Danuta Ptaszycka-Jackowska

Danuta Maria Ptaszycka-Jackowska (21 May 1939 – 5 January 2025) was a Polish geographer, landscape architect and educator. She contributed to the spatial development of the post World War II redesign of Warsaw and was involved in developing the buffer zone planning concept in Poland in the late 1970s. She was a member of the Polish Geographical Society [ pl], a member of the Polish Academy of Science's Committee for the Development of Mountain Land and chaired the Scientific Council of Babiogórski National Park. She was a professor at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management of Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

Family and early life Ptaszycka-Jackowska was born on 21 May 1939 in Warsaw, Second Polish Republic. Her parents were the architects Tadeusz Ptaszycki [ pl] and Anna Ptaszycka [ pl].

During the Nazi German Occupation of Poland (1939–1945) in World War II, Ptaszycka-Jackowska's father was a reserve lieutenant of the Polish Army and her mother was involved in the Women's Military Service of the Polish Home Army resistance movement. She was also involved in originating and developing the buffer zone planning concept in Poland in the late 1970s.

Ptaszycka-Jackowska completed her doctoral studies at the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology in 1990. Her doctoral thesis was supervised by Stefan Myczkowski [ pl]. She later undertook research trips to Algeria, Venezuela, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic and Slovakia.

From 1993, Ptaszycka-Jackowska was a member of the Polish Academy of Science's Committee for the Development of Mountain Land. and wrote Jasna Góra Pilgrimage in the City and Region of Częstochowa (1998) with her husband Antoni Jackowski. She also published on cruises as a new branch of tourism to Poland.

From 2000, Ptaszycka-Jackowska was chair of the Scientific Council of Babiogórski National Park. In 2002, she published the book Światy Babiej Góry to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the park.

From 2004, Ptaszycka-Jackowska was a member of the Polskie Towarzystwo Geograficzne (PTG, Polish Geographical Society) [ pl]. From 2006, she was a professor at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management of Jagiellonian University.

Death Ptaszycka-Jackowska died on 5 January 2025 in Kraków, Poland, aged 85. She was buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Krakow. She was survived by her husband.

Awards

Honorary citizen of the Zawoja Commune Gold Cross of Merit (1999) Silver Badge of Merit for Spatial Management