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Search for phrase: "new public governance"
Katarzyna Radzik-Maruszak
In many European countries local governments, in particular on the municipal level, search for new solutions to improve the governing process. The aim of this paper is to present an innovative model, based on the idea of New Public Governance management, which operates in the city of Tampere, situated in southern Finland. Introduced in 2007, the model is based on three main pillars – strong leadership, effective and responsible service provision, and citizen involvement in the decision-making process. The paper describes each of these elements and indicates its practical advantages and disadvantages. The analysis has been conducted on the basis of official city documents and interviews conducted with experts in Finnish local government as well as leading local politicians from Tampere. In conclusion, it is pointed out that although the Tampere model should certainly be labelled as innovative, the solutions adopted generate some difficulties. These include tensions between politicians and administrators as well as problems related to the coordination of city services and the attitude of politicians and administrators towards citizen participation.
Ewa Nowińska-Łaźniewska, Tomasz Górecki
The main purpose of this paper is to present selected methods of spatial-economic research with a special focus on Michalski`s method. The enlargement of the European Union by new countries is an important opportunity to carry out comparative studies, making it possible to analyse and assess the competitiveness of regions as well as spatial and regional diversity of growth centres. The presented visualisation methods are the authors` modest contribution to literature on this subject. This contribution includes collecting domestic methods, their implementation in research and some modifications. The purpose of these methods was to examine spatial processes (in such areas as: economy, demography, agriculture, quality of life or building) in different spatial sections, in the years 1990–1992. There are many methods of examining similarity (dissimilarity) of regional structures. All of them fundamentally depend on the concept of structure. In this paper, two different approaches of this concept and the relevant measures shall be presented. Furthermore, various methods of visualisation of the obtained measures shall be presented.
Janusz T. Hryniewicz
The article analyzes the economic basis of Pax Americana over the next 10?20 years and describes the future position of Eastern Europe (New Europe) in the American constellation of interests. The main factors of geopolitical power are wealth – total and per capita, the production of leading goods, and innovations. An analysis of the position of different countries in the advancement of the new economy (knowledge-based economy) proves that in the next 20 years the US will be the most important power of the Western world. The position of Eastern Europe (New Europe) in Pax Americana will be the result of its rather poor impact on the national interests of the US.
Ewa Nowińska-Łaźniewska, Piotr Nowak
The article describes the important problem of increasing regional competitiveness through the international (interregional and cross-border) cooperation. Activities supporting the competitiveness of companies and whole regions are described in the article using the examples of transregional projects carried out by different partners dealing with logistics. The first project ECO4LOG carried out in the framework of interregional cooperation programme INTERREG III C promotes the usage of the intermodal infrastructure located in the transport corridor along Polish and German border and further through Austria, Hungary and Slovenia to the Adriatic sea. One of the main tasks of this project is the improvement of cross-border cooperation in goods transport among bodies which are interested in such cooperation (also public authorities). Another important target of ECO4LOG is the increase of effectiveness of the existing transport network through the improvement of information flows. The second project has the acronym CORELOG and is carried out in the framework of INTERREG III B CADSES. Its target is the development of logistics solutions favourable for enterprises, logistics operators and the whole region – propagating co-ordination of activities of different organisations, feasibility studies of developed co-operation models. Analysis and evaluation of the most important factors influencing the strategies of supply chain management and evaluation of activities carried out by administrations (of the national, regional and local level) affecting transport development and economic growth in the region will provide background for the implementation phase. Several pilot actions will test the ideas for coordinated regional logistics development.
Janina Kotlińska, Maciej J. Nowak
The purpose of this article is to highlight the organisational and financial aspects of managing property at the district level, as well as the role of those aspects in local development, resulting in how property is used and the income it generates. The article contains some suggestions as to how a property-managing program should be constructed, based upon research including both source analysis and questionnaire methods.
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse
The article presents the main topics of the European debate on the EU Cohesion Policy after 2013, i.e. a discussion of territorial cohesion, the new EU economic strategy 2010-2020, and the next EU financial perspective after 2013. The debate has been continuing in the shadow of the financial and economic crises (2008-2010) and the trouble in the Euro zone (2010), which were caused by continued structural differences between the Member States. The Cohesion Policy is too weak an instrument to solve these problems. The author’s analysis focuses on the main proposals of changes in the Cohesion Policy put forward during the debate, which were shaped mainly by political interests of the dominant actors, and based on experts’ opinions and scientific concepts. In the conclusion, the author presents some recommendations for future Cohesion Policies.
Arkadiusz Ptak
The method and rules of elections of village heads and village council-members, which are conducted at meetings of village residents, are one of the last examples of direct democracy. Even though this form of democracy has been studied and described previously, the electoral rivalry within rural communities is marginalized; therefore, it is little known. The paper tries to define the features of electoral competition and analyze rivalry at this level of government. It has been based on a case study of one commune and three research methods have been used: direct observation, document analysis and personal interviews. Additionally, the paper presents sociological and demographic studies on some of the newly elected village heads and their councils.
Wojciech Tomasz Modzelewski

Regions can get involved in international-relations activity defined as paradiplomacy. It is similar to state diplomacy as it is subject to its law and policy and uses similar tools such as diplomatic protocol, but is not pursued by professional diplomats. Regional paradiplomacy needs to be analysed as a source of new international relationships. Consequently, regions should be perceived as new actors in international relations. The article focuses on the paradiplomacy of Polish regions (voivodships, or województwa) and Croatian counties (Hrvatske županije). The case study discusses the cooperation between the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship and the Split-Dalmatia County.

Agnieszka Olechnicka, Maciej Smętkowski
The aim of the paper is to present the impact of ICT on the spatial behaviour of the main actors (households, enterprises, public administration) that constitute the regional economic system. The results are based on the regional case study developed within the ESPON 1.2.3 project. The research has been conducted in 2006 in the Podlaskie Voivodship – an example of peripheral Polish region. In particular the analysis covers the range and effects of new technologies implementation both in private and public sectors.
Grzegorz Buczek
According to its development strategy and currently defined physical planning policy Warsaw should become the European metropolis, with a good quality of life, high culture, a durable physical order and public areas of high standard. These are the goals of the municipal authorities, but a short walk through the downtown shows that they are far from being reached. The obvious way for Warsaw to meet the ambitions of its authorities is through physical planning – transparent, with a high level of a public participation. That is – completely different from how it is now, what can be confirmed by some spectacular examples. If bad governance will be continued, Warsaw may soon become closer to the cities of the Third World, than to the European metropolis.
Katarzyna Krok
The turn of the eighties and nineties was a particular moment for the natural environment in Poland. Two important factors occurred at that time. First was the post-communist transformation of the country, which affected all spheres of socio-economic life in Poland. On the other hand, new ideas of sustainable development taking into account both quality of human life and quality of natural environment have been spreading all around the world. Changes in the system of environmental protection in Poland which occurred after the year 1989, took into consideration the consequences of both processes. It seems therefore interesting to find out how the new instruments worked and what effects they have brought to Poland in the nineties. This article describes the changes in the quality of different components of natural environment in the areas of environmental risk in Poland between 1982 and 2000. Using the results and methodology of Rolewicz and Kassenberg (1985), the situation in 27 such areas was analyzed.
Maria Halamska
The author of this essay argues that, in a longer time perspective, four major processes have been taking place in the countryside and changing its character in Polish as well as in other countries in Western and Central Europe: de-ruralization, de-agrarianization, development of a new model of agriculture (peasantization/ de-peasantization) and re-stratification. These processes are affecting 1) the place of the countryside in society, 2) the place of agriculture in society and in national economy, 3) the structure of the countryside as a social subsystem. These changes have been taking place throughout the last two decades, albeit with different speed in different time periods. Three of them, de-ruralization, de-agrarianization and re-stratification, are continuations of processes which took place before 1989. Their dynamics does not differ from that in Western and Central-Eastern Europe. The fourth, more original process can also be detected in the development of a new agrarian model: the adjustment of the post-communist structure of agricultural production to the market economy.
Robert Pyka
The aim of the French territorial reform from December 2010 was to change the structure of the French local political and administrative system thanks to institutional solutions that would strengthen the biggest agglomerations and lead to their progressive metropolization. The announced changes were meant to adjust the model of territorial organization to the requirements of contemporary economy and to enhance national economic growth of the country in stagnation. The introduction in the law of metropolises as new local-government territorial units that took over the most important competences of municipalities and departments was meant as a “territorial revolution”. Unfortunately, it failed. Meanwhile, the regulations that would make it possible to create a rather loose form of interterritorial cooperation, a so-called Metropolitan Pole, that were inserted into the project at the last moment, gave results unexpected by the legislator. This situation shows the growing importance of flexible solutions regarding competences and territory, solutions that use multilevel governance as an effective tool for inter-territorial management in the situation of inertia of the classical territorial structure and obstacles to its reform.
Mirka Mitukiewicz
Golf isn`t just a game. It`s a passion, an obsession. A neverending dedication to hit longer and straighter than the day before. And unbreakable promise with yourself to best the course, the elements, your opponents. No one understands this better than another golfer." It is said that around 100 million people all lover the world are playing golf or are interested in it. There are a total of 30.730 courses in 119 countries and 57 million golfers. This article gives a complete picture of global golf. For each country it gives the number of courses, number of new courses built, number of golfers and social, cultural historical background of golf.
Kamil Piskała, Agata Zysiak

A socialist city is mainly associated with the imperial architecture of Minsk or East Berlin, the functional division into districts, monumental public buildings, or housing developments. This article aims at restructuring the prospect of city development in the first post-war period, i.e. 1945-1949. Based on the example of Łódź – Poland’s biggest city in view of the demolished Warsaw as well as the working-class capital of textiles – I reconstruct modernisation discourses in press, showing that in the first period of the reconstruction, modest suggestions as to the city development were made, ones adjusted to the needs of its inhabitants and the comfort of everyday life. It was only with the aggravation of the political course after the year 1948 when these were replaced with more daring prospects of a socialist city, gigantic investments, and the construction of new districts for the working-class masses.

Jeremi T. Królikowski
The question as to whether Warsaw is becoming a Third World city may be regarded as a metaphorical question, which expresses concern about whether the changes being wrought now are moving in the right direction and how the city’s spatial values are adhered to. Shaped as a traditional city, Warsaw lay in ruins in consequence of World War II. Imposed on it was an order of a total character, which, in chosen places, gave rise to forms dominating over the city huge areas which might be described as having a blurring and diluting effect. In the years of transformation, the spatial values leading to the expected balanced development, whose result would be the order of freedom with due regard for the sprit of the place, were not reasserted, and were not incorporated in the public dimension.
Lucyna Rajca
New Public Management – inspired reforms have influenced implementation of management principles in local government, the marketisation and outsourcing. These reforms were mostly visible in the United Kingdom but appear also in other European countries, for example: Ireland, Sweden, Germany, the least in France (among described in this article). There is a risk that NPM-led reforms may come to lose sight of the underlying social purpose of public services. NPM has not became a new, universal model of public sector management. The debate about public service reform has moved (particularly in UK) beyond the concerns of NPM to an emerging concept of networked community governance.
Andrzej Pawluczuk, Małgorzata Wasiuk
Paweł Swianiewicz
For some time local governments and urban politics have been undergoing significant changes related to the change of the traditional welfare state model. These changes have concerned economic, political and management dimensions. While describing these processes numerous authors refer to the notion of New Public Management. This article discusses three theories which have been created to help in interpretation of on-going processes. New Political Culture theory by T.N. Clark stresses value and economic changes and underlines their implications for changes in styles of local politics. Local governance theory developed mostly by Peter John concentrates on shape of local government institutions. Another T.N. Clark’s theory of the “city as an entertainment machine” focuses on evolving mechanisms of local economic development and their impact on policies adopted by urban governments. The paper formulates questions and initial hypothesis about applicability of these concepts to Polish environment.
Abdul Nadjib, Oemar Madri Bafadhal, Anang Dwi Santoso

Civil servants are frequently described as being separate from politicians in good local governance. Regrettably, civil servants are urged to assist in the maintenance of power through the use of social capital. In Indonesia, decentralisation facilitates the accumulation of social capital. However, a body of literature has established that social capital is a predictor of the bureaucracy’s quality. This study delves into something else by examining how social capital fosters a mutually beneficial relationship between the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) and the incumbent, resulting in the ASN’s non-neutrality in Regional Head Elections (Pilkada). We used a qualitative case study approach, within which we interviewed members of the civil apparatus about social capital and its relationship to the performance of the State Civil Apparatus. The findings indicated that the ASN’s lack of neutrality in the Pilkada occurred as a result of the establishment of social capital relations between superiors and the ASN in the form of information channel relationships (paternalism and/or nepotism culture), obligations and expectations (the ASN’s contribution to the incumbent), norms and effective sanctions (superiors’ invitation), as well as adjusted community organisations (weak community control).

Elżbieta Kozłowska
As a result of broad demilitarization process, numerous military bases had been locked out in the last years all over the world. In the regions whose economies depended heavily on military orders, and large share of employment was in the army-oriented services, the closure of the military bases had huge negative impact on the economy, as finding new development path showed to be difficult. The article demonstrates the examples of successful demilitarization and conversion of the cities and regions in France, Germany and USA and formulates recommendations for the Polish communes experiencing military base closure.
Bolesław Domański

The author discusses different definitions of social justice related to equality of outcome and equality of opportunity. It is argued that, in the territorial perspective, public policy should aim at improving the equality of opportunity by means of reducing social exclusion rather than at fighting regional disparities in the standards of living. What is challenged is the interpretation of the relationship between political preferences and the core–periphery division of Poland into Northern and Western Territories on the one hand and Eastern and South-Eastern regions on the other, as presented by R. Perdał et al. (2020).

Joanna Furtak
The article deals with the evolution of the regional policy in the UK whose traditions in this respect are the richest among West European countries. Its genesis is linked with attempts to reduce unemployment in industrialised regions. It is commonly agreed that state interventionism in regional development began with the publication of the Special Areas Development and Improvement Act of 1934 which covered Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England. The article focuses on the assumptions behind the regional policy, its objectives, scope, instruments used, and institutions responsible for its implementation indicating changes made by subsequent Conservative and Labour governments. While the former restricted the scope and volume of support in aid of assisted areas, the latter did the opposite. The regional policy defined and modified by the European Community plays a significant role in determining its shape as much as deregulation, reinforcement of the regional tier itself, predominance of social matters over economic ones as well affective and selective nature of support.
Karol Olejniczak
This article investigates the theoretical background (definition, function, types) as well as practice of evaluation activities in the European Union. The analysis has been led on three levels. The first one is the evaluation use by national administration for the purposes of national public programmes. Second level is the use of evaluation within the EU Institutions (namely European Commission). The last one, is the evaluation of European interventions at the country level. Accent has been put on this last level (the most developed one) that is the practice of structural funds. Author also concludes that despite the evaluation boom in Europe (that has taken place due to the requirements of EU regional policy), the real evaluation utilization and impact on the EU management are poorly recognized. There is a significant gap between number and scale of performed evaluations and the scientific attempts to recognize the real effects and the real utility of evaluation in improving the management of EU programmes and policies.
Maciej J. Nowak
The aim of this paper is to examine the process of issuing decisions on building conditions and land management in rural-urban areas located in the outer zone of the Szczecin Metropolitan Area, and to determine whether the individual municipalities adopt a similar policy in this case. We also study the possible reasons for the differences. In the research, covering the years 2007–2010, we examined four rural-urban municipalities located in the outer zone of the Szczecin Metropolitan Area. We specified the number of decisions regarding the building conditions in each year and in each municipality, we counted the motions which were denied and the decisions to establish the locations of a public purpose investment. In the latter case, we also studied the purpose of such investments. Moreover, in the total number of the decisions issued for economic purposes, we defined the percentage of those made in favour of legal persons and those made in the city’s area.
Adam Płoszaj
The paper discusses urban renewal projects implemented in Polish cities in the framework of Cohesion Policy 2004?2006. Renewal projects constituted only a small portion of the intervention under the Cohesion Policy programmes in cities. Relatively small outlays and a small number of projects resulted in a clear diffusion of the intervention, which undoubtedly affected the scale of results. Most undertakings classified as renewal projects were not comprehensive, i.e. they did not consist in restructuring of spatial, social and economic structures, but were rather repair and modernization investments. The general influence of the projects classified as renewal projects at the domestic level was small, even though most individual projects had a definitely positive impact on their direct surroundings or even the whole city (especially the projects concerning larger public spaces).
Renata Białobrzeska, Renata Marks-Bielska
Democratic end economic transformations that occurred after 1989 in Central and Eastern Europe Countries have resulted in a new political situation in the Baltic Sea region. They created opportunities for unrestricted development of cooperation not only at international, but also at regional and local communities level. Those initiatives are a consequence of the necessity for social and economic activation, the belief in opportunity of achieving economic benefits for everybody and they are motivated by cross-sborder transport links, cultural and language similarities between communities living at both sides of the border. The paper aims at presenting the scope and scale of regional cooperation in the Baltic Sea region with particular focus on the current effects and potential of that cooperation in the border areas of Poland. The paper presents the results of questionnaire based on investigations encompassing representatives of local governments from border municipalities of the Baltic Sea Euroregion.
Robert Pyka
The paradigm of analysis of the reality and its management, based on vertical hierarchic structures, cannot be used to characterize situations of resources concentration in the hands of many social actors. Nowadays, the paradigm seems to be less popular. First scientific diagnoses of the described situations seemed to prove their chaotic and ungovernable character, but they were gradually replaced with approaches which allowed to penetrate and govern composed systems. The notion of ‘governance’ (i.e. a multi-layered network process whose participants have different statuses and resources, and which results in a consensus achieved in an interactive play of all partners) has a high heuristic value. France is a perfect illustration of this phenomenon. The process can be observed especially in metropolitan areas that create their own compounded authority systems.
Alexander Tölle
The revitalisation process in Polish cities – here by the example of Poznan – is still rather on a modest level. Nevertheless the needs are urgent if we consider the continuing degradation of inner-city areas, the insufficient quality and quantity of housing resources and increase of suburbanisation. The legal, financial, and socioeconomic conditions do not allow the application of Western patterns. Yet there exist in Poznan various examples of renewal of old housing stock as well as of revitalisation of whole inner-city areas. They may be regarded as starting points for the realisation of future revitalisation ventures, also with regard to expected European funding.
Krzysztof Nyklewicz
The transformation of the German economy, which has been in progress for the last twenty years, determines the changes of the labour market. Since the reuni?cation in 1989, a major increase in atypical forms of employment has been observed as a result of deregulation processes of the labour market. The aim of this paper is to present the spectrum of problems regarding the diverse development of these forms in the eastern and western parts of the Federal Republic of Germany, with particular focus on the different situation of men and women. The author assumes that in order for non-standard forms of employment to ?ourish, the employment of women has to be considerable. The differences appearing in both parts of Germany are caused not only by economic factors, but also to a high degree by social and institutional ones.
Paweł Kos?cielecki
The article is an attempt at a brief overview of the development strategies of Polish voivodeships in terms of the role of culture as a factor in regional development. The author compares the ‘old-generation’ strategies (applicable until 2005/2006) and the ‘new-generation’ ones (developed for the programming period of 2007–2013). Culture plays an important role in the development of regions as after the administrative reform of 1998 cultural policy became an element of the local government activities. The overview is preceded by a description of the constituents of cultural policy such as 1) the cultural industry as a sector of culture creation and development of cultural products, 2) cultural institutions, and 3) cultural heritage as a pool of resources to be used in the cultural creation process and promotion through the cultural institutions network. Each component analysis is accompanied by a brief discussion of the related ideas and opinions expressed in academic literature by experts from cultural institutions and culture-related academic centres. The author also offers his own concept of describing elements of cultural policy. He juxtaposes the perception of culture as presented in the available publications with the aims of cultural activity and the philosophy of cultural development in voivodeships. Consequently, the author assesses the usefulness of the widely available cross-sectional literature on culture in Poland for the building of the cultural development philosophy in the Polish regions.
Elżbieta Michałowska

This article discusses a particular type of social conflict, which is NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) syndrome. It has been very well studied and described by American sociologists. Although NIMBY syndrome has been present in Poland for relatively short time it is de?nately a sign of organising different types of local communities against interfering processes. Although usually depicted as negative phenomenon in most con?icts in the region of lodz it has proved to increase local activity, created new channels of social communication and leaders. It can be also stated that NIMBY syndrome has its source in omitting or separating local community from decision-making procedures and insufficient information on affair/venture being planned. The research revealed that NIMBY protests were characterised by violent beginning, significant time of existence and appearance of sudden, violent and often abrupt reactions of community during time of the con?ict. Dominating forms of activity were petitions and letters being written form. Another activities covered blockades, manifestations, demonstrations and destruction of construction machines or construction site itself. Most frequent form of extinguishing the con?ict was arbitrage which is forcing administrative decision against community which resulted in increasing distance between the community, local authorities and investor.

Stanisław W. Ceran, Michał Sidoruk
The study contains a review of websites of local governments in Podlaskie voivodship. The authors address the problem of demand for internet services, provide the inventory of available websites and evaluate the importance of this form of communication. The popularity of Internet services is clearly growing, especially with respect to interactive solutions, saving time and money of citizens. The quality of website’s contents is also a strong determinant of it’s success.
Marian Chojnacki
The marketing oriented approach to planning of local development proofs its high economic efficiency, nevertheless its one-sidedness undermines the conceptual basis of sustainable development. One can put forward two competitive hypotheses. (a) The success of many marketing strategies is due to social and cultural capital, but the marketing games basically are not suitable means to reproduce the social sources of their own prosperity. (b) Under experimentally controlled conditions (such as economic, organizational etc.) organizations and communities learning by solving their current problems are able to reproduce the social capital they have used up or to contribute to an emergence of new kinds of this capital, that reciprocally foster their marketing orientated strategies of development.
Agnieszka Pawłowska, Katarzyna Radzik-Maruszak

Social councils (SCs) are local collegial actors formally created by local authorities as consultative bodies for different policy issues. The main objective of this article is to define the role of SCs in collaborative governance (CG). The paper is based on the quantitative research conducted in 65 Polish cities. The research is focused on the members of youth, senior citizen councils, and councils for residents with disabilities. The research results indicate that SCs meet many of the prerequisites of CG, however their potential to influence decisions and consensus seeking has not been entirely proven.

Danuta Kochanowska, Mieczysław Kochanowski
Anna Gąsior-Niemiec
The article focuses on the discussion over attempts to re-interpret causes and effects of the state of permanent socio-economic under-development of peripheral regions in Europe invoking Italian Mezzogiorno as a case. Mezzogiorno widely held to be a monolith paradigm of unsuccessful modernization, is being cognitively deconstructed in the face of a two-way running stream of analyses and enunciations. Ideologically imbued political discourse originating in the separatist North reinforces and emphasizes an image of South as a lawless consumer of the Italian state’s resources produced in the North. As a response arises an equally ideologically motivated discourse of academic and cultural elites of the South, whose aims to produce a new, positive image of the South as a space alternative to northern egoism and materialism, a space bridging Europe and the rest of non-Atlantic world. In this context, a discourse of social sciences ever stronger marks its presence; considering conditions of socio-economic development of peripheral regions it forfeits a unidimensional neoliberal approach and instead turns to multidimensional analyses of institutional environment as a primary source of socio-economic dynamics. The debate surrounding Italian Mezzogiorno may constitute at the same time a useful vantage point for a debate over the Polish model of development, especially with regard to peripheral and backward regions in Poland.
Bohdan Jałowiecki

The article was published in Polish in "Studia Regionalne i Lokalne", 1/2005

 

Metropolisation is one of the most dynamic processes of contemporary world, changing the existing settlement patterns and creating new relations between large cities. In the recent years, metropolisation has also come to include Central and Eastern European countries. The paper looks at the role of these countries in the European metropolitan network, and describes the process of the emergence of Polish metropolises, in addition to their social and spatial transformation.

Michał Wolański, Dominika Wojtowicz, Łukasz Widła-Domaradzki

The article presents possibilities of adapting the impact evaluation methodology to the evaluation of public intervention in road infrastructure. In the first part of the article the authors present the principles of the impact evaluation methodology, which serves to evaluate real effects of an intervention, as well as examples of evaluation projects prepared with the use of this method. The authors present their own empiric study, which was the first application of the methodology in the road infrastructure sector. The article concludes with a critical analysis of the method, especially concerning its reliability and potential usefulness in road infrastructure.

Wojciech Jarczewski
The majority of major local actors of the city of Mielec have united in the idea of creating the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the 1st half of 90s. The informal coalition of representatives of various bodies and institutions quickly started to have access to institutional resources, that enabled them to control the decision-making and took over the social leadership. The young coalition managed also to gain the support from the government. Such informal deal was characterised by the most typical features for urban regime of symbolic type and develop to all actors a great mobilisation for finding new progress tendencies of the city. The strength of the coalition and the success of the regime may be measured by the first SEZ in Poland that has been created in 1995 in Mielec. The legal regulations for functioning of SEZs in Poland were developed mainly by participants of this regime having a visible stigma of local city problems.
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse
The article describes EU policy towards its outermost regions. The regions are an example of integration of various streams of EU policies on the territorial level, as well as a playing field for EU pilot measures and innovative modes of governance. The European approach provides special privileges for peripheral regions in EU policies and the meaning of these regions in European public debates is increasing. The author examines the development of EU policy towards its outermost regions since 2004 in relation to two basic contemporary European debates: about territorial cohesion and the future of EU cohesion policy after 2013. At the end of the article, some conclusions are given for Polish decision-makers.
Antoni Kukliński
In this paper I try to outline 3 theses: 1) In the experiences of the XX century the model of socially minded regional policy was the dominating phenomenon. 2) In the experiences of XXI century the model of globally minded regional policy will be the dominating phenomenon. 3) The transformation from the old to the new model is taking place in the great Sturm und Drang Periode of the years 1980–2020. The shift from the old to the new model of regional policy is firmly linked to the parallel transformation of the cohesion policies designed and implemented by the European Union. This is the shift from mechanically to organically minded cohesion policies.
Adam Wojciechowski
Sociological research on the social bonds so far has analysed causes and a degree in which the community does not meet requirements of the traditional community any more. Modern research on the nature and the structure of local communities have introduced a new typology which reflects the advanced state of modern social bonds. Social relationships between the residents of cities and countries are reduced the number of the partners as well as people who seem to have the role of the partner decrease and the contact circles are homogenous as regards the socio-professional affiliation of partners. Interactions partners are willing to offer their help although they claim that they seldom use it and if only they turn to somebody for help it will be the closest family.
Agnieszka Szczudlińska-Kanoś
In general, political marketing is a collection of activities, techniques, methods and means that at least facilitate and at most make possible electoral success on the part of political entities. At present political marketing represents an indispensable part of politics, since only with its help do candidates have a chance of gaining and then holding on to power. After every election we can observe yet-greater competition. Political entities apply different and more elaborate methods and techniques which are aimed at increasing chances of electoral success. During the last ten years in Poland (since the new voivodships were established), it has been possible to observe the professionalization of marketing operations, particularly at municipal elections and especially at those on the regional level. In this article distinctions are therefore drawn between regional political marketing operations and those at either nationwide or local levels. The findings are based on investigations conducted by means of questionnaires distributed among the councillors serving on the voivodship regional assemblies (sejmiki) for the 2006–2010 term of office.
Katarzyna Zajda
One of the challenges for the contemporary Polish village is the transformation of its economic structure. It is necessary not only to create new jobs in the non-agricultural sector, but also to increase the competitiveness of enterprises. In their activities, entrepreneurs may use local resources in an innovative way. The author of the present article focuses on the following question: “What is the potential of entrepreneurs as far as the innovation based on local resources is concerned?”. Innovation is defined as a way of using local resources which emphasizes the specificity of an area. In her research (undertook in 2012), the author analyzed the local resources of the Pilica River Valley and the applications for support (from Rural Development Programme 2007–2013) submitted by the entrepreneurs to the local action group. The entrepreneurs (in their activity) do not use the resources which have been identified in the local development strategy. The additional funding allowed them to increase the competitiveness of their companies, but was not used to make their activities more innovative.
Grzegorz Masik, Iwona Sagan
The concept of economic resilience is a relatively new subject of debate within the framework of regional studies. In the first part of the paper, the authors present two main concepts of resilience, i.e. an evolutionary approach and an agency perspective. On the example of Wight European regions, they describe the actions taken to mitigate the adverse effects of the economic crisis and the strategies that build economic resilience. The final section identifies the key effective tools used in most analyzed regions.
Olha Skyba, Yurii Liannoi, Yuliia Tonkopei, Olha Lianna

The authors have determined that the healthcare system is on the verge of collapse, as it is unable to meet the population’s growing needs for medical care. An analysis of demographic situation and health indices of the adult population in the north-eastern region of Ukraine (based on the example of the Sumy region) was carried out. The study confirms the number of deaths caused by COVID-19, the growth of new cases of coronavirus, and the excessive burden on primary care physicians and infectious disease specialists. It has been determined that the negative state of the domestic healthcare system is due to the shortcomings of public administration and organisation of this system in terms of COVID-19. One of the most important priorities of public policy should be to preserve and strengthen the health of the population, the development of intersectoral cooperation on the principle of ‘healthcare – in all state policies’, and the priority of the nation itself, i.e. the formation of healthy behaviour.

Phil Cooke
This paper proposes an analysis of the manner in which knowledge value chains derive specific but differentiated advantage from distinctive categories of knowledge over geographical space and time. It explores the problematic juxtaposition of tacit and codified knowledge transfer as a simple matter of conversations among binary actors, proposing the concept of "complicit` knowledge as a necessary category capturing the multitude of intermediary agents involved in actual knowledge translation to move from the implicit raw state to the explicit innovation representing new knowledge capable of attracting market demand.
Elżbieta Anna Sekuła
The essay concerns “widely closed spaces” in today’s metropolises. By this term I understand territories that belong to private firms and syndicates and are predominantly situated in big office buildings. These places have certain features both of the public and the private space. They also co-create one of the zones in which the processes of fragmentation and appropriation of the urban space take place. It is so because they construct symbolic and literal barriers to access. The text provides an analysis of the functioning of “widely closed spaces” and their role in today’s metropolises.
Monika Murzyn-Kupisz
Currently, cultural heritage is often thought of as a development resource in development strategies, monument protection and regeneration programmes. It is considered as an obligation and its potential is recognized by specialists and public administration of all levels. The aim of the article is to show that since heritage is a multi-faceted resource, its protection and usage is important for many stakeholders. Many individuals and organisations representing the public, the private and the third sector operate in various segments of the heritage market. Taking into account their expectations and goals is necessary to avoid or at least weaken potential conflicts brought about by using heritage for present day purposes.
Katarzyna Sadowy
The paper presents the problem of measuring and evaluating human well-being and socioeconomic development. The goal of the paper is to introduce the term ‘life dignity’, to define it and specify its relation to such terms as living standards and quality of life, and, more importantly, to show the advantages of using life dignity as a benchmark for evaluating urban public space. The term ‘dignity’ is used in other fields of research that have already recommended directions for constructing the index and measuring methods.
Sławomir Maciejczyk
The aim of the following article is to review the literature on financial evaluation of local governments and to emphasise the need of creating new methods of evaluation in this sector. The author makes references to the indicators applied by the financial institutions to business sector and points out the possibilities of adapting those experiences in assessing local governments.
Bohdan Jałowiecki

Whose is the city? This question only superficially refers to the past when at least some cities were in fact law-making, autonomous communities of their citizens. Unlike in the past, the contemporary city is a random collection of individuals gathered in a space with no clear boundaries, who in their majority have a weak sense of identification with the place of their residence, whether longer or shorter. The residents of such a city are not citizens but merely users of space which has become a commodity. Taking Warsaw as an example, the paper shows the process of selling out the city space, which is driven by globalisation and metropolisation processes. The consequence of this is privatisation and fragmentation of space, leading to the evaporation of public space in the city.

Janusz Zaleski, Zbigniew Mogiła, Joanna Kudełko
The scale and structure of EU funds are one of the key determinants of Cohesion Policy impacts on socio-economic regional development, along with the magnitude of the Keynesian multiplier mechanism, spill-over elasticities, initial stocks of infrastructure, or human and physical capital. The aim of the paper is to analyze how changes in forecasts of Cohesion Policy public financial resources (available in NDPs & NSRFs) affect a counterfactual analysis of the Cohesion Policy impacts on the Polish NUTS-2 regional economies. On the basis of the financial data from the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure and Development which were made available in the years 2008?2013, simulations were carried out for the period 2004?2020 using 16 macroeconomic HERMIN models for the Polish regions. The results show that yearly forecast errors of the EU funds at the regional level account for up to 229%, and the forecast errors of allocations of the EU funds amount even to 32%. The inaccuracy of the forecasts of the EU payments and their volatility considerably distort the results of macroeconomic research of the Cohesion Policy impacts on development processes – even by 88% in the case of the yearly results, and by 49% in the case of cumulative results.
Łukasz Lewkowicz
The purpose of the article is to provide political analysis of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), which are being currently established on the Polish-Slovak borderland. First, the author presents the essence and legal basis of this new instrument of the European Union, and describes the origin of the first EGTCs. Second, in the main body of the text, he discusses two Polish-Slovak EGTCs, i.e. Tatra and TRITIA, focusing in particular on their documents of incorporation, internal organization and the planned scope of activities. The article is supplemented with a comparative analysis of previously active euroregions. In the summary, the author offers some conclusions and recommendations regarding further formalization of Polish-Slovak trans-frontier cooperation.
Adam Gendźwiłł
The aim of the article is to describe the phenomenon of non-partisanship of local governments in large Polish cities. It is a report from a research conducted in Wroclaw, Gdynia and Katowice. The article contains a description of typical justifications of non-partisanship, an identification of differences between partisan and non-partisan city councillors and a description of quasi-partisan organizations functioning as political support for non-partisan mayors. The results of the research confirm the existence of a specific category of local activists consistently rejecting party politics and very often having no political ambitions concerning higher levels of government; this category is typical for quasi-partisan organizations. The research demonstrates that non-partisanship can be a means of institutionalization of a particular manner of understanding and making politics. One of the final conclusions is that the problems of partisanship and non-partisanship at the local level are derivatives of a vague relationship between public administration and politics at the local level.
Piotr Lorens
Sustaining the development at the local level is associated with many different issues. One of the major ones is the urban growth policy. This can be justified by the importance of space as one of the most important environmental assets, which has to be treated as non-renewable one. At the same time it is necessary to remember that the shape of this policy is influenced by many factors, i.e. legal regulations and current paradigm of urban development. Along with introduction of the sustainable development concept this paradigm evolves. Currently as some of its most important components one should mention urban regeneration of the degraded areas and limiting urban growth to the areas already urbanized. As far as urban regeneration is discussed, it is possible to mention a number of issues that have to be taken into account. At the same time one can regard the inside growth of cities which means reusing degraded areas – as real alternative to the on-going suburbanization and encroachment of urban structures to the areas still remaining its agricultural or natural character.
Douglas Yuill, Martin Ferry, Tobias Gross
The reform of the EU cohesion policy for the period 2007–2013 resulted with policy adjustments in member states. The changes, as showed by the analysis for EU 15, new member states (with particular attention given to Poland) and Norway – take various forms, depending on specific local factors. Some of discussed reforms seem to be the consequence of changing the paradigm of development. The authors offer a review of the most important issues and define the subjects requiring further studies.
Stanisław Wyganowski
In the early 90’s public authorities in Poland considered all kinds of planning as a remaining of the socialist economy, unnecessary under the free-market rules. As a consequence, the chaos became a dominant characteristics of the Polish space at the beginning of the XXI century. This applies also to the situation in Warsaw Metropolitan Area, that exists as a real system of functional relations, but not as an administrative or planning unit. In effect, we observe the “wild urbanization” of the suburbs, and lack of development in the central part of the city. Recent centralization of local government in Warsaw has made the situation even worse, by blocking the investment and planning decisions. All these processes may lead to further marginalization of Warsaw as an European metropolis.
Grzegorz Gorzelak, Bohdan Jałowiecki, Marek Kozak, Maciej Smętkowski
Article is devoted to identification of towns endangered by socio-economic degradation (marginalisation). Using the example of 10 selected towns it shows their weak and strong points and complex sources of developmental problems. Authors present and evaluate activities undertaken by town authorities. Town of Bilgoraj serves as a benchmark (positive example of successful local transformation after 1989).
Krzysztof Bierwiaczonek
The paper presents the ways public space is socially used in three cities: Jastrzebie Zdroj, Tychy and Zory. The theoretical background is the culturalist perspective of urban sociology and the theory of public space. In the socialist era, the space in the researched cities was dominated by production and monofunctional housing estates. Public space did not exist. In the recent years, some unfinished structures may have been completed, but creating integrative urban public space is still a challenge. As a result, it is interesting to research and describe contemporary ways of using space in the “socialist” cities. The results of qualitative research show that inhabitants appreciate multifunctional market places and public squares wherever they exist. Such places constitute multifunctional public space. However, in cities lacking functional public space, shopping centres replace traditional city space. Unfortunately, they do not have the social integration function and do not promote social interactions. In every city, recreational areas are important for inhabitants.
Katarzyna Romańczyk
The paper is an overview of selected aspects of sustaining the development of Brussels. The mechanism of multi-level governance of the capital of Belgium and the nature of its problems resulted in the emergence of instruments that give local actors greater control over the urban processes. The paper describes two of such instruments, namely the neighbourhood contracts and the Regional Development Plan. Despite some criticism, both are considered valuable tools of urban policy. The way in which they have been adapted and the results they give confirm that Brussels’ sustainable development is achieved most effectively by the application of system solutions, specifically those used in the smallest administrative areas of the city – neighbourhoods.
Marika Pirveli
This paper describes metropolitan function as an only determinant, which marks out metropolitan area. There are introduced traditional barriers and access (distance, time and price) to the metropolis from the perspective of postindustrial and knowledge-based society. After the debate surrounding the globalization with the standpoint to the Society of the Late Modern Age, there is applied new kind of barrier?access to the metropolitan function, named in the paper as intellectual.
Renata Koszyk-Białobrzeska
The "Baltic" Euroregion after 7 years of functioning still is a developing structure, which implements the priorities identified in its charter and identifies new goals to achieve. Those goals are to be supported by appropriate information policy concerning e.g. publicizing the Euroregion activities through organization and participation in conferences, seminars and lectures on all aspects of cross-border cooperation within the"Baltic" Euroregion as well as organization of sports and cultural events for children and youth. However, at present, the Euroregion is not generally recognized, which might indicate lack of adequately wide promotional policy of the "Baltic" Euroregion concerning its activities on one hand and lack of active community participation in the political and economic life of the place of residence on the other. The paper discusses the issues of public relations activities and in particular their role in creating the image of the institution. That is important because the organization or institution can achieve the identified goals and priorities more easily when it has community support and understanding. During the conducted empirical studies the focus was on the level of knowledge of Warmia and Mazury province residents on the idea of cross-border cooperation and the "Baltic" Euroregion, including the information reaching the local community through the media.
Jakub Daněk, Filip Hrůza

Inter-municipal cooperation is a specific phenomenon in local public administration across the world. It is a concept that has been applied globally, particularly in countries with more fragmented local government. Often its implementation helps to solve problems or challenges associated with the existence of fragmented public administration in the delivery of public services. From the existing investigations dedicated to this specific issue carried out in the Czech Republic, it appears that this model of local public administration is very often mentioned in this country; however, its real use in the territory by public administration even after a long period of its existence in this country still has a great potential for development and use even in comparison with how it is abroad. The aim of this article is to identify and characterise the motivation and willingness of municipalities in the country to cooperate in order to meet the current conditions.

Maciej J. Nowak, Przemysław Śleszyński

The article analyzes the problem of delays in the preparation of local spatial development plans in Polish communes. Data from the annual survey sent to local governments and carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology and the Statistics Poland were used. On this basis, the categories of communes in which there is highly possible to identify occurring of planning works prolongation (referred to in the article as delays in drawing up plans), as well as its reasons, were identified. No territorial differentiation in this scope was found. The basic differentiation is related to the population of communes, i.e. the larger the commune in this respect, the greater the delays are. The interviews obtained from 16 communes (at 68 over 50,000 inhabitants, where the highest number of delays in preparing plans was identified) show that the main reasons for delays include problems related to public consultations and arrangements of draft plans, changing legal regulations, and staff shortages in commune offices. The article shows how these issues are related to the broader problems of the Polish spatial planning system. Further research directions were also proposed.

Joanna Zuzanna Popławska

The aim of the article is to analyse the strategies undertaken by urban movements in the process of advocacy promoting the interests of the inhabitants of Polish cities. The strength of urban movements in the first years of their activity in Poland was their grassroots nature, lack of connections with the public policy system, and therefore independence and being able to put forth uncompromising postulates. Over time, urban movements began to undergo transformations, and the strategies of representing the interests of the residents they implemented evolved as well. When starting research on this text, the author assumed that the results of the analyses would be the observation of a clear trend from bottom-up activities to professionalisation. However, an in-depth analysis of the issue showed that there is no uniform trend in the development of urban movements nor in the strategies of advocacy for the interests applied by them. The study was based on desk research analysis; additionally several individual in-depth interviews were conducted.

Katarzyna Szmigiel-Rawska, Justyna Ślawska

The article describes the perceived burden of transaction costs in externalising three local services in Poland – transport, care services and water and sewage services. The tool for interpreting the results of the empirical study is the concept of transaction costs concerning the difficulties of monitoring services. The article poses questions about which of the analysed monitoring costs are perceived by local government officials as more painful and how this perception differs between the organisational forms of public service provision. The study found that contracts with a public agent are perceived as more expensive than contracts with a private agent. Administrative agreements and purchases from other local governments are important tools for providing services in Poland; they are used to adjust the structure used to provide the service to the size of the market and the resources needed to provide a given service. The effective monitoring of these contracts is a crucial element in building the quality of governance in Poland.

Grzegorz Dumieński, Alicja Lisowska, Andrzej Tiukało

The level of adaptability of basic administrative units in Poland (municipalities - gminy) has a huge impact on the extent of adverse consequences caused by floods, and therefore on the flood risk in municipalities. As part of the research, we selected 15 characteristics of the municipalities which shape their adaptability processes and allow a diagnosis of the municipalities’ adaptability to be made. The article aims at presenting the methodology of empirical research seeking to obtain observable data (indicators) using quantitative studies. These indicators make to possible to assess the level of the municipalities’ adaptability to flood risk. The empirical research with the use of the questionnaire produced the results which – by preparing a questionnaire –enabled us to obtain data which are unavailable to the general public, but are vital in identifying all characteristics of a municipality which impact its adaptability assessment. The questionnaire was applied in an adaptability research of 18 municipalities located in the Nysa Kłodzka basin, which are most at risk of flooding. Nevertheless, the research tool is a universal one and could be used for analysing any type of natural hazards.

Sergii Illiashenko, Yuliia Shypulina, Nataliia Illiashenko, Ievgeniia Golysheva

The development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has caused numerous problems in traditional labour markets, occurring both at the national level and the level of individual regions of the country. However, breakthrough technologies of the recent decade have initiated new forms of labour organisation, mainly digital jobs and the formation of a digital labour market, which contributes to solving the problems mentioned above. The paper’s goal is to assess the readiness of the economy of Ukraine and its regions for forming a digital labour market to determine promising strategic directions for its development. The findings justify the significant prospects for developing the digital labour market in Ukraine at the national and regional levels. Also, they determine the priority types of digital jobs in selected regions as well as form the methodological basis, information, and analytical base of the organisational and economic mechanism for managing its development.

Maria Bednarek-Szczepańska

Planned large-scale animal farms are often the subject of protests by local communities due to the nuisance they generate. The active participation of local residents occurs at an early stage of the investment process, namely the proceedings for issuing an environmental decision, because it is at this stage that location and characteristics of the facility are determined. The article analyses 52 cases of proceedings to set the environmental conditions for the construction of animal farms in which there were documented protests of local residents. The aim of the paper is to determine the course of environmental proceedings for animal farms under the influence of residents’ protests, as well as to determine whether environmental conditions are eventually established. The statements of protesting residents are presented by means of references to the category of knowledge in decision-making (Glicken 1999, 2000; Edelenbos 2011). The study showed that despite the binding rule that public opposition cannot be the basis for refusing to set environmental conditions, the protesting residents indirectly influence the final, usually negative, result of the environmental impact assessment. By blocking the realisation of unwanted investments, they have a real impact on the shaping of the local space.

Serhii Horbliuk, Oleh Brovko

The article is devoted to the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power in Ukraine, which took place in 2014–2020, combining three important tasks: improving the system of public authority, strengthening local self-government, and streamlining the administrative-territorial system in the state. The analysis conducted in the study concerns: the main problems to be addressed by the relevant reform; the chronology of the adoption of key regulations and their role in this process; the results of the amalgamation of territorial communities; and the communities’ ability to ensure the sustainable development of territories. As a result, the article highlights the stages of the implementation of the reform of local self-government and territorial organisation of power in Ukraine, as well as outlines several unresolved issues in this area.

Bohdan Jałowiecki

A city is a reflection of the society and flows its fate. The situation of Warsaw is therefore related to the situation of the whole of Poland – a country relatively big, but still poorly developed country, located at the peripheries of Europe. Due to these general conditions Warsaw has not become one of the most important European metropolises. However, a massive inflow of FDI and location of several offices of TNCs in the city has begun a process of metropolisation of this city – severely damaged during the war and later badly reconstructed according to the principles of real socialism. Juxtaposition of the “old” and the “new” leads to emergence of contrasts and imbalances – in a similar way as it happens in the cities of the so-called Third World. An important question arises – do these contrasts have a tendency to diminish, or are they persistent or even growing? This article aims at providing an answer to this question.

Robert Pyka

Postindustrial agglomerations struggling with image deficits and environmental problems are looking for new development paths to take. One of these paths can bring about the development of business tourism, including the industry of the organisation of meetings and events. The unique and attractive character of the place can favour taking such a direction. The business tourism sector can therefore become an instrument contributing to the sustainable metropolisation of the city by building up its position in the global network of flows. The development of the meetings and events sector allows, therefore, for a change of image, for a re-evaluation of endogenous resources, including those relating to the industrial past, and for tapping into the unlimited resources of the global network. Increased attention in this network may lead to an influx of more events, and of investors as well. Replacing heavy industry with an enlarged service sector and modern industry based on flexible and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises fosters sustainable development. The meetings and events industry can become a tool for sustainable development and the promotion of its ideas, related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The trajectory outlined above seems very promising. However, to some extent, it is just a hypothesis. The author undertakes to test it on the example of Katowice, a former industrial city which has decided to follow the route outlined above to become a city that hosts many events, including the COP24 summit in 2018. In the article, the author presents empirical research studies whose authors tried to determine whether the path the city has chosen has a real impact on its image and development. The author also deals with the question of the sustainability of such a development path and the conditions for its self-support in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Maciej J. Nowak, Przemysław Śleszyński, Anna Ostrowska

The work has two goals: 1) to identify the dominant charges in complaints to administrative courts regarding land use plans for municipalities (gminy), to assess their legitimacy and effectiveness, and to classify the complainants; 2) to show that the court rulings are related to the diversity of municipalities, i.e., their character (morphology, social and economic functions, etc.) and characteristics of socio-economic development. All the judgments of voivodship (regional) administrative courts issued in 2010–2019 concerning complaints about municipal plans were analysed (531). The problem turns out to be the undefined scope of such plans, which, however, does not affect the extent to which these instruments are challenged by property owners. A high concentration of complaints in the regional capitals and their suburban areas is also demonstrated.

Nataliya A. Vinnykova, Ruslan O. Zaporozhchenko

The war initiated by the Russian Federation against Ukraine in 2022 can be seen as a drastic shock event with unpredictable long-term socio-political consequences at the national, regional and global levels. This study aims to identify the impact of war-related disturbances on the dynamics of social cleavages in Ukraine, in particular the possibility of deepening or diminishing such cleavages or promoting the occurrence of new ones. For decades, the internal partition of Ukraine into East and West has been attributed to national self-identification, linguistic and religious peculiarities and the geopolitical preferences of residents of different regions. Shortly before and after the outbreak of the Russian invasion, fundamental changes in Ukrainian society and domestic politics became evident, some of which can be interpreted as signs of the mitigation of social cleavages. Our findings revealed at least two significant shifts in these ‘old’, traditional cleavages: one occurred after the Revolution of Dignity and the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, and the second one is emerging now, due to the full-scale war on Ukrainian territory against the Ukrainian people. More broadly, this research aims to assess the resilience of social cleavages in the face of a shock event.

Justyna Orchowska

The issue of transport-related exclusion in Poland is increasingly being raised in the public debate. This problem intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the reduction in the number of routes and the frequency of buses and trains. However, in Poland, the scientific literature on this subject is still insufficient. This article attempts to broaden our knowledge on this topic. The main objective of the paper is to show, from the perspective of the residents, various aspects of transport-related exclusion. Three dimensions of this phenomenon are considered: limited access to public transport, spatial and temporal limitations, and the inability to participate in important social institutions. The article is based on three case studies in the Masovian Voivodeship, namely from Ostrów Mazowiecka, Żuromin, and Tczów. The research was carried out in 2021 through the use of two methods: an analysis of secondary resources and individual in-depth interviews. Based on the opinions and observations of the residents of the above-mentioned towns, this article presents the social consequences of limited access to bus and train connections.

Łukasz Drozda

This article aims to present the rarely examined process of rural gentrification in Poland via the example of the vineyard sector, which is a new and dynamically growing segment in the local agriculture. This paper uses quantitative data collected from public statistics, a spatial analysis conducted by GIS, and an authorial survey conducted among vineyard owners. The research findings have revealed that ‘vineyard gentrification’ does not match the classic rent gap theory; furthermore, being a non-socially severe preliminary rural gentrification performed mostly by high-class representatives, it differs significantly from the traditional pattern in Polish farming.

Svitlana Tsymbaliuk, Tetiana Shkoda

In the face of constant pandemic-related and military threats to citizens’ right to work, collective bargaining has become almost the only real instrument to reconcile the interests of social partners and consolidate their efforts. The authors proposed a methodology for assessing the development of social partnership in the regulation of labour remuneration based on a set of indicators and a comparative analysis of the indicators in several public organisations: the State Audit Service of Ukraine, the State Treasury Service of Ukraine, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the Police of Ukraine, and the Pension Fund of Ukraine. Based on the challenges and general trends revealed by the results of the analysis, the authors identified areas for improving collective wage bargaining and the best practices in social partnership for their dissemination in public organisations.

Tetiana Dmytrivna Chubina, Yanina Anatoliivna Fedorenko, Oksana Oleksiivna Spirkin

The accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant was one of the largest in human history. It is often referred to as a global event because its effects were felt not only by Ukrainians but also by the populations of Belarus, Russia, Central Europe, the Balkans and the Scandinavian Peninsula. 2022 marked the 36th anniversary of this terrible occurrence, when the history of Ukraine in the late twentieth century was divided into two parts: before the tragedy of 26 April 1986, and after it.
Today, it is important for Ukrainian society not only to recognise the significance of the catastrophe and remember its victims but also to find ways to overcome its grave consequences. This requires comprehensive research useful for developing new approaches to minimising the environmental and socio-demographic problems caused by the Chornobyl tragedy. Thus, this research has practical scientific, humanitarian and socio-political significance. The novelty of the obtained results lies in the study’s critical rethinking of the achievements of predecessors and its analysis of historical sources concerning the environmental and socio-demographic consequences of the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant as they manifested from 1986 to 2022.
The methodological basis of the work is empirical cognition. The use of logical-analytical methods of grouping and typology allows us to classify homogeneous events and coherently present the material of the article. The study additionally uses comparative judgment, historical-statistical and problem-chronological methods. The principles of objectivity and impartiality also play an important role in the work.
The purpose of the study is to investigate the consequences of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident on the environmental and socio-demographic aspects of the population of Ukraine from 1986 to 2022 based on the identified set of sources. From a historical perspective, the level of pollution in the territories of Ukraine is traced, the demographic situation is monitored, and parallels are drawn between the Chornobyl disaster and the increase in incurable diseases and mortality.
In conclusion, the authors note that although 36 years have passed, the echo of this catastrophe remains tangible for the population of Ukraine. Several issues still must be solved. The first is the return to life, namely, the safe living and management of areas that have been exposed to radiation contamination, as well as the continuation of work aimed at restoring agricultural soils. Second, purposeful work must be conducted by the state to minimise social and demographic problems resulting from the Chornobyl catastrophe. In our opinion, the government should increase expenditures aimed at providing quality medical services to the population of Ukraine, as well as conduct constant monitoring of the health of those people who are at high risk in order to better detect diseases in their early stages.
These groups of people include liquidators of the consequences of the accident and migrants. Such measures can stabilise the demographic situation by increasing birth rates and reducing mortality, as well as improve the health and living standards of the population of Ukraine.

Marta Götz

The motivation for this paper comes from the recognition that our understanding of specialisation might be too simplistic and that the dichotomy of specialisation and diversification could be outdated not reflecting the richness of real complex economic and technological relations among industries. Drawing on a qualitative study of the Hamburg Aviation (HAv) cluster, this paper discusses the peculiarities of a cluster profile in the digital time – the age of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), touching upon the issues of cluster structure and the complexity of production, synchronising specialisation with diversification, branching, and bridging, and the I4.0 attributes facilitating complementarity. The final research proposal, which is empirically embedded in the studied context, states that related variety encompassing both ‘specialisation in diversification’ and ‘diversification within specialisation’ can be further developed by a blending process. This can lead to branching and is modulated by the universal character of the I4.0 and a problem-solving attitude. It takes the form of an additive (new entries) or multiplicative (spinoffs) evolution, and, ultimately, owing to the complementarity, it can provide sustainable competitive advantages.

Martyna Sydorów

The aim of the article is to present the communication by public transport of the towns located within the boundaries of the Municipal Functional Area of Słupsk–Ustka (MOF S–U) with the core cities (Słupsk and Ustka) and to indicate the areas where the phenomenon of transport exclusion may occur. The public transportation network in the area does not meet the needs directed by the residents to local authority decision-makers, which may limit their ability to get around, especially on weekends. During the study, the literature on the subject, documents at local and regional levels, and data contained in timetables were analysed as well as the GIS visualisations were used. Insufficient communication with public transport in the area results in limited transport accessibility and, consequently, may lead to transport exclusion.

Stanislav Konečný

Decision-making in a conflict situation in public policy practice is most often associated with conflicts of interest. One of the frequent forms of this conflict is the so-called NIMBY phenomenon, which has become a subject of interest mainly because of the distinctive spatial characteristics of the conflicts. A very rich base of empirical research has been provided by the Polish geographical sciences, which allowed us to attempt in this study to propose an analysis of NIMBY-type conflicts in terms of different types of collectivised interests. Hypothetically, on this basis, it would be possible to find a new approach to the resolution of these conflicts no longer only in the processes of participation of stakeholders but based on merit-based criteria. When making these decisions, it is necessary, first, to check whether there are legitimate supra-individual (group) interests at stake, since sometimes this legitimacy is questionable, and it may be only an individual interest. Different types of individual interests are justified and collectivised according to different criteria. When it comes to legitimate interests, there may be a conflict between the vertically differentiated bearers of these interests. However, even in this case, the higher hierarchical position of one of the bearers cannot imply a preference for his/her legitimate interest. As in the case of a horizontally-situated conflict, the decisive factor is the content, where interests with a higher degree of substance should be privileged over others: interests that are already concerned at the individual level with values such as human life, health, etc., must be privileged over others. They must be privileged over the interests of an economic nature, etc., and these over ordinary short-term interests. It turns out to be obvious that it is the degree of legitimate collectivised supraindividual interests that is the primary criterion for assessing preferences in decision-making in conflicts of public interests, rather than the simple preference of legitimate supra-individual interests only according to the position of their bearers in the vertical hierarchy.

Aleksandra Nowakowska

The purpose of the article is to theoretically analyse the nature and characteristics of territorial capital. The article examines the conceptual framework of this notion to identify its originality and added value. The applied research method is literature review. The concept of territorial capital amalgamates numerous findings from endogenous approaches to development. Its originality derives from a holistic and complementary perspective on territorial resources, which give rise to new development trajectories and foster territorial specificity. This concept emphasises the significance of network relationships and the intangibility of resources, along with their embeddedness. It highlights the importance of place specificity and territorial capabilities in creating new values and resources. It forms the basis for place-based development policy.

Michał Gzik, Marcin Frenkel

Cities are becoming more important actors in the international arena because they have competencies that enable them to conduct foreign activities. This phenomenon is the result of far-reaching processes of globalisation and the pluralisation of actors in international relations. This study presents a map of partnerships between six Croatian and two Slovenian cities and their Chinese and American partners, as well as a description of the thematic areas of such cooperation. Moreover, based on the results of our survey, we indicate similarities and differences in the patterns of cooperation between the cities of the Western Balkans and their foreign partners, referring to the multilevel governance theory.

Tomasz Skica, Lejla Lazović-Pita, Ademir Abdić

Academic research indicates that total or current expenditures have been most commonly used in sub-central or local government’s efficiency analysis as dependent variables, and a proxy for the cost of service provision. Our research applied in the case of Polish districts for 2019 and 2020 indicates two important results: firstly, regardless of whether total or current expenditures have been used, the determinants indicate the same direction of impact, and, secondly, the COVID-19 pandemic did not change the direction of the impact. The regression results confirm the positive direction that the administrative, educational, protection, and safety variables have on dependent variables.

Tomasz Kupiec, Dorota Celińska-Janowicz

Evaluation is an important element of the public policy cycle, providing information for improving the effectiveness of implemented policies and designing future ones. In Poland, the need for the diffusion of this practice from the field of structural funds to other public policy fields has been discussed for at least 15 years. Although one such obvious direction of diffusion is local government, very little is known about evaluation at this level, and in studies summarising the general evaluation practice in Poland, this strand is omitted. The aim of this study was to assess the extent and characteristics of evaluation practices in the period 2010–2021 in cities with county [Pol. powiat] status. The analysis was based on the information on evaluation studies provided by city halls. Out of the 55 cities that were included in the analysis, 62% carried out evaluations and they completed a total of 469 studies. A systematic increase in the number of studies and the number of cities carrying them out was also observed. The dominant thematic areas were civic budgeting, social policy, and development strategy. The shares of studies carried out internally and those commissioned from external companies turned out to be similar. In contrast, studies of intervention implementation processes dominate over evaluations of intervention effects. This research can serve as a starting point for further, more detailed analyses of the organisation of the evaluation process and its use in local government.

Vesna Garvanlieva Andonova, Borce Trenovski

Local governments in the Western Balkan countries are dependent on central governments’ transfers, with low fiscal autonomy and limited efforts for own-source revenue mobilisation. The paper identifies that besides central government transfers, other significant factors in determining municipal own-source revenues include central and local public investment, current expenditures, human development index, and population density. Municipal own-source revenue is adversely affected by intergovernmental transfers, implying their de-incentivising effect in collecting local revenues. Local capital expenditure is a significant and strong determinant with a higher strength than central government investments, suggesting their importance for local fiscal autonomy. The human development index as a composite measure, unlike GDP per capita, positively affects the municipal fiscal autonomy.

Anna Gralewska

This article is an attempt to compile the existing knowledge from many fields about the aesthetics of Polish urban space: the conditions of its creation, its perception, and the problems it currently faces, of which a pressure for absolute aestheticisation appears to be the most dangerous. Through a multidisciplinary literature review as well as an analysis of public discourse and interviews with experts, the author attempts to answer the question about why there is such a large discrepancy in the assessment of the aesthetics of urban spaces in Poland, as well as how this is influenced by cultural, legal, administrative, and historical conditions.

Denok Kurniasih, Wahyuningrat Wahyuningrat, Paulus Israwan Setyoko, Rodon Pedrason, Muhamad Yusuf

Human resource management (HRM) studies have been continuously developed to serve as a reference for enhancing the quality of public services. This includes the case in local government where it is important to have highly competent resources, because civil service personnel are the door that deals directly with local communities. Using bibliometrics and analysing previous research coherently, this study focuses on identifying the development of HRM discussions on local governance at the global level, both in developed and developing countries. As a result, although in general, the topics raised included managerial and personnel issues. There are certain issues raised by developed countries, such as innovation to contemporary social issues. Meanwhile, in developing countries discussed challenges faced by local governments in managing their resources. This study contributes to the development of HRM concern-mapping in local government globally and can be used as a reference for increasing the capacity of human resource management in local government.

Christophe Chabrot, Robert Pyka

The French territorial system is marked by a historical very large communal dispersion. Strangely the French State, although considered very strong, has never managed to impose the merger of these municipalities, as was the case in most other European countries. This resistance of local elected representatives, often also national parliamentarians, then led the central government to use another strategy: their grouping in public institutions of intermunicipal cooperation (EPCI). The creation of the Metropolis of Lyon is, therefore, very original. Created by the law of 27th January, 2014, it is the only “metropolis” with the status of territorial collectivity and merges on its territory the Rhône department and the former “urban community” of Lyon. This metropolis is thus unique in France, and the authors will tend to verify whether it could serve as a model to follow by other metropolises, considering the case of the first institutionalised metropolis in Poland, namely the GZM Metropolis, which is struggling with structural problems. The GZM Metropolis was established in 2017 by the Polish Parliament’s law and provided with a specific governance regime comparable to the “manager and council model” and decision-making based on a double majority of the municipalities and population. After the first five years of functioning, the leaders of this first Polish metropolis seem to be ready to adjust their metropolitan institutions, understanding its limits and searching for inspiration at the international level.

Dominika Wojtowicz, Anna Baczyńska

Globalisation – characterised by dynamic economic growth, increasing exploitation of the natural environment, and deepening social inequalities – brings negative consequences and is strongly perceptible also in local communities. A new approach to development policy based on the idea of sustainable development must be incorporated into local governments’ strategies, programmes, and actions. We adopted exploratory approach to determine the level and identify the spatial patterns of sustainable development of Polish poviats. The aggregated (synthetic) indicators of economic, social, and environmental development were developed to analyse the spatial patterns of the poviats’ development trends. Our research shows that in Poland there are overwhelmingly more poviats characterised by lower development than those better developed in all three analysed categories. Hierarchical analysis using the Ward’s method revealed that Polish poviats can be divided into three relatively homogeneous clusters in terms of development levels. The largest group consists of poviats characterised by the relatively lowest level of sustainability in economic and social areas, and the highest – by environmental development. Analyses using the Moran method made it possible to determine the so-called spatial regimes of clusters. The captured spatial relationships indicate that selected poviats have a significant impact on the level of development in the neighbouring poviats.

Igor Ksenicz

The aim of the article is to depict the issue of commemorating foreign partnerships of municipalities present in the public space. The municipalities of the Gniezno district were selected as a case study. The author initially verified the following hypothesis: although foreign cooperation is an optional and secondary task of municipalities, their authorities commemorate it as a manifestation of their international ambitions. The source base was: secondary data, first-hand sources (information from town halls), as well as photographic documentation made during field trips. The identified commemorations took various forms: welcome boards at the entrance to the municipality, monuments, and the name of the square. They were established in locations important to the municipalities. In the case of one of the monuments, state diplomacy and paradiplomacy merged.

Mykola Palinchak, Kateryna Brenzovych, Viktoriya Mashkara-Choknadiy, Yuriy Mayboroda

The military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which started in 2014 and came to another active phase in February 2022, may change Ukraine’s foreign trade in terms of both its geography and product structure. The regions of Ukraine will not only have to recover from the consequences of destruction, but also to seek new directions of foreign economic activity and build connections with reliable partners such as the European Union and the United States. The paper presents an analysis of changes in the foreign trade of Ukraine and its regions since 2014 and examines shifts in trade flows in the direction of Western leaders of global trade. The case of Georgia, another target of Russian military intervention, in the reorientation of its trade flows, is also considered.

Przemysław Ciesiółka, Łukasz Mikuła, Paweł Churski, Bartłomiej Kołsut

The article presents a model of functional-spatial structure in the strategy of supra-local development, which is an attempt to translate the assumptions of the new planning paradigm, referred to in the world literature as strategic spatial planning, into Polish ground. In this regard, the new legal regulations set forth in the Act of July 15, 2020 on amending the Act on the principles of development policy and certain other acts were used, which, due to their high generality, allowed the authors’ approach to their interpretation and implementation. The paper presents the various dimensions of integration of strategic and spatial planning undertaken in the Polish legal system over the years up to the present day. In addition, the role of supra-local development strategies in integrated development planning in Poland is defined, and different types of functional areas are described, which are the starting point for differentiating the scope of the functional-spatial structure model. Then the description of the most important elements of the model was deepened, and other elements of the spatial dimension in the new supra-local development strategies were presented. The added value of integrating the spheres of strategic and spatial planning was pointed out, which is important for improving their effectiveness and efficiency, as well as for increasing public acceptance of the measures taken.

Małgorzata Madej

The paper refers to sublocal units within metropolitan governance, focusing on Wrocław in the context of multi-level governance and good governance. In Poland, such units function as ancillary units of municipalities (gminy). The paper describes their legal status and functioning within the Polish territorial government and discusses selected urban districts (powiaty). The analysis is based on legal acts and interviews with people involved in the local and sublocal government in Wrocław. The organisation of metropolitan governance based on smaller units is an efficient solution applied in cities worldwide, however, in the case of Wrocław, the borough model leaves a broad potential to develop this element of municipal management structure. Currently, a clear concept of their role in the city is needed.

Maciej Smętkowski
The paper offers a comparison of changes which have been taking place in the eastern regions of Poland and Germany in the recent years. It sets out to identify the main problems of these areas and explain how they have affected economic development processes. The development trajectories of the eastern regions of Poland and Germany are discussed in the context of the reuni?cation and trans-formation processes, and are related to the policies implemented by the public authorities. In its conclusions, the study evaluates the relevance and scale of the problems affecting the eastern parts of Germany and Poland, among them the effectiveness of their regional policies.
Janusz Hryniewicz
Multiculturalism is a kind of social policy that depends on cultural neutrality of the state. Huge communities of immigrants of non-European cultures arose in Western Europe. In response to this phenomenon, European states initiated a multicultural social policy. In effect, many behaviours of immigrants turned out to be at variance with human rights, but consistent with multiculturalism. Great cultural distance between European societies and immigrants caused more serious problems with integration than had been expected. Nowadays, we can observe a contestation, but not abandonment, of the multicultural policy, accompanied by anti-immigrant sentiments. A new social policy ought to facilitate the adaptation of immigrants in economic and politic institutions, and to respect human rights as a key value.
Maciej Smętkowski, Adam Płoszaj
The aim of this paper is twofold: to demonstrate development challenges of large Polish cities and to assess the extent to which Cohesion Policy in the 2004?2006 programming addresses these issues. The analysis covers different aspects of EU intervention: sums assigned for particular categories, types of beneficiaries as well as types of large cities. The results allow us to formulate the following observations. The thematic structure of the intervention only partially addresses challenges related to contemporary informational economy, which is due to the cities’ relatively low support for innovativeness and their metropolitan functions. In the analyzed period, the bulk of EU Cohesion Policy funds was devoted to the development of basic technical infrastructure (transport and water management), which was the result of huge underdevelopment in these fields in former years. However, EU intervention had some successes: thematic fields were well adapted to types of cities. Furthermore, most funding was allocated to the largest cities because of the strong involvement of their authorities in EU funds projects, while in smaller cities a significant share of the funds was given to large industrial plants.
Lucyna Rajca

The reforms driven by New Public Management (NPM) led to the introduction of management principles in local governments, marketisation and outsourcing. They made the greatest impact in the United Kingdom, but were also put in place in other European countries such as Ireland, Sweden, Germany, and – to the least degree – in France (compared to other countries discussed in this paper). There is a risk that NPM-inspired reforms may come to lose sight of the underlying social purpose of public services. NPM has not however become a new, universal model for public sector management. Issues tackled in the debate concerning the reform of public services have moved (mostly in the UK) beyond the concerns of NPM towards the emerging concept of networked community governance.

Paulina Rychlewska
The article presents the course of the territorial and administrative changes ongoing in Warsaw from the inter-War period to the present day. It draws upon many documents and studies from the period during which the system by which the capital city was administered changed many times, with different innovative ideas being put forward very often. Although the present shape of Warsaw is still very much based upon that set out in the Act of 18 May 1990, every new Act relating to the administrative system of Warsaw has meant major changes for the way the city is administered and functions. The modifications and transformations in question are discussed in detail in the article, along with their consequences.
Maciej Smętkowski
The paper presents the evaluation of Cohesion Policy impacts on diffusion of development processes from cities to their regional hinterlands. We evaluated two things: a) the indicators illustrating metropolitan and regional concentration of population, enterprises, employers, and local governments revenues, and b) the impact of EU funds on the development of municipalities located in the surroundings of large cities (based on local governments survey results). For the first type of analysis, we delimitated the regional surroundings into two zones: metropolitan area and regional hinterlands (the former was only applicable in case of capital cities of voivodships). The outcome of the analysis in this dimension indicates a lack of any significant impact of Cohesion Policy on agglomeration processes in the analyzed spatial scales. However, the studies in the second dimension allow us to identify the thematic categories of public intervention that have the largest relative impact on spread effects from developing large cities to their regional surroundings.
Paweł Kliber, Krzysztof Malaga
In the paper we present two neoclassical growth models of Solow-Swan type: with regional budget deficit and without it. The main aim of the paper is to analyze the convergence of regions in Poland towards their stable steady-states and to check the speed of this convergence. We use the method of calibration of parameters in models and numerical methods for calculating capital and output per worker in stable steady-states. The computations were made for the new administration division of Poland. On the base of empirical results we make conclusions about future distribution of wealth among regions and about potential possibilities of growth in regions. We also try to answer the question if in the future there will be convergence or divergence of welfare among regions of Poland.
Marta Cobel-Tokarska
It was in winter 2009/2010, from mid-December to mid-February, that almost all Poland, especially Warsaw, faced exceptionally heavy snow falls. What did the snow falls change in the city? How was city life affected by those winter conditions, how did the inhabitants deal with the snow? What new elements were introduced in the urban space and what new kinds of everyday life practices emerged? We present our own take on the city-users’ attitude toward the heavy winter, based on press news, on-line comments and blog entries. This paper is based on participant observation and discourse analysis, including urban anthropology and anthropology of everyday life.
Paulina Rychlewska
This article shows the profiles of people who hold at least the second cadence on the position of village mayor, mayor or president of the city. According to the paradigm New Public Management, the person who manages the community is often antidote on its problems, the key for its economical success and the chance of better life its inhabitants. Doubtlessly, it is connected with a charisma of the leader. What is hidden under this term? The aim of this article is to answer the question whether it is possible to show some personality features and the model of management which decide on the chance of holding the position of the mayor of community on the next cadence. The method of the studies contain the interpretation of the personality test NEO-FFI and the questionnaire concerning the model of management of the community. The results show that the people which are the managers of the community must have some level of the main personality features in fact. Only then it is possible to hold the next cadence. It relates mainly to extraversion and conscientiousness. The model of management chosen by them is of great significance too.
Marta Götz
Neither the history nor the theory of economics indicates unambiguously the sources of high yet stable economic growth. The aim of this paper is a thorough assessment of various growth determinants in German Bundesländer in the years 1991-2009 in terms of both current levels and recent developments. In order to evaluate the economic growth potential the summary index (SG) encompassing various dimensions of economy has been constructed and carefully calculated. Such an approach gives a holistic and comprehensive view on economic growth factors, encompassing business and political dimensions prevailing in the media and a scientific approach drawing on a specific methodology. Our results confirm to some extent earlier studies pointing to existing West-East discrepancies in Germany. However, one must not ignore achievements of the new Bundesländer as measured by positive time developments. Conceptual framework put forward shall be seen as scaffolding, at the same time synthesizing and differentiating various growth determinants, a possible “navigation tool” for other case studies.
Marcin Kula
During centuries, capital cities of many countries were moved to new locations, either as a result of economic or political processes or of a specific national project. The best known examples of the phenomenon are Ankara and Brasilia, but one might quote many others too. Frequently, the new capital was expected to become an ideal city, a kind of a paradise - which was a utopian dream, because a city is a man-made project and therefore never perfect.
Marcin Kleinowski
This article presents new risk analysis technique. The People and Property Hazard Analysis (PPHA) is probabilistic, semiquantitative technique, uncomplicated and easy to use. It provides more precise estimates of a risk level than preliminary hazard analysis – probably the most commonly performed technique by local governments in Poland. PPHA is applicable to the analysis of all types of communities and organizations. The purpose of the new technique is to provide a tool that can assist decision-makers in effectively allocating limited resources across the vast array of potential investments that could mitigate risk.
Małgorzata Dymnicka

Public space of the post-modern epoch is a conglomerate or blend of discontinuous functions, a collection of loosely connected fragments, increasingly more frequently unrelated to a city. People compose for themselves their own town from individual trajectories that are outlined by means of motor roads. Neo-liberal logic of city development recognizes the rule of spontaneity wherever the interest of big capital groups dominates, pushing onto the sidelines the more important task of contemporary urban planning – the protection and development of public spaces. Due to the crisis it is undergoing at present (commercial pressure), the efforts are taken to regain its social and spatial significance. The purpose of these transformations is bonding public spaces with broader surroundings (with open terrains, waterside zones, promenades, playgrounds, etc). Such recomposition is part of a regeneration process that unites the city and reconstructs the identity of the place where relationships of inhabitants with their urban environment were not completely abandoned.

Marcin Flieger
European Union programs are a vital source of financial help in the field of employment increase. Such initiatives are available both in structural programs, Community Initiatives and Community Programs. A great number of them are designed for communities, which, as an independent beneficiary or a partner in a project, can influence the improvement of local and regional labour market situation. One of the essential factors which influence the commitment to the initiatives for employment increase is the way beneficiaries perceive their attractiveness. Therefore, in the article the author presented results of the research in which communities’ attitudes to each activity connected to a labour market, available in EU programs, had been analyzed and assessed. This allowed to determine the initiatives which are perceived as the most desirable and which, according to communities, can best contribute to decreasing of the unemployment rate, and the ones which are the least attractive in this respect. Another part of the above research is the analysis of communities’ expectations regarding creating new initiatives for employment increase, which are not available within the limits of the current programs. This scrutiny allowed to estimate more precisely to what extent current activities match communities requirements. These results made it possible to assess to what degree the presumable lack of desirable initiatives for employment increase constitutes a factor that limits the commitment to the implementation of the currently available initiatives
Artur Bajerski
The aim of the paper is to examine the relation between pupil movement between school catchment areas and the examination results of primary and secondary schools. The problem is analyzed in a broader context of educational disparities related to the spatial organization of educational activity. The results show that the non-rigorous approach to educational zoning by the city authorities, school directors, parents, and their children, causes an intensive movement of pupils between school catchment areas (especially at the level of secondary school). It was found that pupil movement between catchment areas accounted for almost 50 per cent of variation in examination results in the secondary schools in Poznan. The consequences of this situation for the city’s educational policy and school management are discussed.
Svitlana Karvatska, Yevheniya Yuriychuk, Olha Chepel

The article considers the peculiarities of local government reform based on the examples of Ukraine, Poland, and Latvia. It is substantiated that the Ukrainian vector of European integration requires the implementation of the principles of deconcentration, decentralisation, and subsidiarity in the local governance systems. It is indicated that regional disproportions in the development of the territory of Ukraine, the inability to implement the reform on the ground in specific administrative-territorial units, the spread of corruption schemes – all these are the consequences of an ineffective model of local self-government and public administration of regional development, inherited from the Soviet system, which requires fundamental changes. Broad powers for sub-regional units characterise the Polish model of the administrative-territorial structure. However, this model is underpinned by a high level of political activity and community self-awareness. The Latvian experience of decentralisation of power emphasises the basic principle of success: the volunteer approach to the reform’s implementation. In conclusion, it is proved that for the successful implementation of the Ukrainian local self-government reform, the following factors are necessary: firstly, the victory of Ukrainian armed forces against the military aggression of Russia; secondly, the elaboration of a legal framework for the development of local self-government and the support of society; thirdly, qualified personnel capable of continuing the implementation of the local self-government reform.

Anna Kurniewicz, Paweł Swianiewicz, Julita Łukomska

Several theories of regional development (e.g. new economic geography) claim positive relationship between administrative status of capital cities and their economic and population growth. Availability of capital goods as well as direct and indirect demand generated by administrative institutions are among factors which accelerate development. However, most of empirical studies so far have concentrated either on national capitals or on federal states. In our article we conduct empirical tests comparing the impact of reforms implemented in 1975 and 1999 in Poland on the development of cities gaining or losing their regional capital functions. On the basis of those results the article indicates differences in impacts of both reforms and attempts to explain those differences.

Grzegorz Gawron

The article discusses the idea of co-production, understood as informed and intentional participation of citizens in the organisation and provision of public services in the context of the global ageing process, a phenomenon which necessitates actions aimed to secure the needs of older people. The basis for the empirical investigation was a study carried out under the aegis of a WHO agency, the Centre for Health Development in Kobe, Japan. It offers an analysis of the case studies of initiatives addressed to elderly people in the local communities of 10 selected developing countries (Chile, China, Iran, Libya, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ukraine, Vietnam). The key criterion in the selection of the analysed projects was direct involvement of institutional and non-institutional representatives of local communities in their implementation. As a participant (researcher) of this international survey, the author analyses the observable manifestations of silver co-production characterising the individual initiatives.

Sławomir Pastuszka
Poland as a rightful member of European Union has got a chance to participate in structural funds and Cohesion Fund as well. Taking into consideration the limited financial opportunities of territorial self-government units in projects co-financed by structural funds, presence of private sector means may be considered as a crucial factor. The scope and typology of public-private partnerships PPP have been presented in this study. The chances as well threats which may occur during the execution of investment ventures within the framework of public-private partnership have been presented there as well.
Adrian Burdziak, Anna Myślińska
The authors put a hypothesis of positive net agglomeration effect in Polish subregions in 2000–2005. The net agglomeration effect is a relatively new theory explaining spatial differences in economic activity. A production concentration function suggested by Ciccone and Hall is used in analysis. The hypothesis was verified with econometric methods. Multiple scenarios gave ambiguous results. Panel methods appeared to be ineffective, as opposed to pool methods. Cumulated number of patents was used as an approximation of the level of technical development. Among pool scenarios, domestic patents allowed to reduce problems connected with co-relation of explanatory variables. This approach gives conclusions about positive net agglomeration effect.
Monika Mularska-Kucharek
The authors of the article test social trust in three dimensions: one vertical (trust in various types of institutions) and two horizontal – a private and a generalized one. Their main purpose is to study the level of social trust of the adult residents of rural communities of the Lodz region and the residents of the city of Lodz. They aim to diagnose social trust of the communities and to determine the correlates of the third type of trust, defined as generalized trust manifested in contacts with other people.
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse
The Integrated Regional Operational Programme (IROP) management system in a weak manner prevents possibility of administrative and political corruption. Particularly susceptible to corruption are procedures of choosing projects and new public procurement system. We could list following reasons, why IROP management system is vulnerable to corruption: (1) system is very complicated, (2) division of competences between various public authorities is incorrect, as well as between politicians and civil servants, (3) some institutions are wrongly designed (particularly regional steering committees), (4) blur regulations, for instance not clearly supporting transparency of administrative procedures, (5) lack of special anti-corruption regulations, (6) Polish administrative and political culture. Decision makers preparing a new system for regional programs (2007–2013) should take into consideration conclusions of this paper and revise this system from the point of view of preventing corruption.
Janusz Heller, Marcin Bogdański
Knowledge based economy, new economy. In context of changes we can observe that in last years in world economy these ideas are starting to have completely new meaning. Nowadays, it is the knowledge as the fourth factor of production, that is the most important source of creating the economic development in the highly developed states. Researches done in this paper proved that the Polish expenditures on research and development in years 1994-2003 were on the much lower level, than in many other European countries. Furthermore, their structure is not adequate to the needs of modern economy based on knowledge.
Krystian Koliński

Transport policy requires greater territorial differentiation; at the local level, it should be closely integrated with education, health and social policies. This approach to transport policy contributed to the research and determined its area – the research was carried out among school students, and its aim (and that of this article) was to determine the accessibility of secondary schools in the Wągrowiec district via public transport. Many inhabitants of villages and small towns are forced to have a car or else face a whole host of difficulties. The most common difficulties include access to education, health care or better paid work.

Paweł Swianiewicz
Horizontal transfers in the local government financial equalization system have been raising a lot of controversies in Poland during the last few years. The paper shows similar instruments functioning in other European countries: Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The paper discusses two mechanisms of equalization: that of revenue and of expenditure needs. European experience is discussed in a way which makes it possible to draw comparisons with regulations in Poland as well as with current debates in Poland.
Bartłomiej Kołsut, Przemysław Ciesiółka, Robert Kudłak
The article attempts to identify and analyze the actions undertaken in the cities of the Wielkopolska Voivodeship in the area of urban renewal in the 1999–2005 period as well as the direct and indirect effects of these actions. In order to reach this objective, we analyze the local renewal programmes as well as other strategic documents launched in the investigated cities. In addition, we employ the survey technique and conduct numerous in-depth interviews with the local actors of the renewal process in order to get better insights into the economic, societal and spatial context of the renewal process. As a result, we show that the actions undertaken by the cities of the Wielkopolska Voivodeship in the realm of urban renewal are hardly integrated (they are not comprehensive and do not complement each other in a given area) and dominated by infrastructural investments. In contrast, the economic and social projects remain rare and their consequences ambiguous. We also identify some unexpected, positive as well as negative, consequences of the renewal process, such as increasing engagement of local property owners, entrepreneurs and associations in the renewal actions as well as the problem of profiteering on the renewed areas.
Łukasz Drozda
The institutionalized revitalization process is an important tool of contemporary Polish public policy. According to the declarations of local authorities, its programmes are designed to support the development of so-called degraded spaces and the effort against social exclusion of their inhabitants. However, as the analysis of municipal revitalization programmes (GPR) in the biggest cities reveals, planned revitalization leads to gentrification of a urbanized area and is therefore more conducive to segregation than to social inclusion. This paper discusses the relationships between revitalization and gentrification on the basis of the content and assumptions of urban regeneration programmes. It is based on the literature and on selected GPRs.
Łukasz Drozda
System transformation is a long-lasting process which is reflected in the model of property relationships and the way inhabited environment is created. This paper discusses the Polish urban area as an example of a neoliberal model of space transformation characterized by: atrophy of the public sector, arbitrary spatial order, and deepening spatial segregation. The transformation of the urban area in a neoliberal model has affected the legal order, spatial planning, privatization of housing resources, and public infrastructure. The paper is based on source literature, official statistics, and an analysis of Polish legal acts.
Anna Kołomycew, Agnieszka Pawłowska
The article presents intersectoral partnerships forming Local Action Groups, and analyzes the mechanisms of emergence of such partnerships in the Podkarpackie region, particularly factors contributing to their emergence, their initiators and partner-recruitment methods, as well as the relations of partnerships with their social milieu, decision-making inside partnerships and expectations regarding their future. The theoretical framework of the study is rooted in the neoinstitutional theory with its historical, normative, rational-choice and network approaches. Based on them, the authors formulate some hypotheses referring to the innovativeness of the partnerships, the supremacy of local authorities over other partners, the utilitarian character of partnerships and the assumptions concerning their future. The hypotheses are then verified on the basis of the results of quantitative research of Local Action Groups in the Podkarpackie region.
Mariusz E. Sokołowicz
Many goods that are used by urban dwellers are common goods. They are used by many entities at the same time, which generates problems typical of public goods. The goods are, among others, public spaces and properties, urban transport and infrastructure, but also such immaterial elements as shared urban values and attitudes, urban culture and identity. Today’s urban commons are subject to dynamic transformations in the way they are created, supplied, and used. The aim of the paper is to present the notion of urban common goods theoretically, from the perspective of urban economics, as well as to review key methodological challenges which are important from the point of view of potential studies on this phenomenon.
Nataliia Khoma, Ihor Vdovychyn

This study aims to clarify the role of actionism as a peacebuilding tool, identify the advantages and disadvantages of its various techniques (performance, happening, art installation, flash mob, etc.), and evaluate their effectiveness in the urbanized space. The research methodology is based on postmodernism and its comprehension of activism, public action and protest. Anti-war actionism is considered an element of the system of socio-political actionism. It is characterized as a set of spectacular forms of non-violent public protest against armed aggression and its consequences. The expansion of today’s anti-war actionism beyond the narrow artistic environment and its entrance into the broad social dimension is demonstrated. The empirical basis for the conceptualization of anti-war actionism includes two groups of actions: (1) anti-war actions carried out since the 1960s in the United States and Western Europe; (2) anti-war actions carried out in various countries in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The regional features of anti-war actionism under the conditions of armed conflicts and wars are determined, and the advantages and disadvantages of anti-war actionism as a peacebuilding technology are identified within the space of modern cities.

Szanowni Czytelnicy, Autorzy i Recenzenci!

Z kwartalnikiem „Studia Regionalne i Lokalne” jestem związana niemal od początku jego istnienia. Mój pierwszy tekst ukazał się w czwartym numerze pisma w 2000 roku – pierwszym roku jego istnienia. Od tego czasu moje związki ze „Studiami” stopniowo się zacieśniały. Czytałam i recenzowałam artykuły, weszłam w skład redakcji, a teraz staję przed wyzwaniem kierowania naszym kwartalnikiem, zastępując pomysłodawcę i pierwszego redaktora naczelnego, profesora Grzegorza Gorzelaka, który budował kwartalnik z dbałością o jego jakość i rozpoznawalność.

Przejmując funkcję redaktorki naczelnej „Studiów”, czuję dumę i ekscytację. Z jednej strony, wchodzę w nową rolę ze świadomością, że będę kierować jednym z najlepszych czasopism w dziedzinie nauk społeczno-ekonomicznych w Polsce, pismem o uznanej pozycji, indeksowanym w SCOPUS, przyciągającym dobre teksty i świetnych Autorów, pismem, które pełni ważną funkcję w dyskusji naukowej. Z drugiej strony, już dziś wiem, że musimy dokonać wielu zmian, podyktowanych rosnącą konkurencją w zakresie publikacji naukowych i trendami związanymi z koniecznością udostępniania tekstów w formie elektronicznej i wymogami wolnego dostępu do prac naukowych finansowanych ze środków publicznych. Przygotowuję się, wspólnie z dr Dorotą Celińską-Janowicz, która szczęśliwie nadal będzie koordynować prace w redakcji kwartalnika, do podjęcia decyzji wzmacniających prestiż pisma, wykorzystując do tego także nowe możliwości techniczne i finansowe, które współprojektowałam w ramach Inicjatywy Doskonałości Uniwersytet Badawczy, uruchomionej na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim.

Chciałabym wspólnie z Państwem przeprowadzić te zmiany, by w najbliższych
latach „Studia Regionalne i Lokalne” wzmocniły swoją pozycję i cieszyły się niesłabnącym zainteresowaniem Autorów i Czytelników. Kierowanie kwartalnikiem to duża odpowiedzialność, jednak ze wspaniałym zespołem Redaktorów, Recenzentów, Autorów i gronem wytrawnych Czytelników, przy wsparciu Wydawnictwa Naukowego Scholar, podołamy temu zadaniu. Zapraszam Państwa do współtworzenia naszego pisma!

Agnieszka Olechnicka
1 października 2020 r.

 

Mikołaj Herbst, Jakub Rok

The goal of this article is to investigate the spatial allocation of human capital investment at the local level in Poland. In particular, this analysis refers to the funds within the Human Capital Operational Programme (POKL 2007–2013). The study is divided into the following parts: extrapolation of the algorithm for allocating the POKL funds between regions to the local level; comparison of the allocation based on the data from the period before the programme with the hypothetical allocation of the same funds based on the measurement done after the end of the programme (the „before-after” method); and a comparison of the intentional allocation of POKL funds with the observed actual absorption of funds at the local level in 2007–2015. The analysis carried out in this article proves that the final effect of POKL allocation at the local level is not a simple extension of the government’s plan of division expressed by an algorithm. The absorption of funds per capita differed between municipalities within individual voivodships, but more funds did not necessarily go to the areas that were particularly structurally burdened (according to the governmental algorithm). The „before-after” analysis leads to the conclusion that, in the period under study, development disparities increased, and development gap between eastern and western Poland deepened. The situation is particularly difficult in the territories of the so-called internal peripherals.

Mariusz Kwiatkowski

The aim of the article is to present an outline of the concept of revitalisation as a public intervention aimed at strengthening local cohesion. The concept emphasises the multi-faceted, participatory and inclusive nature of revitalisation. The article contains arguments in favour of the following theses: (1) Revitalisation should be not only an ad hoc reaction to the accumulation of crisis levels, but also a long-term action for local cohesion; (2) The long-term success of revitalisation depends on the scale and quality of the involvement of residents, especially residents from disadvantaged or excluded communities; (3) The inclusion of social economy entities in the revitalisation process is an important factor in strengthening local cohesion

Dominika Studzińska, Magdalena Szmytkowska

Along with time-related changes in the migration of Poles to Germany, the invisibility that has been ascribed to them has also evolved: from intentional hiding to deliberate merging into local social and spatial structures. The city of Berlin, perceived as an open, modern and multicultural metropolis, is an exceptional laboratory of transformations and diversity of social behaviours shown by Polish migrants. It attracts new citizens who not only want to make a living here, but also – and more frequently – to achieve self-fulfilment. While the invisibility of the economic migrants is mainly a result of their alienation in a new country, the representatives of lifestyle migration deliberately merge into the culturally diverse society of Berlin and they try to identify with other social groups. The aim of this article is to identify the existence and forms of every-day functioning of Polish migrants in Berlin in the context of invisibility.

Paweł Gajewski

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the symmetry of demand and supply shocks affecting Polish voivodeships and to assess the risk of asymmetric shocks in the future. The study employs the SVAR-based Blanchard and Quah (1989) decomposition as modified by Bayoumi and Eichengreen (1992), and uses a new method of estimating quarterly GDP by voivodeships. The results point to a relatively high symmetry of shocks and a rather low risk of their occurrence. Shock asymmetry does not appear to be strongly related to differences in production structures, which is claimed in most theoretical approaches, including the Optimum Currency Areas Theory.

Kamil Maciuk, Paweł Biskup
In the study, the impact of tramline construction on changes of apartment prices was investigated. The object of study was Podgórze, i.e. district XIII of Kraków, where a tramline towards Mały Płaszów was built in 2010. The authors used the base of transaction prices from 2008-2013 for apartments located within 500 m of the newly built tramline. Statistical analysis using the multiple regression model showed a 91% coefficient of price determination by the adopted attributes. It was shown that the „communication/transport” attribute explains 27.8% of property values, which gives the average real estate price increase by over PLN 600 per sq. m calculated per unit price after the construction of the new tramline.
Marcin Będzieszak
The aim of this article is to identify the role of fees and user charges in the budgets of large cities (cities with county status) and policies of these entities in this regard. To achieve this goal, the article reviews the research on the importance of fees and user charges in local government finance, and analyses the role of fees and user charges in large cities finances in Poland from 2006 to 2012. The study confirms the global trend observable in different countries, i.e. the increasing importance of revenues from fees and user charges to local government budgets. Secondly, the relative size of revenues from fees and user charges in large cities in Poland are evening out. Thirdly, there are two key areas in terms of service charges: public transport and housing management.
Przemysław Sadura, Dorota Olko
As a form of spatial and social organization, the city has been in deep crisis in the recent years. Nowadays in Poland, we can observe the renaissance of urbanity, as evidenced mostly in the increasing activity of social movements and the growing importance of civic participation. This paper discusses the role public consultation on spatial planning can play in urban policy. The analysis is based on a case study of active and innovative approaches to public consultations carried out during the process. The authors describe the potential of such sociological intervention in solving the crisis of urban communities.
Tomasz Skica, Andrzej Kiebała, Tomasz Wołowiec
Discounts and rebates in local taxation are a very media-friendly topic, yet the opinions on the stimulating function of taxation are not supported by meaningful research. The article presents the impact of local governments’ decisions regarding reductions in the tax on means of transport on the location of entities subject to such a tax within the community. The article has a multi-dimensional character, as it is impossible to limit oneself to researching a simplistic relation between tax rates and the number of registered payers of the tax. One must consider additional factors, e.g. the location of new tax payers within a community will also indirectly impact estate taxes, CIT revenues, even the additional revenues from the personal income tax paid by employees. Therefore, it is vital to approach the consequences of local government decisions relating to changes in transport taxation multi-dimensionally.
Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse
The paper is devoted to the problems of development of peripheral regions. It contains a review of theories of endogenous and exogenous development and a description of their evolution. Based on this theoretical discussion two model strategies are presented: (1) modernization of endogenous potential and (2) building the new endogenous potential of a region. In its further part the paper focuses on the experiences of peripheral regions in Portugal and Finland. Finally it offers the recommendations for public policies in the peripheral regions of Eastern Poland.
Sławomira Kańduła
The subject of the paper is the discussion on horizontal redistribution of public revenues among local self-government units. The assumed aim of this redistribution is to equalize the different levels of income and burden of expenditure. The paper lists desirable features of this redistribution, motives for its application, and arguments of its opponents. The analysis of the latter shows that while part of the criticism refers to the essence of horizontal redistribution, significantly more of it concerns the dysfunctions of its mechanism which became apparent after 2008. The criticism focuses, for example, on the criteria for making compensatory payments, the structure of tax revenue indices, the so-called reference period, the amounts of compensatory payments, the criteria for the distribution of the collected amounts. The paper includes suggestions concerning recommended directions of changes in the mechanism of this redistribution.
Paweł Swianiewicz, Anna Kurniewicz
The concept of the political cycle was originally formulated with regard to decisions taken at the central level, but it may be also applied to the local level. Most of the previous empirical studies have focused on expenditure (how its size and structure change depending on the electoral cycle). The applicability of the concept to local tax policy has also been studied, although more rarely. In Polish studies of local public finance, the concept of political cycle has so far been rarely used. In this article, the authors check whether the theoretical frame of the political cycle is suitable for interpreting decisions relating to tariffs on local public services. It is empirically tested on tariffs on water and sewage, rents in municipal housing, tickets for local public transport and parking charges. The second research question concerns factors influencing the likelihood of the political cycle in different services. In this respect, the article puts forward four specific hypotheses. The authors have to face a methodological problem: the distinction between the influence of the electoral cycle and of other factors, such as inflation, or the change in the financial situation of local governments, and economic growth rate. The applied quantitative methods refer to panel logistic regression and linear regression models in which the impact of the electoral year is controlled by other variables.
Mikołaj Herbst, Piotr Wójcik
Strengthening economic cohesion of regional economies is usually considered as one of the major goals of regional policy. At the same time, metropolitan cities are recognized as main centres of economic growth, influencing the development perspectives of more peripheral areas. It is therefore important to know the range and the mechanism of spillover of socio-economic development from metropolises to their surroundings, as well as to identify the areas which are economically lagging as a result of missing functional links with metropolises. The authors apply the local spatial correlation measures (local Moran’s statistics – LISA) in the analysis of municipal revenues in order to delimit the diffusion and polarization of economic development in Poland.
Agnieszka Kozera
The debt of local government units (LGU) is part of the public debt. Therefore, the analysis of the phenomenon of local government debt is important for the financial security of the state. In Poland, in the period 2007–2013, the debt of local government units rapidly increased, in particular in the major cities with poviat rights – metropolises. Due to the dual nature of metropolises, they perform many important tasks in the social and infrastructure sphere that determine the quality of life of their residents and contribute to the socio-economic development of the region and metropolitan areas. However, an excessive increase in debt of the metropolis may in the future be a barrier to achieving a high rate of socio-economic development. The aim of the paper is to analyze the phenomenon of indebtedness in the largest cities with poviat rights – metropolises – in Poland in the years 2007–2013. The study draws on publicly accessible databases compiled by the Ministry of Finance (Wskaźniki do oceny sytuacji fiansowej jednostek samorządu terytorialnego).
Marek Furmankiewicz
The article analyzes decision-making councils of Local Action Groups operating in Axis 4 LEADER Rural Development Programme in three Polish regions which were described in the literature as differing significantly in terms of their historical and cultural backgrounds. According to the concept of governance, implemented in programmes such as LEADER, the influence of representatives of various sectors of the economy on local decisions should be balanced and, in accordance with the rules of the support programme, no more than 50% of council members should represent the public sector. This provision, included in formal documents of Local Action Groups, is designed to ensure that non-public sectors do have some impact on council decisions. However, in the three studied regions, the real participation of mayors, officials and executives of the public sector was from 15 to 21% higher than in the official data, and in about one-third of the surveyed organizations it exceeded 50%, which gave the public sector representatives the dominant role in decision-making and selection of eligible projects. This practice was very similar in the studied regions, and is discussed in the context of the concept of governance, as an example of tokenism.
Maciej Onasz, Michał Klonowski
The paper is an attempt to analyze the reform of the local government electoral system introduced by the Act of January 11, 2018. The authors of the study describe the most important changes from the point of view of the citizens mentioned in the title of the act as well as of the institutions involved. Among the most important changes the authors list those related to passive voting right, seat allocation method and the structure of constituencies. Because of the lack of an appropriate time perspective, the authors limit themselves to legal and political analysis, pointing only to their possible consequences.
Urszula Markowska-Przybyła, Jacek Potocki, David Ramsey
The aim of the paper is to present spatial variation of social capital in Poland, especially in relation to historical differences between various regions (resulting from the country’s partitions and border changes) and the level of urbanization. Previous studies indicate that such variation exists. However, they were carried out on the basis of declarations, an approach which has its drawbacks. This study uses a novel approach to assessing social capital: observing the behaviour of a study group using experimental economics, used in conjunction with a questionnaire which enables us to study the intention-behaviour gap. The study group consisting of 1540 individuals indicates very little variation between the regions. However, there are differences concerning the gap between declarations and behaviour in questions related to trust, trustworthiness, and cooperation, and our results confirm the conclusions from previous studies only weakly.
Paweł Merło, Marcin Bogdański

Competitiveness is a key factor determining the development of a region and hence the standard of living of its inhabitants, and human capital is one of the most important factors enabling improvement of regional competitiveness. The aim of the presented research is to analyse the spatial differentiation of the level of human capital in the regions of the European Union (EU) in relation to their level of competitiveness. The results show significant disproportions in this respect, especially between the so-called old and new EU. The higher levels of human capital in the old EU regions were also generally accompanied by a higher level of competitiveness. In the long run, this will lead to an increase in regional disparities in development.

Artur Bajerski
Referring to three case studies, the author makes an attempt to understand the basis of conflicts concerning changes in school catchment areas in rural districts of Poland, and the importance of the implemented changes for local authorities, parents, and rural communities. The research shows that such conflicts arise from misunderstandings between parents and local authorities concerning the essence of new assignments to catchment areas, irrespective of the fact whether schools were closed or not. Additionally, changing school catchment zones resulted in each of the cases in the parents’ increased activity when choosing a school, and made them feel that rural areas were marginalized.
Szymon Wójcik

The study aimed to examine the determinants of car choice in daily trips of the inhabitants of four Polish cities: Białystok, Gdańsk, Kraków, and Warszawa. Data from the Eurostat’s Quality of Life 2019 study was used to achieve this goal. The results of the empirical exercise revealed that the main factors affecting travel mode choice included the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics. The perceived satisfaction with air quality, the city’s noise level, and public transport quality were found among the important predictors of car choice. The homogeneity of travel mode preferences at the city level was also analysed.

Paweł Felis, Henryk Rosłaniec
The article concentrates on vehicle tax, which is interesting not only due to its efficiency, but also high mobility of the tax base. The study aims to examine the correlation between fiscal results and municipal policies, from the perspective of such criteria as the type of municipality and taxpayer category. The study is based on correlation analysis, in which Pearson’s independence test and Spearman’s rho coefficient are used. The results confirm that the tested correlations do exist. Municipal tax policy influences tax revenues of the studied tax, though the results in each unit are different between the current and later periods. Moreover, in the case of vehicle tax, municipal authorities’ main action was to lower the upper tax rates. For municipalities in which these relations were the most visible, econometric models were built. These illustrate the effects of tax policy in relation to certain taxpayer categories.
Sylwia Dołzbłasz
The aim of this paper is to identify the character of transborder cooperation on the local level in the Polish-Czech borderland with a special focus on the transborder relations network. To this end, the author analyzes cooperation co-financed under Poland-Czech Republic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2007–2013 in the framework of ETC and examines all realized Project and all beneficiaries, i.e. 250 projects and 350 Polish and Czech institutions. Due to the mountainous character of the Polish-Czech borderland, special attention is paid to projects concerning tourism. The research reveals that the cooperation network is poorly developed. However, the most import ant nodes in this network are clearly visible and they are the most active institutions that shape the relations of transborder cooperation.
Marek Kozak
The main objective of this paper is to analyze the reasons of development of the Integrated Territorial Investments in the new 2014-2020 period in the context of EU reforms, and to describe the creation process and the threats this experimental approach may encounter in Poland. The Author’s main thesis is that the experimental ITI concept causes additional conflicts between management authorities and beneficiaries who are used to the fact that declared and implemented intervention aims are different. The Author also assumes that there exist important factors that could potentially hinder the radical reforms and re-establish the status quo (or “domesticate” the policy). The main methods (desk research and involvement in preparatory works as a Ministry expert) determine the structure of the sources used. The paper offers some conclusions.
Piotr Rosik, Marcin Stępniak, Rafał Wiśniewski
Road commuters in major Polish cities were counted regularly in the People’s Republic of Poland. The origin and destination of their journey to work were easy to calculate and analyze. However, since 1989 the commuter research has become very difficult due to the lack of statistical data. For that reason, in case of commuting, opinion polls are the main source of data. The authors used the data gathered by the Warsaw Traffic Survey 2005 and a self-prepared questionnaire concerning commuting in Bialystok and 19 gminas in the Podlaskie region in 2006. The results were compared with the study carried out by the Statistical Office in Poznan based on the POLTAX database. The purpose of this article is to compare the average time of a journey to work with the attractiveness of both Warsaw and Bialystok for road commuters who live outside of these cities. The conclusions are that a city’s attractiveness depends mainly on the time of a journey to work and the relationship between these variables can be described by the power function.
Adam Gendźwiłł, Tomasz Żółtak

The article analyses the participation of nation-wide parties in the elections of local authorities: municipal councils and mayors. There is no empirical confirmation of the assumption that along with the democratic consolidation in Poland, political parties strengthen their presence in local governments. Between 2002 and 2018 the overall spread of national parties in local elections decreased, even though the national party system (at the parliamentary arena) was relatively consolidated. The level of political parties’ engagement in local authorities, despite the changes in the level of parties’ support, is relatively stable – and low: no more than one third of elected local officials in Poland are affiliated with political parties. Among parliamentary parties, only four: PO, PiS, PS and SLD, maintained their significant representation in local governments, but the share of power at the local level which they were able to win varied considerably. LPR and Samoobrona rapidly lost their significance after their defeat in the 2007 parliamentary elections. The “new parties” established later failed to secure representation at the local level. The analyses confirm a positive (and stable over time) relationship between the level of party politicisation of local governments and the size of the municipality.

Stanisław Flejterski, Magdalena Zioło
The problem of centralization and decentralization is very interesting and important in management science, political science, sociology, political economy, economics and regional sciences. The discussion over the centralization versus decentralization is a never-ending one. It is an age-old battle of standardization versus autonomy, corporate efficiency versus local effectiveness and pressure on costs and resources versus accommodation of specific local needs. The advantages of each model are, in essence, the disadvantages of the other. Decisions to decentralize or centralize must be derived from a careful cost–benefit analysis. The debate over whether to centralize or decentralize is not so much over which type of strategy is more effective but the degree to which each strategy is used in combination with one another.
Monika Wesołowska, Andrzej Jakubowski

One of the most important features of Eastern Poland is its peripheral character. This region is often associated with various negative socio-economic phenomena. Population processes, including the problem of depopulation, affect a large part of rural areas of the macroregion. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the demographic changes occurring in rural areas of Eastern Poland in 2002–2015 on selected areas of socio-economic life, as well as to attempt to determine the scale of the changes and their spatial consequences in the field of education, entrepreneurship, construction, housing, and public finances.

Karolina Anielska

The main purpose of this article is to systematize issues related to recognizing and measuring the gentrification process using quantitative methods. The article discusses the definition of gentrification, its phases and types, factors influencing the creation and development of the process, as well as gentrification indicators, and it briefly reviews existing research of their use. Although there are Polish publications on the process of gentrification, there is a perceptible lack of comparison of gentrification indicators and the conditions in which they are used. Thanks to the selection of indicators that are appropriate for gentrification analysis in Polish cities and their testing in a case study of the gentrification process in Kraków, Poland, this article may help to create a methodology for empirical research.

Robert Pyka

The author explores the problem of territorial reorganization of the metropolitan area within the Canadian evolutionary federal system, taking as an example the cities of Toronto and Montreal. The results of the research indicate that adaptation strategies, applied by states aiming at empowering the metropolis, depend on the general level of the territorial units’ autonomy. The existence of strong local self-government favours creation of intercommunal cooperation structures without dissolution of current local territorial units. Territorial reorganization in the case of states with a low level of local autonomy may facilitate elimination of former local units by theirs amalgamation in new, larger metropolitan self-government structures. As far as this context is concerned, Canada constitutes a very interesting study case. Taking into consideration Canadian evolutionary federal system, highly limited local autonomy of the cities, and its mix of European and American traditions, one can observe almost all the above-mentioned dimensions of reform and adaptation strategies. Advanced and institutionalized intercommunal cooperation, developed in Toronto and Montreal in the middle of the 20th century, was interrupted by amalgamation imposed by provincial government, which resulted in creation of new, enlarged metropolitan cities of Toronto in 1998 and Montreal in 2002. In both cases the amalgamation has not been accepted by a part of the population and destabilized cooperation in these metropolitan areas. The trouble with amalgamation led to abandonment of further structural and territorial reforms, which were replaced by functional ones, taking the form of special agreements between Toronto and Montreal and their respective provinces (Ontario and Quebec), giving them both new competences and financial resources. Regardless of any difficulties in pursuing an appropriate metropolitan regime and the suitable position for the metropolis in the structure of a political and territorial system, both cities have achieved strong economic performance and high quality of life.

Justyna Ślawska

The article presents the factors influencing the choice of local transport delivery modes in Poland. It is the first quantitative study conducted on a representative sample of municipalities since the 1990s, and it concerns three service delivery modes: contracting-out, cooperation, and corporatization. Most local governments do not invest their own resources to deliver local transport, but rather act as a private market supply regulator and contract the service out to private enterprises. Some of them act based on functional connections within metropolitan areas, joining forces with other local governments. More affluent and densely populated cities opt for corporatization, which gives them greater political control over the delivery process. The presented results are useful for decision-makers who have to select the mode of local transport service provision, as they characterize the municipalities which, in 2017, chose one of the three analyzed modes.

Jacek Zaucha, Magdalena Matczak, Joanna Witkowska, Adam Szczęch, Adam Mytlewski, Joanna Pardus

The paper focuses on problems related to modelling the development of maritime economic space. This entirely new issue has emerged from the recent changes in the intensity of use of marine areas. First, the economic significance of maritime space is discussed, followed by a simple model based on maritime spatial rent which aims at explaining the patterns of its development. This model encapsulates the interplay between both market and public choice factors that affect the development of maritime space. The paper also includes a discussion of attempts to obtain a monetary value of maritime spatial rent for key offshore maritime sectors in Poland. The paper concludes with suggestions on further developments in this field.

Agnieszka Bieda
The article aims to verify the relationship between the value of real estate and urban renewal. The analysis was conducted for undeveloped land properties traded between 2006 and 2014. In that period, a time trend was set for the real estate from the areas covered by the Local Revitalization Programmes and the areas located in their immediate vicinity. The observed trends of the changes were compared with those occurring at the same time throughout Krakow, as well as in the areas specified in the Urban Revitalization Programme for Krakow as potential revitalization complexes, for which no local revitalization programmes were eventually prepared. In addition, the author analyzed how transaction prices were distributed in space over the specific years. The obtained land value maps were compared with the records of the documents which formed the basis for the urban renewal of Krakow.
Paweł Swianiewicz, Urszula Klimska
The article discusses political leadership in local government. Change from traditional local government to local governance requires also institutional changes and new roles played by local leaders. The notion of political leader is limited to persons having democratic legitimacy for their role played in local politics. It excludes people, who might be influential but remain outside formal democratic institutions of local government. The article distinguishes between type (which depends on formal institutional settings) and style (more dependent on personal characteristics) of leadership. The article discusses selected theoretical concepts of type and style of leadership and tries to refer them to Polish local governments. Recent Polish reforms have brought a change from the type which was close to a collective model to one closer to a strong mayor form. Analysis of four initiative in 2 Polish cities (Poznan and Ostrow Wielkopolski) allows to formulate some conclusions on citizens’ perception of actual styles of local political leadership. The largest proportion of citizens in analysed cities prefers a style which is close to consensus facilitator. But in a real behaviour of leaders, citizens see more of city boss style, which might be characterized by the implementation of an own vision with internal resources existing within local government structures. Comparison of citizens’ preferences with the perception of actual behaviour of leaders allows to compute an Expectation Gap Index. The gap is usually quite narrow in initiatives focused on the construction of broad development programmes, but it becomes wider if we turn to more concretely focused projects.
Robert Pyka
After 10 years of discussions about the need to empower the metropolitan areas in Poland, finally a metropolitan union law for the Śląskie Voivodeship [Silesian region] has been adopted. Defining two million people as a population level required for the creation of the metropolitan union confirmed that the legislator’s intention was to establish the first metropolitan union in Poland specifically in the Silesian conurbation due to its unique territorial structure. The establishment of the Upper Silesian and Zagłębie Metropolis [Górnośląsko-Zagłębiowska Metropolia] should be seen as an important social experiment and significant innovation in the Polish local – government system. The large territorial delimitation of the metropolitan union with 41 local units is a courageous step that proves a high level of mobilisation and strong involvement of Silesian local decision makers. The specific decision-making procedure based on double majority voting should entourage dialogue between the large and small member cities of the metropolitan union. The generally formulated competences of the metropolitan union allow considerable freedom to the authorities in prioritising tasks and projects. The author’s analyses the institutional architecture of the first Polish metropolitan union, which is a hybrid organisation combining an inter-municipal association and a local government unit, from the perspective of turning the Upper Silesian metropolitan area into an efficient system of metropolitan governance.
Krzysztof Kluza, Ryta Dziemianowicz

As a consequence of the global financial crisis which began in 2008, the amount of debt of the local government sector in OECD countries has remarkably increased. In Poland, the debt of local governments has started to fall gradually after reaching its peak in nominal terms in 2014. In this article, we examine how the ability of local governments to repay their debts changed over the 2007-2016 period. The analysis reveals that, despite their considerable nominal indebtedness, local governments had already returned to a strong debt repayment capacity at the end of 2016, observed formerly at the end of 2009. However, at the end of 2016, one in eight local governments had become overindebted in terms of their repayment capacity, despite the rigorous statutory debt limits imposed in Poland. The most worrying situation is in towns with county rights: in 33% of these entities, the debt repayment period is estimated at longer than 15 years. This category represents 33% of Poland’s population, and therefore it is of a systemic importance.

Paweł Swianiewicz, Julita Łukomska

Uptade from 2.03.2021: Parts of this article were subsequently used in the following publication: Swianiewicz, P., & Łukomska, J. (2016). Local tax competition in Poland?. Miscellanea Geographica, 20(3), 37-43

 

The paper considers the usefulness of the tax competition theory for the analysis of local tax policies in Poland. The concept has been successfully used for analyses conducted in several European countries, but it has not been systematically tested in Poland yet. There are two types of competition discussed in the paper: classic competition for mobile tax base and yardstick competition, in which local politicians compete for political capital related to a comparison of tax rates with neighbouring municipalities. Due to the limited size and types of local taxes in Poland, it is expected that yardstick competition is more important than classic competition for mobile tax base. The paper also examines regional variation in the intensity of local tax competition, and it formulates the hypothesis that it is more visible in regions with higher bridging social capital. Results of the conducted research indicate that the theory of local tax competition is a useful concept helping to explain the variation in tax policies among Polish municipalities.

Agnieszka Pawłowska

The article discusses the involvement of the US federal government in the policy of urban development in the years 1965-2012. The implementation paradox, understood as a limited ability to achieve national policy objectives as a result of the empowerment of potential adversaries, and the changing views of the successive presidents on federalism were considered crucial in explaining the discussed issue. The following categories have been used: federalism, orientation and instruments of development, and financial outlays for development. Orientation and instruments of development have been presented on the basis of selected federal programmes addressed to cities, and outlays – based on federal budgets. Three generations of public policy implementation theories constitute the theoretical framework of the study. In conclusion, the author points to the withdrawal of the federal government and the growing importance of state authorities in urban development policy.

Robert Gawłowski, Adam J. Jarosz

For many years, public participation has been a very popular subject of research and of interest for practitioners. Little attention has been devoted, however, to the issues of formal and organizational tools of managing this process. The paper contains the results of research aimed at creating the concept of participation infrastructure and at measuring its application in 17 Polish cities. For these purposes, the authors develop their own method of examining the practical use of participation tools. Typologies of participation tools are created and cities are classified according to their advancement, basing on the results of the research. The most popular and most willingly used tools are indicated, together with the levels of their implementation.

Agata Brzóska, Paweł Swianiewicz

Uptade from 2.03.2021: Parts of this article were subsequently used in the following publication: Swianiewicz, P., & Brzóska, A. (2020). Demand Elasticity for Local Public Transport in Polish Cities: Do Local Policies Matter?. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, 16(61), 125-142

 

After 1990, the number of local public transport passengers has been systematically decreasing at the expense of individual transport, which led to an increase in traffic congestion and deterioration of air quality in cities. However, for the last few years, a reversal of this trend has been observed in some cities. The article, using the data on the present number and recent changes in the number of passengers in nearly 100 Polish cities, discusses regression models to explain the factors influencing the diversity of demand for public transport services and its dynamics. The independent variables of the model refer both to the characteristics of cities (their socio-economic environment) and the organisation of services (e.g. organisational and legal forms of local transport companies, tariff policies, etc.). The results show that the density of the public transport network is the most significant factor explaining variation of the demand, while the level of ticket prices is almost insignificant. Demand in the largest cities has also recently been on the increase, but the relationship between the demand and the population size of the city is not a linear one.

Maciej Smętkowski, Dorota Celińska-Janowicz, Katarzyna Wojnar

The purpose of the article is to present the evolution of the economic space in the modern metropolis. The paper systematizes the most important changes of that space, in particular those expressed in the emergence of new areas and places of economic activity. To present this evolution, three axes illustrating various types of activity are used, constituting the contemporary pillars of metropolis development: production and technology, control and information, and consumption and culture. The ongoing transformation is shown in the context of centrifugal and centripetal The purpose of the article is to present the evolution of the economic space in the modern metropolis. The paper systematizes the most important changes of that space, in particular those expressed in the emergence of new areas and places of economic activity. To present this evolution, three axes illustrating various types of activity are used, constituting the contemporary pillars of metropolis development: production and technology, control and information, and consumption and culture. The ongoing transformation is shown in the context of centrifugal and centripetal.

Kamil Brzeziński

The right to the city is being able to co-decide about the city by its inhabitants. It can be implemented by means of urban participation that consists of two elements – a formal framework created by municipal authorities that enables city residents to join decision-making processes as well as readiness and willingness of the inhabitants to engage in such processes. In recent years, we have witnessed a “participation boom” that manifests itself through an increasing number of public consultations. In this context, the aim of the article is to describe the category of urban participation and offer a critical analysis of participatory processes and their determinants. At the same time, it should be emphasised that the article is theoretical in nature, and the analysed factors determining participation should be treated as a set of the author’s hypotheses that require empirical verification.

Robert Kudłak, Wojciech Kisiała, Jędrzej Gadziński, Wojciech Dyba, Bartłomiej Kołsut, Tadeusz Stryjakiewicz
The article seeks to identify socio-economic conditions that affect the demand of individual consumers for cars and to analyze spatial differences in these conditions. To achieve this objective, econometric modelling is conducted. The analysis was conducted in all poviats in Poland and covered the years 2010-2015. The findings show that the demand for new cars is stimulated by incomes of potential consumers and by a net in-migration, while the level of unemployment together with prices of complementary goods (especially petrol prices) negatively affect the demand for cars. Moreover, geographically weighted regression shows that the identified conditions differ across the country, which may explain the noticeable differences in the level of motorization between poviats.
Katarzyna Romańczyk

Revitalisation, which is defined as a planned process of restoring deprived areas, entails the difficult challenge of achieving long-lasting spatial, economic and social effects. In Poland, the accompanying inflow of European Union funds not only fosters a wide range of activities for entities involved in urban renewal, but also raises a question about the potential dysfunction of investments in deprived areas. Based on the experiences of Kraków, the paper presents some undesirable effects of projects implemented under the Local Revitalisation Programmes (LRP) in the years 2007-2013. The goal of the LRP projects was to promote the rehabilitation of deprived housing areas. The initial results, however, indicate that these projects are characterised by specific pitfalls, which include touristification, uniformisation, gentrification and social polarisation.

Paweł Swianiewicz, Anna Kurniewicz

Uptade from 2.03.2021: Parts of this article were subsequently used in the following publication: Pawel Swianiewicz & Anna Kurniewicz (2018): Coming out of the shadow? Studies of local governments in Central and Eastern Europe in European academic research, Local Government Studies, DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2018.1548352

 

The article is an analysis of the changing role and position of research on local governments in Central and Eastern Europe in the mainstream European studies. The article refers to dependency theory (Wallerstein, Prebish) applied to scientific research. It classifies Central and Eastern Europe as a half-periphery of academic research. Empirical analysis consists of two parts. The first – qualitative – is a review of the most important comparative studies of European local governments and includes discussion of the role of local governments and researchers from the Eastern part of the continent in those studies. The second – quantitative – is based on an analysis of articles published in the best international journals and citations of those articles in the Scopus database. The authors of articles on local governments in Central and Eastern Europe are divided into two groups: “locals” and “colonisers” – i.e. academics from Western universities conducting their research in Eastern Europe. The analysis covers 14 countries of Central and Eastern Europe (all the New Member States that have joined the EU since 2004 plus the Balkan countries – Albania, Macedonia and Serbia).

Małgorzata Dymnicka
Public space of the post-modern epoch is a conglomerate or blend of discontinuous functions, a collection of loosely connected fragments, increasingly more frequently unrelated to a city. People compose for themselves their own town from individual trajectories that are outlined by means of motor roads. Neo-liberal logic of city development recognizes the rule of spontaneity wherever the interest of big capital groups dominates, pushing onto the sidelines the more important task of contemporary urban planning – the protection and development of public spaces. Due to the crisis it is undergoing at present (commercial pressure), the efforts are taken to regain its social and spatial significance. The purpose of these transformations is bonding public spaces with broader surroundings (with open terrains, waterside zones, promenades, playgrounds, etc). These changes use programmed connections, contacts, passages, links, connecting areas and other relations that invest new sociological and cultural meanings into public spaces. The integration process gives positive results in numerous cities of Western Europe. One of them, perhaps the most essential, is development of more attractive and deeper relationships of inhabitants with their urban environment. Although the task fails to be easy (integrating tendencies compete with inclinations for disintegration), it is an important step towards the enhancement of urban life quality. The evidence can be numerous discussions and conferences on the issue of public space.
Dagmara Kociuba, Klaudia Rabczewska

This paper examines the impact of the implementation of participatory budget (PB) projects on the development and creation of public spaces in the city. The first part of the paper describes the main assumptions and models of participatory budgeting as well as the legal basis and rules of PB implementation and financing in Poland. In the second part, those are confronted with the implementation of PB (civic and green) in Lublin in 2015-2019. In the third one, detailed analysis of the PB rounds 2015-2017 show that 86% of investment projects submitted and 87% of projects selected for implementation were directly associated with activities in public space. Furthermore, the spatial distribution and thematic scope of those investments in 27 districts of Lublin in relation to 10 categories selected by the authors as well as the motivation and activity of residents of individual districts in applying for projects were presented. The fourth part shows the changes in Lublin’s public spaces caused by the implementation of PB projects and Lublin’s experience in relation to other cities in Poland. The summary includes recommendations on how to effectively implement BP to create a high quality public space in cities. Three aspects are distinguished: 1) organizational and procedural; 2) mobilisation of the stakeholders and 3) implementation of projects.

Rostyslav А. Kаliuzhnyj, Yevhen O. Bytyrin, Liudmyla A. Shapenko, Yaroslav V. Zhuravel, Alona A. Lukashenko

Decentralisation in Ukraine is an important factor in the development of a democratic system of government. The reform of local self-government aims to create new relations between citizens, local authorities, and the state. The aim of the article is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the local government reform in Ukraine and other countries in order to identify its main advantages and disadvantages as well as indicate ways to overcome the existing shortcomings in this area. The study determined that decentralisation in the country leads to democratic transformations of society based on civic initiative and responsibility, as well as provides a decent standard of living and quality services at the local level. The introduction of decentralisation can be observed in almost all areas, including administrative, political, financial, and social. This significantly affects the potential of the population and increases the responsibility of public authorities to the population. There is an increase in the level of public services with regard to economic, legal, political, social, and ethnic issues. Finally, proposals were made to make changes in the field of local self-government in order to overcome the existing problems in this area.

Magdalena Górczyńska
The paper describes the creation of the Greater Paris metropolitan area (Métropole du Grand Paris, MGP), with special emphasis on the changes and challenges related to the implementation of the housing policy at the metropolitan level. MGP is an inter-municipal cooperation structure with its own budget and special status. It embraces Paris, 123 municipalities located in the neighbouring departments, and fie external municipalities. MGP will take the responsibilities in the field of: management of resources to support social housing, renovation of housing, elimination of low-quality buildings. The implementation of the housing policy at the metropolitan level is associated with a number of challenges mainly in terms of consolidation of activities undertaken by the institutions of social housing, reservation of land for social housing investments, increase in the amount of new housing, including attempts for their more even distribution at the metropolitan scale. In addition, a set of new challenges appeared due to the changing socio-demographic structure of households, which in turn require innovative architectural solutions.
Paweł Swianiewicz, Julita Łukomska
Debates on the impact the size of sub-national jurisdiction has on the costs of public service delivery have a very long tradition, but in spite of multiple empirical studies, results are still far from conclusive. Methodologically rigid studies of the relationship, based on data from Poland, have been so far very rare and the paper tries to contribute to filling the gap in our knowledge. The authors apply a quasi-experimental scheme of synthetic control method for Polish county and municipal fragmentation to analyze the impact of territorial reform on administrative spending as well as on the operating surplus of the budget. The analysis clearly confirms the existence of the economy of scale in administrative services. The result concerning operating surplus is less clear. There are signs of scale economies on a county level, but the results for municipalities are more ambiguous – there are unexpected signs of positive impacts of fragmentation (diseconomy of scale) occurring after a transitional period related to the high transaction costs of the reform. The difference between the results for counties and municipalities may be interpreted as a result of: (1) the larger financial autonomy of Polish municipalities; (2) the different scope of services delivered by both tiers; (3) the fact that municipalities are more embedded in local communities, allowing them to utilize potential benefits of small scale, as suggested by public choice theory.
Donatas Burneika, Arūnas Pocius

The paper aims to discuss the major trends in changes of regional differences of economic wellbeing and the resulting spatial mobility of population as well as some regional consequences of these processes. The research is based on an empirical methodology, and visual analysis of mapped data is the main research method. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, fast decrease of employment in industry and agriculture has damaged, first of all, peripheral regions and, later, resulted in mass emigration, which is still evident in most Lithuanian municipalities. The decrease of the number of jobs in these sectors and its increase in those located in different places meant that most residents of non-metropolitan regions had to find new jobs outside the localities in which they resided. This resulted in growing mobility of the population, expressed by growing foreign emigration, inner migrations, and commuting, which continue to shape the social structure of the country to the present day, as spatial structures change more slowly than modes of production. Differences in wellbeing, which appeared at the end of the 20th century, played a role in accelerating emigration processes, which are still damaging local labour supply and economic development in many regions.

Przemysław Śleszyński
The purpose of the article is open to debate. It presents the main conclusions from a study made in March 2017 for the Office of Analysis and Expertise of the Senate of the Republic of Poland on the merits of changes in the territorial division of the Warsaw Metropolitan Area. In this study was carried out a synthesis of the research conducted mainly by the author on the development of Warsaw Metropolitan Area and the Mazowieckie voivodship, including the impact of the capital and delimitation of its functional urban area. In its summary were formulated the most important conclusions, arguing for finding a compromise solution, aimed at establishing a new administrative division system, taking into account both the daily urban system, spatial cohesion needs, and the interests of residents and entrepreneurs. Due to the importance of the area, including Warsaw’s functions as a capital city, the conclusions apply to the whole Poland.
Ariel Ciechański

Transport exclusion is currently a serious social problem, especially in the counties of the Low Beskids and the Bieszczady Mountains. To better illustrate this problem, it is necessary to observe changes in the suburban public transportation network and, in particular, to identify areas where its quality has deteriorated significantly. The starting point of the research is the year 1990, when on the one hand, the economy was already shifting to the new free market principles, while on the other hand, PKS enterprises still dominated the public transport. The endpoint of the study is the beginning of the year 2019. The article also discusses the background of the described changes. The summary also includes the consequences of those processes as well as the recommendations on how to neutralise some of their negative effects.

Jacek Poniedziałek
The aim of this article is to describe regionalism in the Warmia and Mazuria region. Although the majority of indigenous inhabitants emigrated from the region after 1945, some intellectuals who did not leave Poland established several organizations that focused on activities which may be described as ‘old regionalism’. Taking into account the political context, they tried to save the regional culture. After 1989 (the beginning of the transition period in Poland) new organizations were founded. Their members try to create a new type of regional culture and identity – a synthesis of cultures and identities of all cultural and ethnic groups living in Warmia and Mazuria. These new kinds of activities should be called ‘new regionalism’.
Anna Lewandowska, Robert Pater, Łukasz Cywiński

The purpose of this study is to identify the determinants of innovation of enterprises in the Regional Innovation System context. We analyse factors that determine regional innovation in a less developed region, taking the Podkarpackie region in Poland as our empirical counterpart. We examine how the EU economic policy instruments influence the innovation of enterprises within the context of the Regional Innovation Systems. We propose a model for the implementation of innovations and test our hypotheses based on the data drawn from the period of 2011–2014. The paper provides insights on a rather successful story from Poland. We posit that enterprises use only specific public policy instruments and that companies’ demand for innovation-supporting instruments changes, reacting to the business cycle phase and to financial incentives.

Agnieszka Stanowicka

Modern cities are developing dynamically in search of ever newer concepts of management. One of them, developed in Poland since the 1990s, is the concept of the marketing management of the city, which is based on the marketing mix concept. The city authorities also look for new sources of the competitive advantage (this is how the concept of slow city management was born). At the same time, in addition to competition, there is a desire for cooperation between cities, manifested by the development of the Citt?slow city network. The study identifies the marketing mix instruments of cities which are used by Polish cities after they joined the Citt?slow network. The method employed was a questionnaire survey, which was sent to 26 Polish Citt?slow member cities in 2017. It was observed that the greatest changes occur in the product strategies under which cities are obliged to develop these urban sub-products that are necessary for the city to function in accordance with the slow city philosophy. As part of promotional efforts, PR activities should be emphasised, whose aim is to create the image of a slow city. The “hospitality” of the city and openness to contacts with the external environment has also increased.

Paweł Tomaszewski, Janusz Zaleski, Marek Zembaty
The article presents the results of the analysis of the impact of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2004–2006 and the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007–2013 on divergence/convergence processes taking place in Poland as well as between its regions and the EU average, measured as GDP per capita in PPS. The analysis was made using simulation results received by applying 16 regional HERMIN models and data as well as forecasts concerning NDP and NSRF transfers prepared by the Ministry of Regional Development of the Republic of Poland. The application of HERMIN models allowed the authors to make forecasts regarding the following macroeconomic indicators: GDP per capita (in PPS) in relation to the EU average and to the national average by 2020. The results indicate that NDP and NSRF implementation can accelerate the convergence process between the Polish regions and the EU average and slow down the weak divergence process within the country.
Kinga A. Komorowska
Interaction between human beings and their environment is a relatively new science domain, placed between geography and sociology. Therefore, a theoretical part of this article aims at familiarizing the readers with perception issue. In the following part one can find a description of perception of the Bieszczady National Park by tourists, adult inhabitants and pupils from Bieszczady region. It is compared to the similar research conducted in the Tatra National Park. One of the findings is that tourists are better familiarized with the mountain geography than any other group. What is also interesting, people find national parks bigger and more empty than they are in reality. Some of the theories presented at the beginning of the article were confirmed by the author’`s reseearch.
Antoni Kukliński
The paper presents a new interpretation of global space. The most important elements of this space are four megaspaces of America, Europe, China and India. A megaspace is a grand geographical area representing a big demographic, political, economic, and scientific potential. The megaspace is a regionally differentiated area with no important barriers limiting free flows of persons, commodities, information, capital. The innovative studies of four megaspaces are a great theoretical and pragmatic challenge for Regional Studies Association as an organization which should open new chapters in the interpretation of the global space of the XXIst century.
Karolina Borońska-Hryniewiecka
Regional and local authorities today face a twofold challenge of delivering locally responsive policies in accordance with EU development goals. For this reason they need to align their development strategies with European guidelines. This paper determines the drivers and hindering factors behind the effective involvement of local and regional authorities in drafting and implementing EU policies with territorial impact. It evaluates several examples of multi-level governance operating in the institutional context of the EU and identifies its most important weaknesses such as lack of regional administrative capacities; insufficient Europeanization of subnational elites and inadequate communication between EU, national and regional levels.
Olga Mrinska
This paper analyses the shifts in the system of governance of Kyiv in 2008–2014 as a crucial element of the resilience capacity of the region. The consequences of the economic crisis and the ongoing security crisis demand new approaches and solutions from the city’s leadership and community. For years Kyiv suffered from poor municipal leadership and unprecedented control by the central government, which undermined the resilience of its socio-economic system in the aftermath of the global economic crisis. However, new forms of community initiatives that bring together private and non-governmental actors are becoming widespread, and are becoming critical knowledge networks that are essential for successful long-term development. Changing institutional frameworks, and the firm commitment to decentralisation proclaimed by the country’s current leadership, open new avenues for harnessing the city’s potential. The challenge is in finding ways for constructive collaboration between formal and informal leaders of the city while building a new base for sustainable and competitive economic growth.
Joanna Kusiak
The paper describes the “chaotic” transformation of Warsaw after 1989, and aims to analyze what Hegel calls “the work of the concept” of (urban) “chaos”, and to embed it in a theoretical framework. The author proposes a typology of urban chaos. The text analyzes the use of the term “chaos” in Poland and singles out particular contexts in Warsaw’s public discourse during the years of post-socialist transformation. Within these contexts, the author reconstructs the distinct social phenomena and power relations hidden beneath the superficial impression of chaos. Empirically, urban chaos is never mere randomness but rather a conglomerate of multiple pockets of order regulated by non-transparent power relations that only appear to be arbitrary. Using Hegelian language, one can argue that chaos is cunning. The key to understanding this cunning is the difference between “chaos” as a term used in public discourse and chaos as a structural condition of power relations between distinct pockets of order.
Tomasz Wołowiec
Parishes possess a wide selection of instruments for stimulating the development of entrepreneurship, unfortunately the instruments are rarely used as part of a complex, well thought-out strategy that brings about multi-level results. The instruments for entrepreneurship stimulation belong to two major categories: financial and non-financial. One of the primary reasons for investors to select a particular parish can be the existence of a planned and long-term fiscal policy, connected to a stable system of tax preferences in taxes and local fees, and an active strategy for parish investment expenditures. Creating positive conditions for the emergence of new enterprises is the best source of social-economical activation of the local population.
Marek W. Kozak
The main objective of this paper is to analyze the possibilities of using information on historical residences to study regional differences and the technical state and features of residences preserved in the Czech Republic and Poland. An analysis of data referring to countries of significant historical differences helps to identify differences of the state of residences and the results of the differences. The Author carries out an analysis of the structure and state of residences and of factors determining it in the past and in the period just after World War II.
Grzegorz Gorzelak, Mikołaj Herbst, Agnieszka Olechnicka
Warmia-Mazury region, one of the poorest in Poland, faces the deepest (as compared to all regions of the EU) labour market crisis. The mixture of social and economic problems represents a huge challenge for regional authorities. The chances for fast improvement are limited by several factors, such as low quality of transport infrastructure, low innovation potential and productivity, large share of unskilled labour force, etc. One necessary condition of the improvement is the reform of public finances at country level. Nonetheless, regional authorities should undertake the activity in order to increase the potential of human capital in the region, e.g. by improving the quality of schools. While directly fighting unemployment more effort should be put on stimulating the demand side of the labour market and co-operation with NGOs.
Joanna Krukowska, Marta Lackowska
The paper focuses on the institutional solutions adopted in different Polish urban regions as a response to the requirement to create the so-called ITI instrument in the framework of 2014–2020 EU financial perspective. This phenomenon is analyzed in the light of the mechanism of launching and functioning of metropolitan cooperation structures and the concept of Europeanization. The authors assume that former – more or less successful – attempts to institutionalize such cooperation in Polish urban functional areas influence the process of creation and functioning of ITI cooperation.
Elżbieta Anna Sekuła
The text is an essay of analysis of the relations and interactions between the main protagonists of the “Warsaw scene”: the local administration representatives, anthropologists and sociologists, architects, urbanists, journalists and common citizens. The author is trying to summarise the discourse about the public space in Warsaw and about the difficulties in communication that concern the public discussion on the topic. The aim of the analysis is also to define the place of Warsaw as a city that belongs as well to the Europeans’ metropolises and to the towns of the Third World at the same time. The main topic concerns the view of the public spaces and its social functions in case of Warsaw, the position and roles of the heroes of “the game of the city space”, the architectural and urbanistic structure, the citizens’ identity and other issues. The essay is based on the personal research and TNS OBOP’s surveys and discourse analysis of the media content.
Arkadiusz Świadek
In transition economies, the size and ownership structure of enterprises determine their economic behaviour as well as their attitudes towards innovations. Many studies show that one of the key factors accelerating economic performance of the companies is technological transfer from abroad, and that successful implementation of the new know-how is mainly undertaken by medium and large enterprises. The domestic micro and small enterprises located in Polish regions proved to be rather risk-averse and therefore not very innovative. However, their innovative activities accelerate over time, and eventually they catch up with foreign and large enterprises.
Tatiana Majcherkiewicz
Career paths of modern politicians have increasingly become diversified and drifter away from the classical hierarchical career pattern. The article addresses new theoretical concepts and empirical studies, which have been developed since the beginning of the 21st century by the multilevel government school (MLG) in relation to the careers of regional politicians and new career paths in general. As being a regional politician has become a profession, the investigation of the MLG school focuses on the political careers of such politicians, and most of all reflects the transformation of modern states as a result of regionalization and development of supranational European institutions. As a central theoretical contribution of the MLG school, Bochert’s “Conceptual Approach to Political Careers in Multilevel Systems” is discussed as the most comprehensive and advanced model of addressing the impact of the institutional setting on Carter opportunities. The final part of the article presents an overview of MLG research, which has led to a recognition of new types of political careers.
Bohdan Jałowiecki
In most European cities industrial districts and, later, consumption areas have emerged supplementing the areas of exchange, which had always been existing within the cities. At present, the cities are almost free of production (especially of industrial production), which has been replaced by the areas of entertainment. This is due to the fact that the metropolitan class - which lives in the cities and moves between them as the most precious part of the tourist community – has demonstrated growing demand for culture and entertainment. The influences of the media, mostly of television, make this demand more and more uniform, which results in globalisation of culture and entertainment. It is therefore quite obvious that big corporations engage themselves in undertakings that shape the urban areas in order to advertise their products and brands. As a result, the public parts of the cities are appropriated by individual interests and privatized in a specific way.
Magdalena Górczyńska, Urszula Jusis, Piotr Siłka
Urban renewal in derelict sites has become a focal point of interest in many traditional industrial cities. Having adopted the case study of the Cork City (Ireland), the authors presented four urban renewal schemes which were implemented in this city over a 25–year period. It ought to be emphasised that not only has Cork implemented various rejuvenation programmes since 1979, but also revived three entirely different urban sites: the former industrial areas, the historic centre and the docklands. However, the latter still requires further regeneration. The urban renewal schemes contributed to an enhancement of the quality of life and a rise in local and inward investment. Moreover, the number of tourists increased considerably. In consequence, the image of the city was improved. Hence, the urban renewal has become a factor of Cork’s redevelopment.
Agnieszka Olechnicka, Adam Płoszaj, Katarzyna Wojnar
As a result of interaction of many factors, the conditions of academic institutions have changed significantly over the last decades. Globalization and internationalization, demographic and economic challenges, as well as growing international competition between universities causes these institutions to take up new functions, restructure and change their character. Top universities respond to the changing context by developing new strategic solutions aiming at sustaining and strengthening their high position in international rankings. Some of the strategic solutions are similar for most universities, but some are unique and specific. The aim of this article is to identify latest trends in strategic management of top universities and present selected case studies to illustrate the most interesting solutions.
Jacek Gądecki
The privatization of the Center of Contemporary Art (CCA) area in Torun allows us to observe relatively new processes in Polish urban reality. The case shows how private-public partnership and place marketing are constructed and how partners combine spheres of culture and commerce to realize the investment. Private investor, using the cultural arguments, tries to create a shopping mall in the recreation area located next to the historical center of the city. The aim of the paper is to analyze the dynamics of the process of privatization and strategies used to privatize the public space in an attractive district of Torun.
Jiří Blažek
The article provides the analysis of main factors, trends and patterns of regional development in the Czech Republic during the transformation and pre-accession period. The paper is structured in the following way. It starts with a brief elaboration of basic trends in regional development since the collapse of communism, then proceeds to the identification of the main factors of regional development. In the final part, the author outlines the possible future patterns of regional development in the Czech Republic.
Grzegorz Gorzelak, Maciej Smętkowski
Territorial entitles and thus has influenced relations between them. In particular, these changes influenced the relations between the metropolis and its hinterland. Contemporary metropolis became a concentration of innovative activities that led to development of flows within world cities network. As a result its ties with regional surrounding, that offers mainly "simple" resources, has became relatively weaker. The article demonstrates these new processes by the empirical research of three Polish metropolises: Warsaw, Poznan and so called Triple-city (Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot).
Marek S. Szczepański, Weronika Ślęzak-Tazbir
From the five senses that men have the sense of sight and touch, though seemingly the most acute, are limited when it comes to examining space and all phenomena that occur in it. Moreover, it is much more difficult to examine space through the sense hearing and it is almost impossible to taste it, even if it is humanized. Another human sense i.e. the sense of smell which enables us to recognize different scents may, due to its transitory and temporary nature, appear to be useless when it comes to examining space. Nonetheless, if we concentrate on all the scents that fill the space, they are frequently a more distinctive and prominent landmark than, for example, a building or a road. Therefore, it seems to be vital that the perspective of sociology of scent be adopted if we want to make a more in-depth analysis and interpretation of space dynamics. The scents that fill a chosen urban and suburban old industrial region are analysed and observed in this study. What are the scents that fill urban space? On the one hand there is the tempting scent of private space, which is filled with artificial perfumes and air fresheners. However, on the other hand there is the unpleasant and offensive odour from neglected backyards and outhouses; the odour coming from a local beer stand and an aromatic bouquet of cognac in a hotel bar; obnoxious odours emitted by mine slag heaps and the scent of the pine forest. We aim to show that a wide range of different smells, ranging from delicate and lovely scents to offensive and foul odours, have a growing influence on fragmentation and privatization of urban space.
Janusz Heller
Financial independence is considered to be a crucial instrument of self-governance. This issue is treated in a dynamic and structural approach. The aim of the research was the evaluation of the level of changes in local government units` financial independence. The highest level of independence is found in the cities with poviat rights, whereas the lowest is found in self-governing voivodeships and in poviats. In the communes, the level is average, but there are big differences between them in this aspect. The urban communes and those situated near big cities have a much higher level of financial independence than rural communes, situated far away from major cities.
Bohdan Jałowiecki
Metropolization is one of the most dynamic processes of contemporary world, changing the existing settlement patterns and creating new relations among large cities. Recently, metropolization concerns also Central and Eastern Europe. The article evaluates the position of CEE cities in the European metropolitan network and describes the process of creation of Polish metropolises and their social and spatial transformation.
Janusz Heller
The aim of the research was to identify and measure the level of economic freedom across the EU at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. Special attention was paid to the changes in (i.e. liberalization of) the Polish economy. The basis of the comparative analysis between the 25 EU countries (excluding Malta and Cyprus) was provided by data acquired from the annual economic freedom study conducted by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal in the years 1996–2008. The overall economic freedom index consisted of the average from marks for 10 different features – more detailed criteria. The average index acquired from all 10 features was the basis of a country’s mark for the level of liberalism (economic freedom) or statism. The proposed methodological approach, in which the two main currents of statism and liberalism are exposed, was especially useful in evaluating the processes occurring in the Polish economy. The results of the research show that, in the group of 15 countries of the “old” EU, 10 can be considered more liberal. This group includes, as the most liberal EU state of all, Ireland. The second group is formed of 5 countries apparently less liberal, i.e. Spain, France, Portugal, Italy and Greece. Poland is found to be the most statist country anywhere in the EU, notwithstanding its status (along with the Czech Republic and Estonia) as one of the three leaders of liberalism in the first years of transformation. In this situation it is hard to identify the Polish economy with advanced or even excessive liberalism. It is – according to the present standards – a rather state-controlled economy, albeit with certain but scarce elements of liberalism. The research shows that the economic crisis which occurred from mid 2007 cannot be identified only with the liberal economy, even though the implemented methods of dealing with the crisis seem to point to such a source. Statist solutions prevail here, but some liberal methods appear as well. A solution to this dilemma can only be anticipated after several years have passed.
Jacek Poniedziałek
The aim of this paper is to characterize three main concepts of region developed in the period of the 2nd Republic. First of all, the Author describes the ethnographic concept of region, created by Kazimierz Moszyński. He focuses on tangible differentiators of region. Józef Obrębski, who is Moszyński’s disciple, takes as a basis the ethnographic concept of region and adds to it the idea that a region is formed in contact between members of a regional group with the Other. Józef Chałasiński, the author of the third concept, shares Obrębski’s view and adds that it is in contact with the Other that is developed the most important factor in the region-building process, namely regional identity. The paper offers information on the theoretical tradition of sociology of region in today’s Poland.
Piotr Rosik
Accessibility indicators can be defined to reflect both within-region transport infrastructure and infrastructure outside the region which affect the region (interregional infrastructure). The new geography models show that increase of accessibility may have no positive impact on poor regions development. The only regions on which it may have an effect are those which are rich or those situated on transport corridors. In countries like Poland transport infrastructure might be effective. However the main result of SASI model and IASON project is that socio-economic trends such as ageing of the population and increases of labour productivity have much stronger impact on cohesion indicators (GDP or employment) than regional transport accessibility.
Wojciech Jarczewski, Magdalena Dej
EU Funds received by the Polish economy in 2007–2013 in some part have also been used for revitalization activities. However, the rank of these activities was not the same in particular regions, as evidenced by, among others, the rank of revitalization in the Regional Operational Programmes and the amount of funds earmarked for regeneration. A significant difference was observed in relation to the selection process of the projects. This procedure examined on the examples of the Lower Silesia, Lesser Poland and Podkarpackie voivodships determined the final result of the revitalization at the regional scale, varying the type of beneficiaries, as well as the number and size of co-financed projects. Conclusions that follow from the analysis become particularly important in view of the new programming period 2014–2020.
Alan S. Blinder
The article addresses the nature of offshoring, a phenomenon which names the migration of jobs, but not the people who perform them, from rich countries to the poor ones. Due to fast development of technology, information flow around the globe is getting cheaper and easier. Thus, the group of tradable goods and services is constantly growing. This change will become as meaningful in its consequences as two Industrial Revolutions. The development of offshoring will become a massive challenge bringing wrenching social changes. Moreover, rich countries will have to modify their systems of education or social security net in order to adjust. themselves to new reality, and they have not done much yet. The conclusion presents the possible directions of these changes.
Mateusz Cudo

The aim of the article is to determine the level of urbanness as regards the physiognomy of those settlements which, since 1990, the beginning of systemic transformation, have obtained the status of towns for the first time. The qualitative features of built-up areas were defined using the indicator showing the share of farm buildings, and height using the indicator showing the number of dwellings per residential building. In this way, a group of new towns with a typical rural physiognom existing in Poland (Glinojeck, Radłów, Świątniki Górne) was obtained, and settlements centres with unfavourable synthetic index values in the Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship (Gościno, Stepnica) were specified. Their example demonstrates the imperfection of the requirements and suggests that the procedure for granting urban status should to a greater extent take into account the physiognomy of potential towns and verify that aspect of urbanness.

Antoni Słonimski, Marina Słonimska
The article is demonstrates the differentiation of the intensity and characteristics of entrepreneurial activities in Belarus. With respect to many features, Belarus seems to be divided into the western and eastern part, that is, between the territory belonging before World War II to Poland and USSR. The eastern part is more urbanized (76% of urban population comparing to 60% in the west), includes largest cities and has better education indicators that the western part. As the entrepreneurship is highly correlated with education level and the degree of urbanization, it is not surprising that small business is most intense in Minsk and eastern Belarus. However, of the areas characterized by similar urbanization and education level, but located at different sides of the pre-war border, the entrepreneurship is decidedly more developed in the west. The research was conducted in the two regions: Grodziensk (western Belarus) and Witebsk (eastern Bealrus). It showed that the entrepreneurs from the western part of the republic are more free market oriented. While they main request from the central government was simply: less regulations, their counterparts in the east demanded rather more direct support from the state. This difference is the legacy of historical divisions and closer links of the western Belarus with the market economies of Poland and Lithuania.
Marek W. Kozak
Due to a dynamic increase of the number of tourists, to demand and supply changes, or – in short – to changes of paradigm, tourism has been recently considered as an important factor of regional development. Countries and regions attempt to encourage tourism development with modern planning. An overview of selected planning documents, mostly regional, leads to the conclusion that in spite of a declarative adoption of the new paradigm on the strategic level, the operational level is still dominated by the old approach, based on a number of myths. These myths should be considered main obstacles in tourism development in Poland.
Beata Namyślak
The aim of the work is presenting strong points and chances of creative industries in Wroclaw based on which the city could build its position in the country. The analysis was prepared based on statistical data, literature and information from representatives of Wroclaw’ cultural circles. Conclusions were aggregated in the last part of the article using the SWOT analysis. Some of them are presented below: • There are not big publishers in Wroclaw, which could be competitive with the most important ones in the country; • The film industry in Wroclaw has been moving to the new phase of development after a long inertia; • The music industry focuses on classical music; • There is the same threat for radio and television: concentration of the most important television stations in Warsaw, and in the case of radio stations – in Warsaw and Kraków; • The position of entities preserving national heritage has improved over the last years.
Roman Szul
The language question are phenomena resulting from contacts of two or more languages on the same territory or in the same community. It consists in co-existence and/or conflicts of languages and in language policies carried out by national and regional governments, and by ethnic movements aiming at maintaining or changing the language situation on a given territory. The main issues linked to the language question in the contemporary world are the following: 1) domination of the English language as an international language, supported by the globalisation and facilitating the globalisation. The domination of English puts on unequal footing people of the world and causes dissatisfaction of some parts of non-English native speakers; 2) extinction of languages as a result of assimilation of small ethno-linguistic groups. This phenomenon generates alarm of some groups of scientists and public opinion; 3) language barrier hampering development of education, economy and democracy in many parts of the world, especially in the post-colonial countries; 4) international migrations. These put migrants themselves and societies and governments of recipient countries in front of the question of the attitude towards maintaining of the cultural and linguistic identity of the migrants, this question being solved in different ways in different countries and historical periods.
Robert Pyka
The global Post-Fordist economy based on permanent flows changes the way we use space. It modifies the processes of functioning of cities, some of which take the role of global hubs or regional networks. It is an open question whether and how the changes concerning territorial and competence range of cities influence institutions and institutionalizations of contemporary city authorities. Although it is difficult to establish a general answer to this question, the author bases his reflection on the case of the evolution, unprecedented in the French conditions, of the local government system of Grand Lyon Urban Community. On 1st January 2015, after 45 years of its existence, Grand Lyon became a Metropolis of Lyon, establishing a new unit of local government with extended range and new competences, combining the prerogative powers of municipalities, an urban community, and a department.
Jan Maciej Chmielewski, Agnieszka Turek, Agnieszka Kardaś
The aim of the article is to present the process of changes which occurred from the 1970s until 2012 in the areas of urban agglomerations in Poland. In contemporary agglomerations in Poland, their socio-economic function is centralized while land use and building development become progressively decentralized, which results in dynamic growth of the central metropolitan area, and in simultaneous deurbanization of its zone of influence. The described problem is typical of the Warsaw Urban Agglomeration (Warszawski Zespół Miejski, WZM), where the population of the metropolitan zone increases while the importance of the surrounding towns, particularly in their central areas, decreases. The objective of this paper is to present these contemporary trends in the communes of the northern zone of WZM. The analysis involves three towns: Legionowo, Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki, and Zakroczym, and two communes – Jabłonna and Wieliszew. The results are compared with relevant changes occurring in the communes of the Piaseczno district. The examined processes are also confronted with the proposals and arrangements included in planning concepts prepared in different periods for the agglomeration. The escalating suburbanization, characterized by deurbanization visible in spatial planning, affects the effectiveness of newly created building developments and their rank of service centres, and also shows the failure of long-term planning, which is not supported by detailed analysis and research.
Marta Götz
Endogenous growth theories presume knowledge plays the key role in economic growth (1). Yet, new economic geography along with empirical findings suggest the possibility of divergence occurring in development processes (2). Combining (1) and (2) indicates the importance of studying knowledge factors’ distribution. To obtain the fully fledged picture of a given economy one shall go beyond simply analyzing knowledge factors but include also their spatial location. The article touches upon this issue. It is devoted to Germany and examines three territorial and administrative levels: one referring to former country division (DDR & BRD), the second relating to NUTS 1 (16 Bundesländer) and third represented by 41 Regierungsbezirke (NUTS 2). Results are obtained by investigating 5 factors (e.g. expenditure on R&D, human resources in S&T, patent applications) and applying 4 measures (Gini, Rosenbluth, Ellison–Glaeser and Herfindahl–Hirschman Coefficients). This paper is meant to supplement earlier studies as well as a good starting point for further research devoted to country’s knowledge landscape.
Agnieszka Kopańska
The article provides the analysis of bottlenecks related to public private partnerships (PPP), and the methods of avoiding them. The study is based on the history of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in Great Britain, and the changes introduced to this programme in the last years. It is shown, that there are similarities between PPP in today’s Poland and PFI in the UK at the beginning of 90’s. British experience can be helpful in creating better environment for PPP, to avoid (or at least minimize) the potential threats.
Maciej Smętkowski
The paper attempts to evaluate the impact that the projects co-financed by European funds within the Cohesion Policy in the programming period 2004?2006 had on the competitiveness of large Polish cities. In the first part of the paper, we define competitiveness of cities and regions and operationalize it with indicators used in further analysis. Our evaluation is based on different quantitative methods of measuring correlations between competitiveness of cities and Cohesion Policy expenditures, which enables us to triangulate the results. The outcome is a set of hypothetical cause-effects relationships between public intervention and competitive position of cities. For their verification we employ qualitative case studies (See Report EUROREG 2010 and the articles by Marek Kozak and Andrzej Miszczuk in this issue).
Przemysław Śleszyński
The article presents an analysis of citations of the Polish scientific journals and series of geography and spatial economy in 1991–2010 years, developed on the basis of information service Google Scholar. Bibliometric analyzes showed generally weak, but the variation impact on the publication. Demonstrated the dominant role of several titles, including Geographia Polonicaand Regional and Local Studies. The latter title has grown rapidly in the last decade citations.
Stanisław Furman

The article was published in Polish in "Studia Regionalne i Lokalne", 3/2004

 

The paper assesses the state and conditions of the development of Polish cities in the context of processes and issues that occur in the cities of highly developed European countries. The latter, particularly those located at the very core of Europe, enter a new phase of development. Interconnected through networks of various links, the countries form economically integrated urban spaces characterised by the highest competitive potential in the global economy, at the same time losing their nature of self-contained, self-standing socio-economic systems. The author describes the underlying processes, pointing to the fact that they are visible in Poland, but rather not yet advanced. Poland is a country of retarded urbanisation with insufficiently competitive in Europe economic base of cities, quite well-developed human capital, but with mediocre social capital and low quality urban space. The main challenges of Polish cities` development are outlined from the perspective of European integration, including a discussion of the most common visions of European cities of the 21st century, in the context of developmental aims and ways to attain them.

Mateusz Smolarski

The study discusses the processes of reactivation of passenger rail traffic in Poland in the years 2000–2020. After the reductions of the railroad network carried out before 2000, a renaissance of passenger transport could be observed. In the period under study, 63 sections of the railway lines were reconstructed. The total length of the reactivated routes was 1992 km, of which the electrified sections covered 549 km of the network. The largest areas of the concentration of reactivation activities were identified in south-eastern and northern Poland. The average speed on most routes was 65 km/h. The transport offer for 55% of the lines was based on more than six connections per day. Inconsistencies were also identified: out of 63 routes, passenger traffic was suspended again in 20 sections. Three types of reactivated routes can be identified, most of which are blindly terminated routes. The identified processes of reconstruction of traffic systems after 2000 represent yet another phase of railroad operations in Poland, after the previous phase of intensive regression and underfunding.

Elżbieta Michałowska
The article describes a local conflict which arose when the decision on the establishment of the Brzeziny district (powiat) had been waived at the last moment. This resulted in strong protests of the inhabitants, who hoped that the district authorities would be located in Brzeziny. The conflict impaired the local community`s ability to exercise its political function and to execute public tasks. Two opposed groups emerged in the local community: representatives of the local authority and people connected with them on the one hand, and the protest committee, later the Teraz Brzeziny (Time for Brzeziny) association, on the other. The consequence of this local conflict, taken as a model, is mutual adaptation of both opposing sides. In Brzeziny, the adaptation took the form of a compromise negotiations between the government authorities and local community`s representatives, which brought a solution to the problem. As a result of the compromise, the Brzeziny district has been established, however not within the originally planned boundaries.
Stanisław Furman
The paper gives an appraisal of Polish cities in the context of processes and problems observed in cities of highly developed European countries. These last cities, in particular those situated in the hard core of EU, enter a new development stadium. Interconnected by networks of multifarious links, they create an integrated urbanised space of the highest ability to compete in the global economy but lose at the same time the character of relatively closed and spatially distinguished socio-economic systems. The paper, pointing at the processes that lead to this phenomenon, stresses that they are already visible in Poland but not advanced. Poland is a country of a delayed urbanisation and cities the economic base of which is not competitive in Europe. These cities possess a not bad human but rather weak social capital and the urban space is of a low quality. The paper outlines the main challenges Polish cities are facing in the era of European integration and presents also the most frequently discussed visions of XXI century European city described through development goals and strategies.
Katarzyna A. Kuć-Czajkowska
The idea of the paper refers to the comparison of functions that determine an international position of Warsaw, Prague and Budapest. It is also an attempt to evaluate the chances of these three cities to win and develop individual metropolitan functions in the future. At the same time, this paper aims at identifying the main factors, both obscuring and supporting the development of metropolitan functions of cities under analysis. The author recognizes the following reasons of CEE metropolieses development – a significant change of geopolitical position, due to socio-economic transformation, a membership of Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary in the structure of EU, globalization and civilization of information technology. Within the first part of the paper capitals are analyzed in relation to several theoretical approaches. The second part shows the results of author’s research, based on statistical data analysis, referring to metropolitan functions of these cities.
Arkadiusz Tuziak
The article presents innovation issues in public administration in the Podkarpacie region. In the situation of progressing territorial development, widely understood innovation is the ability to create, put into practice and disseminate it. This ability is the condition to raise competitiveness of the regional economy, while increasing the opportunity to achieve success in the escalating competition between the regions. Taking into account that local and regional authorities play the major role in the modernizational and developmental processes, the analyses and characteristics included in the article are concentrated on the diagnosis of the competence of public administration employers. The range of the above mentioned competence is the management of the local and regional development and the economy development based on the knowledge. Identification and description of the restrictions and barriers of innovation in the council and government administration were considered as well. The study is based on the results of the empirical research which aim was to recognize attitudes and actions of public administration in the Podkarpacie region, realized within the confines of the purposeful project of the Science and Informatics Ministry: "The Regional Strategy of Innovation of the Podkarpacie Province".
Tomasz Kościelski, Krzysztof Malaga
The aim of the article is to answer the question about the effects of Poland’s accession to the European Union from the point of view of regional inequalities in Poland. We present a neoclassical model of exogenous growth with the balance of European Union’s resources allocated to the cohesion and convergence policy implementation. The model is a generalization of the standard growth model of Solow and Swan. in the paper, we describe the methods of establishing the values of the model variables in a steady state. We perform a retrospective analysis of regional inequalities in Poland for the period 2004–2006 and a prospective analysis based on the models of growth of the Polish economy and the regional economies of voivodships. We draw conclusions about the first effects of the cohesion and convergence programme in Poland and the postulates for the principles of construction of new regional growth models as instruments of description and analysis of convergence and regional inequalities.
Dominik Sieklucki

The Act of 11 January 2018 amending certain acts in order to increase participation of citizens in the process of selecting, functioning and controlling certain public bodies (Journal of Laws 2018, item 130) obliged all local government units to establish a citizens’ resolution initiative and to regulate the basic procedures related to the preparation and submission of applications by a resolution of their law-making body. The article analyses the implementation activities undertaken in cities with county rights. It indicates that before the entry into force of the Act, 55 cities out of 66 had already implemented such an arrangement, and, in their case, the Act helped unify the procedures. The article also points out that some cities did not implement these regulations before the beginning of the 8th term of office of local governments, and in several cases there were problems with the implementation, which prevented citizens from exercising their resolution initiative. The article presents the legal status as of 31 December 2019.

Marta Lackowska
The article, referring to the elaboration offered in 2005 by Swianiewicz, presents the very recent development of the theoretical concepts used in urban political research. It concentrates on the rescaling concept, which assumes the need for territorial reorganization of urban research and practice. Reteritorialization implies an increase in the importance of the sub-state levels, i.e. the levels most affected by globalization. Globalization has forced big cities to compete internationally, which also influences their organization. The debate on metropolitan governance has changed significantly in comparison to the one of the old regionalism – less attention is paid to administrative solutions, more to conditions and mechanisms of international functioning of metropolises. Metropolitan governance has moved from vertical, redistributive and coordinative relations within the state towards a horizontal competition with other metropolises. New relations, cutting across the traditional levels of organization, are being created within the current stable institutional framework. One of the biggest challenges for contemporary urban political studies is the elaboration of conceptual frames for those relations. The challenge is especially important as institutional solutions to metropolitan areas still leave a lot of questions and doubts.
Magdalena Górczyńska
The aim of this paper is to discuss urban renewal policy implemented in France over the 20th and the 21st century. Referring to selected examples from the agglomeration of Paris, special attention is paid to the social dimension of urban renewal. The diversified tools in the field of urbanism and contract policy led to vertical and horizontal cooperation between different entities. The key element was the differentiation of housing supply, especially in the case of apartments for rent. In the areas with better potential and likely to become more multi-dimensionally attractive, the effects of renewal were more spectacular, whereas urban renovation carried out in deprived areas still brings mixed outcomes.
Paweł Swianiewicz, Karolina Olszowiec

Uptade from 2.03.2021: Parts of this article were subsequently used in the following publication: Swianiewicz, P., & Chelstowska, K. (2015). Neighbourhood Council as a Path of Political Career Development in Poland. Polish Sociological Review, (190), 223.

 

On the basis of data from six Polish cities, the authors discuss the role of sub-municipal (neighbourhood, city district) councils as paths to political career in big Polish cities. The analysis of social composition of neighbourhood councils is based on Putnam’s law of increasing disproportionality, while various theoretical concepts inform the division of the selection process into three stages: self-selection, pre-selection (top-down selection), and bottom-up selection. Neighbourhood councils are considered as incubators and respirators of political career.

Dominika Wojtowicz, Kinga Paciorek
The paper focuses on issues related to the impact of quality management in local government at the municipal level on the use of EU funds supporting local development. Poland is one of the greatest beneficiaries of structural funds provided for regional development and strengthening cohesion within the Community. Local governments are one of the groups which absorbed most of the funds for 2007–2013. The paper describes how and to what extent the implementation of New Public Management tools in local government administration can guarantee efficient use of EU funds. Three areas of such impact are taken into consideration – the amount of acquired funds, efficient implementation of the projects co-financed by the EU, and the quality of these projects.
Liga Baltina
The global economic crisis that hit all the national economies in the EU area stimulated the need for new approaches in the planning and implementation of regional development policy. This paper investigates the debates about the role of the city of Riga and its development potential as the biggest city in Latvia, whilst also looking at the challenges and opportunities created by the need to respond to global changes. The article discusses the relevance of certain factors and demonstrates the actions taken by national authorities to promote the more balanced development of Latvia, as well as the opportunities to apply a place-based approach in promoting the development of Riga as the capital city of Latvia.
Sławomir Pastuszka
An Economic and Monetary Union is the next stage of European integration. The membership in the euro zone should result in strengthening the safety and stability of the national economy. Therefore, the new member countries ought to aspire to accession, meeting in advance the Maastricht convergence criteria. The paper presents the assessment of the nominal convergence of new EU members (general government deficit and general public debt related to GDP, annual average inflation rates, long-term interest rates) in 2004–2009.
Adam Gendźwiłł
The article presents an overview of opinions on climate change and the ways of adapting to it held by representatives of Polish local authorities (political leaders and local administration representatives) in a recently conducted survey. The author briefly describes the institutional context in which the new field of local policy has emerged and local adaptation strategies are established. The empirical analyses, based on survey data, demonstrate that local authorities in many municipalities remain relatively sceptical about the human impact on climate change: 32% feel convinced by the existing evidence. The analyses also demonstrate that there is a relationship between attitudes of local authorities towards climate change and the population size of the municipalities, as well as its previous exposure to extreme weather events. The results suggest that local adaptation policies have more chance of being developed in municipalities with specialized environmental administration.
Marek Hendel
The article is discusses the new concept of harmony limit as an instrument for strategic management of tourism development in tourism destinations. In the author’s opinion, that concept can be used as a basic instrument in creating tourism development strategies, which would help to start or continue the process of developing sustainable tourism. Furthermore, the concept is based on three interdependent elements: pillars of sustainability, multi-stakeholder responsibility and the sphere of needs. The author draws attention to the problems associated with the new concept and offers certain solutions, thereby demonstrating its application value.
Anna Gąsior-Niemiec
Referring to the Polish regionalization from the perspective of European integration and globalization, the paper proposes a model of regional analysis based on theoretical conceptions of Pierre Bourdieu and Anssi Paasi. Region as a social field of new generation, regional habitus constructed within it and an imago regionis as a new type of regional identity are the key concepts of the proposed model. Multi-stage institutionalization of region, which results in an idiosyncratic regional identity, is the main process analysed by means of the model. The identity functions on the one hand at the level of territorial marketing, on the other it interacts with mental and behavioural patterns constitutive of regional habitus, conditioning adaptive and innovative potential of regional communities. The proposed approach enables to see region in the perspective of global change on the one hand, while on the other, it draws attention to possibilities of local modification of the conditions, within which it is implemented. While it sustains the weight of socio-cultural factors in regional analyses, at the same time it makes it possible to reach beyond narrowly conceived perspective of cultural identity, dominant in sociologically minded studies of regions.
Dagmara Kociuba, Małgorzata Bielecka

The aim of the study is to examine the impact of the amendment to the Municipal Self-Government Act (hereinafter: MSGA; Journal of Laws 2018, item 994) on the implementation of participatory budgeting (PB) in 2019 and 2020 in Polish voivodship cities. Using the desk research method, 36 PB regulations and over 3.4 thousand projects were selected for implementation in 10 categories: 1) sports (investment and other), 2) leisure and recreation (investment and other), 3) construction or modernisation of sidewalks, 4) construction or modernisation of streets, 5) pedestrian walkways, 6) parking lots, 7) lighting, 8) city bicycles (bicycle infrastructure), 9) modernisation of buildings, and 10) other (e.g. educational, cultural, training). Detailed studies were carried on the influence of legislative changes on: 1) financial mechanisms; 2) principles and organisation of the budgeting process; 3) generic structure of projects; 4) participatory budgeting model. In order to verify the results obtained, changes in the PB regulations not resulting from the MSGA provisions were additionally analysed. It was shown that the amendment to the Act had a significant impact on the implementation of PB in all the analysed cities. The changes mainly concerned the financial and formal-organisational aspects of participatory budgeting process. The most crucial ones include: increase in the size of the overall subsidies (in 15 cities), modification of the distribution of the financial means (9), introduction of letters of support at the stage of project submission (7) and appeal procedure (9). Among the “non-statutory” activities, the abolition of age limits in the remaining 7 cities should be mentioned. These activities brought positive effects on the increase in turnout (15), the number of projects selected for implementation (12) and their average value (13). On the other hand, the changes in MSGA did not affect the generic structure of the projects (in both years, in 10 cities the category “leisure and recreation” prevailed, and 1149 projects from this category were selected for implementation). The final unification of the PB implementation model in Polish voivodship cities has been completed. Finally, three modes of PB implementation according to the new rules were indicated: financial, procedural and combined.

Dominika Wojtowicz, Tomasz Kupiec
The effectiveness of the measures implemented under the EU cohesion policy has become a significant issue. The relevance of the topic is undeniable, given the ongoing discussion of the results of public interventions conducted at the EU level, and the resulting concept of an integrated approach used to study the effects of actions undertaken within the cohesion policy. Based on various studies conducted to date, the authors argue that the effectiveness of the funds allocated in Polish regions could be greater if we focused more on complementarity of the undertaken actions. The paper concentrates on issues related to complementarity between programmes and projects implemented under the EU Cohesion Policy in Polish regions. A case study of a Polish region – namely, Łódzkie – shows that the adopted methods and tools, intended to ensure complementarity, do not work in a proper way. The results suggest the existence of severe restrictions of assessing the actual scope of complementarity and the resulting synergy effects. As both analyses of documentation and in-depth participant interviews indicate that the concept of complementarity in the projects is misunderstood or deliberately distorted (so that the highest score during the application stage can be obtained), it can be stated that the scale of complementarity is far from satisfactory. Based on their research, the authors make conclusions and recommendations regarding the solutions that should be taken into account in order to improve the implementation of the complementarity concept in the next financial perspective for the years 2014–2020.
Lesław Michałowski
The main focus of the text is the city tourism viewed as a form of city promotion on which the city development depends to a great extent. At the beginning of the industrial age, tourism concentrated around the sea resorts and spas. The first changes in tourism resulted from the decline of the paradigm of the industrial progress in western countries. The decaying cities previously bound up with industry started then to change the image in order to improve their economic situation. The new image pointed out culture in the first place, because culture started being perceived as the tourist attraction. The article presents the different ways of city promotion. The particular stress is placed here upon public space investments – such as revitalization phenomena, theme space and commercialization of urban landscape and constructing the museums and other public use buildings by the outstanding architects. The development of the urban tourism is also closely tied up with the changes in tourists’ behaviour and preferences. The phenomena presented in this article explain the increasing interest in the city as the tourist attraction and emphasise the indispensability of the promotion efforts.
Aleksandra Gaweł
The aim of the paper is to determine what influence the entrepreneurial structure of a voivodeship on the creation of new companies and the bankruptcy of existing firms, and to study the extent to which concentration or dispersal of companies constitute entry or exit barriers. In particular, the article describes the impact of such element as: the level of enterprise saturation in regional economy or the proportion of micro, small, medium and large companies among active firms. On the basis of panel estimation for Polish voivodeships in the years 2003-2008 it was established that the presence of large and micro companies reduces the rate of creation and bankruptcy of businesses, while small firms contribute to the emergence of new enterprises and closing of existing ones.
Eugeniusz Wojciechowski, Aldona Podgórniak-Krzykacz, Jacek Chądzyński

The following article presents the results of a study investigating employment of private and non-governmental organisations in Polish municipalities as providers of versatile public services and the resulting nature of the relationship among the latter. The passing of legislation that requires or allows delivering public services through non-public entities triggered the development of a contract culture in municipalities. The resultant relationship may be either of a competitive (mainly technical services market) or cooperative (social services) nature. The research findings support the hypothesis that larger municipalities have better developed processes of contracting public services.

Barbara Kocowska
A high ranking position of Lower Silesia among Polish voivodeships based on its competitiveness, attractiveness for investors and accessibility as well as on its innovative potential is a good starting point for achieving the goals of the Renewed Lisbon Strategy as well as for making it a Region of Knowledge. Innovativeness and attractiveness for investors however are a dynamic status which a region has to compete for in an incessant rivalry with the best ones involving institutional and social partners. The Structural Funds – aptly streamed to and implemented – are only some efficient tools and not a goal itself. An apt profiting by the strong position of Wroclaw agglomeration as well as by experience of Wroclaw Technical University being a local leader of innovation, combined with wider than up till now learning from the experience of Lower Silesia’s partner regions and building an attractive offer for investors in high tech and services will make it possible to achieve final goals indicated in strategies.
Jacek Gądecki
The aim of the paper is to describe the material conditions of marginal gentrification in the specific context of the old part of the Nowa Huta district in Kraków. Nowa Huta was planned as an ideal city and is currently becoming an interesting and desirable place to live for new residents. The author focuses on the physical aspects of its gentrification and on the changes in the old part of the district, the local real estate market and the activities of residents-developers.
Kaol Olejniczak
The aim of the following article is a comprehensive review of the cluster theory. Article starts with the discussion on the new approach towards regional and local development. In the first part author presents and discusses spectrum of concepts related to clusters such as: Marshallian industrial district, Italian industrial districts, new industrial spaces, mezo-systems, local innovative milieu, learning regions, and regional innovation systems. The core of the article is the analysis of the cluster approach: its theoretical inspiration and background, definitions, its specificity, effects of clusters described in literature, strength and weaknesses of this approach. The last part of the article is devoted to the practical issues – examples of cluster-based policies. This short review covers the initiatives undertaken in the countries of European Union.
Marika Pirveli
This paper provides a review of structure and contents of Local Economic Development (LED) programmes. It also offers a list of data and information necessary to develop and implement such programmes. The author emphasises the difference in approach to LED by the researchers (theorists) and the practitioners, dealing with LED on every day basis. This gap, according to the author is in part a legacy centrally managed economy and is typical for the countries in transition period.