The aim of the work was to analyse the essence of recreational resources as a component of ecosystem services for the planning and development of recreation within the protected areas of Ukraine. This study highlights the features and essence of the ecosystem services concept. The classification, characteristics and possibilities of cultural ecosystem services usage of protected areas are assessed, and the location and importance of recreational services are emphasized. Theoretical and methodological approaches to the recreational ecosystem services assessment of protected areas were performed using GIS tools. The negative consequences of the Russian Federation military aggression on the protected areas of Ukraine and the ecosystem services decline are considered. The main advantages and obstacles of implementing the ecosystem services concept for planning the recreation development of the Ukrainian nature reserve fund are discussed.
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.
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.
The article presents the achievements of the “Diagnosis of the state of Poland’s spatial economy”, developed in 1981–1983, which critically analyses the effects of the thirty-year impact of the principles of building socialism on Poland’s spatial economy. These effects are related to the elements of the current state of the country’s spatial management, which leads to the conclusion that many of the unfavourable phenomena and processes of that time also occur today, after 30 years of market economy and the democratic system. The article ends with a proposal of research on the contemporary spatial conditions of the country’s development.
The purpose of writing the article is to study the effectiveness of water resources management in the Black Sea region of Ukraine in the context of sustainable development under the conditions of military operations. The theoretical approaches to defining the essence and functions of water resources management through the prism of sustainable development goals have been considered. The main problems of water resources management in the regions of Ukraine are systematised and the ways of their solution at the present stage of the reform are outlined. The author’s approach to evaluating the effectiveness of water resources management in the context of the model of sustainable development is proposed using the example of the Black Sea region of Ukraine. Methodical approaches to assessing the effectiveness of regional water resources management that includes the main stages, the criteria for assessing, indicators for each criterion, and a mathematical apparatus for their calculation have been developed. In accordance with the author’s approach, a diagnosis of the effectiveness of regional water resources management was conducted based on the example of the Black Sea region.
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.
The suburban zone of Wroclaw is characterised by dynamic population changes and increased construction traffic. However, the pace of the changes taking place is not fully reflected in official population statistics, based on registration data, presenting a much lower population than actually resides in the suburban municipalities. The purpose of the article is to estimate the actual population of the Wroclaw suburban zone for data from 2012/13 and 2020, and to show the degree of the differentiation of the population transition taking place in individual reference units. The estimation of the population size was made on the basis of the author’s method, based on the aggregation and comparison of statistical data on registrations from the register of the General Electronic System of Population Registration (PESEL) and vector spatial data from the Database of Topographic Objects (BDOT10k). From 2012/13 to 2020, the population of suburban zone of Wrocław almost doubled compared to official statistics data. The highest level of the underestimation of the actual population was observed in villages located near main communication routes and in the closet vicinity to Wrocław city. Those are places where the suburbanistion processes were observed the earliest.
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.
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.
Sustainable development requires a transition in the way we manage resources in cities. For this reason, circular policies are implemented by many local and regional governments around the world. The article broadens our knowledge about the circular economy in relation to three spatial scales indicated in the literature: the macro scale (urban policies), the meso scale (urban space) and the micro scale (civic practices). The article presents the case of Warsaw, and its aim is to notice circular practices undertaken by young people living in the city. This exploratory qualitative study is contextualised by the analysis of urban policies in the field of the circular economy. Research results indicate that circular practices are undertaken by young residents of Warsaw, despite poor knowledge of the concept of circular economy. These practices include in particular efficient use of resources, trading in second-hand items, preventing waste and pollution, waste segregation and engagement in socio-educational events.
The article examines the labour migration of Ukrainians to the Warmia-Masuria province. Such research methods as systematic, comparative, behavioural, statistical data analysis, document analysis, focused interviews and case study helped to identify current trends and key challenges presented by migration flows of Ukrainians to the province. The main factors affecting Ukrainian labour migration to the province are analysed, with particular emphasis placed on quantitative descriptions of the features of Ukrainian employment in the region. It is concluded that there are prospects for further labour migration of Ukrainian workers to Warmia-Masuria.
The garment production in Ukraine is an export-oriented industry. European countries, with the share of 90%, are the major partners in readymade clothes export. Ukrainian regions with the highest export capacity are determined by calculating the location quotient and export orientation level. The competitive advantages of domestic companies are revealed based on the SWOT analysis. The features of the garment industry as a complex system are examined using the methods of cognitive analysis. The expert survey of the garment enterprises revealed opportunities to expand their share within and beyond domestic market as well as prospects for increasing added value in the total export volume.
The article reveals topical issues regarding the consequences, possibilities of operation, and the restoration of tourism in the post-war territories of Ukraine in the conditions of military aggression of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study was to analyse the organisation of tourist activities under the conditions of martial law in Ukraine. The article highlights preliminary data on the losses of the tourism industry in Ukraine as well as analyses and systematises specific examples of damaged natural and cultural-historical heritage on the territory of Ukraine. The peculiarities of the functioning of the subjects of the tourism industry in the conditions of the war in Ukraine are evaluated and the essence of the post-war territories is indicated. Directions for saving tourist activity in the post-war territories of Ukraine as a result of the military actions of the aggressor country are proposed. The proposals indicated in this work will be useful to all Ukrainian communities whose tourism industry has suffered great losses as a result of the military aggression. It will also be useful for representatives of the tourism industry of other countries who want to prevent, if possible, the destructive effects of war.
Due to employment opportunities and service access, suburban lifestyles often involve strong functional relationships with the city. However, as a new living environment, the suburban area serves more than mere housing purposes, instead emerging as an arena for different kinds of leisure activities that positively influence health and well-being. With an awareness of the influence of suburban design on health and well-being, this study aimed to utilise a place-based approach to investigate the characteristics of necessary and optional activity points for suburban residents. To do so, we used Gehl’s categories for necessary and optional activities and data from the Public Participatory Geographic Information System (PPGIS). We employed the concept of activity spaces to describe individuals’ spatial behaviour for necessary and optional activities and characterise them. This study demonstrated that the relationship between suburban dwellers and the city is more highly reflected in necessary than optional activities. Suburban areas provide an environment for optional activities that mainly occur within settlement areas, agriculture, forest, and protected areas. Finally, the study concludes that the use of landscapes with high cultural and natural value for optional activities could be improved.
This study evaluates the impact of Poland’s 2017 education system reform on secondary schools in Warsaw. The reform eliminated middle schools, restored K-8 primary schools, and shortened the duration of common compulsory education from nine to eight years. Using a quasi-experimental design comparing two cohorts transitioning under different systems, we investigate changes in school segregation and student sorting. We found that the reform reduced school segregation, with the share of test score variance attributable to between-school at end of middle/K8 education decreasing from 38% to 25%. However, K-8 graduates entered an equally stratified secondary education system, reflecting persistent inequalities in access to high-quality schools. These results highlight the reform’s mixed success: although it successfully balanced academic achievement levels among 15-year-old students during primary education, selective admission practices continued to sort students by ability at the upper secondary level.
This study evaluates the impact of Poland’s 2017 education system reform on secondary schools in Warsaw. The reform eliminated middle schools, restored K-8 primary schools, and shortened the duration of common compulsory education from nine to eight years. Using a quasi-experimental design comparing two cohorts transitioning under different systems, we investigate changes in school segregation and student sorting. We found that the reform reduced school segregation, with the share of test score variance attributable to between-school at end of middle/K8 education decreasing from 38% to 25%. However, K-8 graduates entered an equally stratified secondary education system, reflecting persistent inequalities in access to high-quality schools. These results highlight the reform’s mixed success: although it successfully balanced academic achievement levels among 15-year-old students during primary education, selective admission practices continued to sort students by ability at the upper secondary level.
The article examines the relationship between the exam results of primary school students and the socio-spatial diversity in Warsaw. Over the past two decades of dynamic transformation and significant social changes in the city, the overall scale of socio-spatial segregation has remained relatively stable. However, studies have revealed a persistent polarisation in exam results, with students from certain districts consistently performing below average. Local educational and economic capital as well as access to non-public schools have significantly influenced both the level and changes in these results. The research provides evidence of some – albeit often weak – correlations between the quality of public education, the availability of non-public education, and the socio-spatial structure of the city. These findings form the basis for public-policy recommendations aimed at addressing the existing inequalities and ensuring access to high-quality public education in all districts of Warsaw.
It has been substantiated that the increase in the concentration of heavy metals in the environment has especially aggravated in the conditions of military operations on the territory of Ukraine. The use of woody plants for the purposes of phytoremediation is one of the most effective options for optimising the state of the environment in urban ecosystems, regardless of the nature and source of contamination by metallic elements, which is of significant relevance in the conditions of post-war environmental restoration of Ukraine. The purpose of the study is to explore the peculiarities of some heavy metals accumulation by the assimilation apparatuses of the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) plants growing in the recreational areas of the city of Dnipro in order to further optimise tree plantings with the aim of improving the environment. The content of heavy metal elements (Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd) in the biomass of the Robinia pseudoacacia L. leaves and in the soils of Dnipro recreation areas has been determined. The intensity of the accumulation of heavy metals in the phytomass of the Robinia pseudoacacia L. represents the following sequence Zn > Cu > Pb > Cd, which demonstrates a more intense absorption and accumulation in the phytomass of the leafy fraction of Zn and Cu in the phytomass of the deciduous fraction, and less significant of Pb and Cd. With the help of geo-information systems, cartographic material has been developed. It demonstrates the concentration gradient of Pb, Cu, Cd, and Zn in the assimilation organs of the black locust plants in the city of Dnipro recreational areas. Based on the cartographic analysis, it has been proved that the general condition of the soils in the recreation areas of Dnipro is characterised by significant disproportions in the level of pollution. The maps show the existing potential of the accumulative capacity of Robinia pseudoacacia L. to deposit Pb, Cu, Cd, and Zn, which allows for additional city functional zoning by considering phytoremediation functions of the existing and planned green spaces.
It is expected that people from all over the world will visit Ukraine after its victory in the war against Russian aggression, turning Ukraine into a world-popular tourist destination. Hence, Ukrainian egislation on tourism must be improved in the post-war period. The authors analysed the current legislation on tourism in Ukraine and identified major problems that must be addressed systematically and those that should be settled in the post-war period in view of the post-war humanitarian, socio-economic, institutional, and cultural challenges. In this context, the authors proposed a set of changes to improve Ukraine’s legislation on tourism on the national and institutional levels. Such changes should positively impact other socio-economic processes of reconstruction in post-war Ukraine.
The quality of the delivery system – along with theoretical underpinnings, development strategy and the country’s institutional system – has a decisive influence on EU regional policy implementation. An analysis of the management system of the Integrated Regional Development Programme (IROP) shows that there are definitely more weak than strong points. The main weaknesses include: strong centralisation and ‘red tape’, far exceeding the usual practices in the EU; not transparent, politically sensitive project selection and time-consuming procedures; unclear allocation of responsibility, high costs imposed on beneficiaries, low managerial skills, and, finally, conflicting solutions with existing legal distribution of powers between regional government and regional representative of the central government. Implementation effects of 2004–2005 confirm that the delivery mechanism fails to meet expectations.
The article was published in Polish in "Studia Regionalne i Lokalne", 3/2004
Theory and empirical literature relate educational quality to two main explanatory factors: family education (intergenerational transfer of human capital) and the quality of schools. The model proposed in this paper is intended to verify the significance of these factors in explaining territorial disparities in educational quality in Poland. The dependent variable is the test score of sixth grade pupils in 2002, averaged at municipality level. The test results prove to be strongly correlated with human capital stock in the municipality`s adult population, which points to the key role of intergenerational transfer for educational quality. On the other hand, the role of school resources (understood as expenditure on education) is rather small. Average test results differ significantly between Poland`s historical divisions. Surprisingly, the more urbanised and relatively affluent regions, like Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), Pomerania (Pomorze) and the so-called Regained Territories (ziemie odzyskane) reveal a substantially lower educational quality than the territories in the east and south-east of the country, generally less developed and with a significant share of agriculture in the economy. These differences can only be partly explained by an additional environmental factor, related to the prevalence of state-owned economy before 1990 (e.g. state farms PGRs) and today`s high structural unemployment. Interestingly, the dissimilarities between the historical regions are not only illustrated by average test score levels, but also by parameters of the determining functions for these results. It can be concluded therefore that location in a historical region has a substantial impact on the flexibility of educational outcomes with regard to different explanatory factors.
This text addresses three key issues presented in the article by Perdał et al. (2020) and in the polemic by Bolesław Domański, published in this issue of Studia Regionalne i Lokalne: territorial aspects of social justice, the relationships between territorial differentiation of socio-economic phenomena and political attitudes and behaviour in Poland, and the problem of meeting the requirements of social justice in relation to territorial systems that are in a particularly difficult situation, mainly due to their depopulation.
This paper examines the role of educational support in social entrepreneurship development in Poland and Ukraine based on comparative case studies and a computer-assisted web interviewing method. The research investigates cross-country and cross-institutional differences in education concerning social entrepreneurship. The paper considers the different levels of social entrepreneurship education in primary and secondary school, university, and non-formal education. It is established that students at all levels of education should have an entrepreneurial mindset, which is a prerequisite for sustainable development. The key directions for developing education regarding social entrepreneurship in Ukraine are identified.
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.
This article reveals the geographical distribution, structures, and problematic aspects of business migration to the oblasts of the Carpathian region of Ukraine and abroad. In the context of the Russian–Ukrainian war, the article assesses the risks and threats that internal and international business migration pose to the Ukrainian economic system, economies of the Carpathian region, the internal consumer market, and business entities. Measures to mitigate the threats of business migration to the Carpathian region are offered. The implementation of certain measures will eliminate the identified threats to relocated businesses and minimise the risks to the social and economic development of the Carpathian region and Ukraine as a whole.
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.
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.
The main goal of the article was to verify gains and losses coming from participating in the global economy in the light of the core–periphery theory. It turned out to be undeniably true that transfers of industrial production to peripheral countries lead to higher living standards and indirectly favour political stability in core countries, while the hypothesis that the global financial market is a tool for exploitation of peripheral countries was proved to be false. The author established that financial speculations in core countries cause political destabilization in peripheral countries, and disproved the hypothesis that the higher the participation of periphery countries in the global economy, the higher the losses they suffer and the higher the advantages in core countries.
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.
The article discusses the differences in the mayors’ political strength in European countries and the implications of their role in horizontal power relationships for the operation of the local government scene. First, it shows how the role of the mayor is measured, taking into account various institutional settings such as the election system, the scope of competences vis-?-vis the legislative body and possibilities of recall before the end of the term of office. Second, it demonstrates how such dissimilar contexts of the mayor’s political strength impact on several selected aspects of their activity, including the propensity to be formally affiliated with a political party, perception of the mayor’s autonomy in their day-to-day management of the municipality and the possibilities to keep the mandate for several terms in a row.
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.
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.
Apart from traditional fashion trade fairs understood as specialist events addressed to a limited number of business clients, a growing popularity of B2C fashion fairs has been observed in recent years in Poland, in particular in large cities. Such events provide opportunities for purchasing unique clothing, offering possibilities for cultural distinction but also for spending leisure time, engaging in social interactions, and participating in urban arenas. They are in line with broader phenomena such as the festivalisation of urban space, the development of the experience economy, and the ecologisation of consumption. The aim of this article is to show the scope of this phenomenon in the Polish context. Proposing a typology according to this sort of fashion events as well as places where they occur, the authors attempt to show the intraurban and interurban specificity of fashion fairs, pointing to main centres and important factors of their location.
The article discusses the political and legal aspects and the dynamics of Ukraine’s interaction with the EU and its Member States in the field of integrated border management in order to improve interagency and international cooperation, introduce joint control at checkpoints, organise joint patrols, improve the level of security and openness of state borders and enhance their integration function. The issues of construction and modernisation of checkpoints, implementation of European border standards, customs and other types of control at the state border of Ukraine and the EU countries have been researched. The perspectives of Ukraine’s entry into the integrated border management system at the present stage have been outlined. The mechanisms of in-depth cooperation in the field of integrated border management under conditions of implementing the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU have been elucidated.
The aim of the study is to indicate the importance of rural areas in the system of inter-communal migrations in Poland. Internal migration in rural areas was analysed for the years 1995–2019, with particular focus on the state of migration registered in 2019. The study used basic indicators determining the intensity of migration, which made it possible to conclude that rural areas play an important role in the system of internal migration in Poland, contributing to the spatial redistribution of population. However, this influence varies due to the fact that, on the one hand, there is a strong influence of suburbanisation on migration processes in rural areas in suburban zones of large and medium-sized cities in Poland. On the other hand, migration outflows caused by an unfavourable socio-economic situation are visible in the case of external and inner peripheries.
The study focuses on the mutual relations between the quality of government and the implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy in various regional contexts. The research shows quite significant differences in this respect between “convergence-oriented” regions and „competitiveness and employment-oriented” ones. The quality of government has a positive impact on the efficiency of spending of EU funds in both groups of regions, although the dependence is much stronger in the „convergence-oriented” regions. In turn, the scale of EU funds contributes to the improvement of the quality of government, but only in the „convergence-oriented” regions. In this group, changes in the quality of government took place immediately before and after accession to the EU, when the process of adapting the institutional system to the needs related to the implementation of Cohesion Policy occurred. Although the differences in the quality of government between the two groups of regions have decreased, the research shows that in the „convergence-oriented” regions, the potential causative power of EU funds was rather poorly used in this respect.
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.
The paper aims to identify the scope and propose a systematisation of the contemporary redefinition of regional development factors, influenced by global conditions. The research process comprised three stages: (1) a brief review of the theoretical foundations and changes in the understanding of regional development factors; (2) presentation of the findings relating to the directions and impact of contemporary socio-economic megatrends on changes of regional development factors, and (3) the main body of the analysis, which identifies and describes the nature of changes in the perception of regional development factors as a consequence of contemporary global conditions.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The paper deals with the issue of filling seats without voting in elections to councils in municipalities with up to 20,000 inhabitants. In comparison to the local elections held in 2014, the number of such cases increased by 77% in the 2018 elections. It appears that the applicable election law, in particular Article 418 § 1 (the division of municipalities into single-seat constituencies), Article 434 § 1 and 2 (the election organisation rules applicable when the number of candidates equals the number of available seats), and Article 478 § 2 (the procedure for proposing candidates for the position of municipal leader or town mayor) of the Electoral Code, combined with the conditions determining local electoral competition, may facilitate the occurrence of the phenomenon of non-competitive elections that results, among other things, in low voter turnout.
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.
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.
The article examines the evolution of functions of evaluation systems. It is based on the comparison of evaluation studies conducted in eight evaluation systems in the Polish regional administration in two periods: 2007–13 and 2014–20. The findings are to some extent contradictory to the expectations formed on the basis of the existing literature of the subject. Although the analysed systems were established in response to external pressures, they support accountability as well as learning. These systems do not focus on procedural issues only, and generation of strategic knowledge increases over time. Numerous regulations imposed on the analysed systems suggest, however, that the use of evaluation in the analysed systems may be symbolic in nature.
The rising costs of educational tasks due to the decreasing number of students force municipal authorities to take cost-saving measures, including the most radical form, that is closing down schools. Such decisions are not popular with the local residents and in all the examined municipalities have caused conflicts between the stakeholders of local educational policy. The aim of the article is to present actions taken by municipal authorities to reduce the negative effects of conflicts arising in connection with the liquidation of schools. The authors focus on the activities of municipal authorities to curb the negative consequences of the conflict, but turn out to be financially ineffective. The article was based on the analysis of the subject literature, as well as the results of empirical research conducted by the authors. The theoretical framework draws on selected concepts of conflict management and the polarity management model.
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.
The paper discusses the development of gated and guarded housing estates in the Polish capital city of Warsaw. It contains a presentation of recent empirical findings based on a series of field research carried out since the 1990s in the city with a special focus on its largest residential district of Ursynów. Detailed mappings of the researched housing estates are included, which evidence their rapid spread in the district. An attempt at classifying the housing estates according to different clusters of their physical design is made. A functional analysis of their physical features is carried out against the background of a global discourse of in/security which is presumed to play a major role in the development of contemporary cities. However, several local factors, which have a bearing on gating the city of Warsaw, are also reflected upon.
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.
The article is based on a systematic review of the scientific literature addressing the phenomenon of corruption in Poland’s local governments after 1989. It covers the leading scientific disciplines dealing with this issue and discusses the sources of research data, the diversity of research problems within the respective disciplines and their major conclusions. The article concludes with a recommendation of more robust interdisciplinarity and conducting research on both bottom-up anticorruption mechanisms and political repercussions of local government corruption.
This article presents the opinions of residents of the immediate surroundings of three Brownfield Site Urban Regeneration Projects completed in Łódź (Poland) in the years 2006–2016, i.e. Manufaktura (textile industry facilities transformed into a mall), “Lofts at Scheibler” (a former spinning plant transformed into residential buildings with accompanying services) and EC1 (adaptation of a former EC1 power plant for cultural and educational purposes), and their impact on their immediate environment. The article presents the results of questionnaire surveys conducted by the author in 2017 on 587 respondents residing within a walking distance, i.e. up to 500 m from the above-mentioned investment projects.
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.
The article is devoted to researching the Labour Market Digital Ecosystem (LMDES) in terms of its effect on the recruitment process during the remote work outspread. The research aims at analysing remote staff attraction through job portals using the Job board software and determining their impact on recruitment. The LMDES applies automation of the staff searching and selecting, scouring for employment opportunities, and the remote interaction with employers, recruiting agencies, applicants, and job seekers in the digital environment. The creation of a virtual space for such an effective interaction can be realised through a Job board software.
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.
The article aims to present and assess educational migration as a driver of human capital redistribution across regions. The unique research on academic careers of 8.5 thousand secondary school-leavers in Lublin (Poland) allowed to gather microdata on the mobility of young people along with the school-leaving examination results being a proxy of human capital. The results indicate that the ratio of youth out-migration from their home region amounts to roughly 20%, which seems a low figure against comparative studies. However, the distribution of migration rate along with the logit regression proved high propensity of the most talented youth to move out. Hence, strong positive migration selectivity is regarded as an important driver of human capital redistribution across regions, which might negatively affect human capital accumulation in the sending area.
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.
This paper aims to explain the organisation and functioning of local governance based on the legal infrastructure of Kosovo and the efforts of its institutions to accommodate international pressure under the existing legal infrastructure, which was specifically created according to international law and international demands. Kosovo has implemented asymmetric decentralisation, through which new special municipalities have been created for minorities, with a specific emphasis on the Serb minority. This was undertaken with the aim of integrating minorities into Kosovo’s constitutional-political system; this objective has been realised quite well, with the exception of four municipalities in the north of Kosovo. All minorities are well integrated, including the Serb minority living in the south of Kosovo. However, pressure for the creation of an Association of Serb Municipalities continues, despite the request for such an association violating Kosovo’s system and constitution, which were created in line with international law and international demands. After elaborating on the Kosovo system, this study will explain certain agreements that, had they been non-ambiguous, would have helped and strengthened Kosovo’s constitutional and political system. A combined methodology, followed by legal, historical, and teleological analyses, supported the authors in achieving the study’s.