czech Republic. The situation is completely different in Bratislava and also in the rest of Slovakia and the development of this type of area is almost unrealized. A frequent argument is problematic ownership relationships to the unused, degraded land. However, the real problem is the higher financial costs associated with brownfields regeneration. Despite this fact, brownfields can be considered as an area with relatively large development potential within the urbanized area and one form of hidden reserves of both, local and national economy. Among the indisputable benefits of using brownfields, we can include reduction of the extensive land use of agricultural land for rural area. In the long run, Bratislava is preparing a search study of neglected and unused land within the capital. It is due to be completed in the course of 2018, and will be an important basis for a new territorial plan and the development of Bratislava. In the following article, we analyse brownfield land in Bratislava. The already realized brownfield projects are also mentioned, while we are trying to point out their main advantages and disadvantages.