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.
The aim of the research was the evaluation of the regional disparities in the economic efficiency of private companies in Poland. An attempt to answer the following question was taken: Do the regional disparities in the economic efficiency of private companies in Poland are increasing or decreasing? On the basis of the research results one can obtain some important conclusions. Regional disparities in the economic efficiency of private companies in Poland during years 1999-2008 have slightly decreased, and still remain at the average level. It was caused by the different dynamics of economic processes occurring in voivodships and also by the processes of the internal convergence and divergence of voivodships.
This article presents, from a sociological perspective, selected methodological issues concerning urban studies. The authors of such studies either create theories of a city’s rise and fall or describe a changing urban reality, investigating the history of cities. Examples of the first approach are the more or less formalized works of Louis Wirth or Richard Florida, as well as Geoffrey West’s and Louis Bettencourt’s quantitative concept.. The second type of studies is represented by Max Weber, Fernand Braudel and others. The author, although he is not denying the merits of the first approach, claims that the descriptive-historical perspective has so far been more useful in explaining the process of urban development.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the situation of the EU-10 CEE capital cities during the years since the 2008 financial crisis. The paper concentrates on metropolisation processes that became particularly pronounced at the end of the first stage of the transformation, long before the accession of these countries to the European Union. The main hypothesis is that these processes also continued in the conditions of the economic crisis. As a result, the capital cities in most CEE countries should have done relatively well coming out of the crisis, mainly due to the nature of their diversified economies and the significant share of advanced business services in their structure. As a result, the crisis provided an opportunity to ‘verify’ the viability of the current economic model in the short term, in the specific conditions of transformation economies.
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).
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.
The notion of replacement migration is frequently used in the recent literature on migration policy and demographic forecasts. Such migration streams could theoretically compensate for the natural decrease and population ageing, as observed in most of developed countries today. In the long run, however, international migration can only slow down, rather than reverse these processes. The situation of Poland in this respect is specific, as its migration balance will most likely remain negative until around the year 2020. Nevertheless, the population outflow abroad could to some extent be matched by the population inflow. This would require, among other conditions, a reformulation of Poland`s migration policy an increase of provisions for legal, selective immigration.
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.
The aim of this work is to analyze urban development of Mexico City in its broader, macro-regional context which also describes the term megalopolis, and in its narrower, metropolitan sense. Without attempting to reach premature conclusions, we can say that a metropolis like Mexico City is exposed to processes typical of such cities: more and more extensive land use, changes in economic, social and demographic structures, etc. What is more, like other emerging or accelerating processes, also globalization had an important impact on cities, resulting in both positive and negative changes. This work is an attempt to identify and, if possible, to analyze some of these changes in Mexico City.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In recent years, the largest Polish cities have experienced intensive suburbanization processes. People migrate to suburban communes and hitherto undeveloped areas change their function towards single- or multi-family residential neighbourhoods. Spontaneous and dispersed suburbanization processes (urban sprawl) have many negative consequences that might become a serious problem, not only for the inhabitants but also for the local authorities in the suburban areas. The article presents the results of the evaluation of the role of Cohesion Policy projects in counteracting negative effects of suburbanization processes in potential suburban zones of the largest Polish cities. The results of the evaluation indicate that in suburban areas there is a major focus on meeting the current needs of residents, whereas strategic prevention of negative effects of suburbanization processes is neglected.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The aim of this article is to show how regions are created in Poland. The author focused on Warmia and Masuria, which started to become an established region as a result of an administration reform in 1999. An image of a region as an existing phenomenon is planted in its inhabitants’ minds by regional authorities, who make use of their strategic plans, financial instruments, and regional discourse.
The aim of this article is the description of growth tendencies and growth factors in subregions (NUTS 3) of Central and Eastern Europe in 1998–2006. Wide range of complementary research methods has been used in order to triangulate results – starting with classical beta and sigma convergence analysis, through kernel density estimation, transition matrices to spatial autocorrelation and multidimensional comparisons. Rarely exposed aspect of influence of capital regions on growth processes was taken into account. Additional analysis of the data in relation to country average allowed to obtain conclusions independent of the country context. As a result, it appeared to be possible to answer the following questions: do the analyzed countries face regional convergence or divergence/polarization process?; what factors determine the dynamics of regional growth?; what are the main dimensions of spatial disparities in Central and Eastern Europe.
This research concerns the relations between the community of metropolitan area of Warsaw, their character and influence. The article is focused on cooperation between the units of area, which is considered to play an essential role in the process of integration. The attempt has been made to estimate the scale and range of integration on metropolitan area. The research is based on surveys (questionnaires) answered by the local authorities of metropolitan area`s community. the analysis covers different partners, cooperation between them, as well as its aims and results. One of the major outcomes of the research is a map describing the network of interrelations. different zones of integration together with passive and active connections were identified on the basis of directions and intensity of cooperation.
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.
The paper discusses research results concerning company relocation processes in five major metropolitan areas in Poland in the period 2001–2013. Key characteristics of relocation processes are analyzed mostly from the perspective of the nature of relocating companies, including time since company establishment and type of business. The study covers more than 500 companies employing at least 50 workers each. More than one third of the studied companies were found to have relocated, which confirms the rather widespread occurrence of company relocation. The results obtained in this study confirm most research findings produced in relocation studies in Western Europe and the United States that have been used to help formulate the incubator theory.
Migration management is one of the key tasks faced by regional authorities in Poland, which experience deepening processes of shrinking and ageing of population. The aim of the article is to determine whether policy makers are aware of the role of migration processes and migration policy, to show their presence in demographic development strategies, and to describe the activities undertaken at the regional level in response to the ongoing demographic processes. The analysis is based on the example of the Łódzkie, Opolskie, and West Pomeranian voivodships. The article proposes an analytical model assuming a gradual process of decision-makers’ reaction to demographic changes. An analysis of documents and interviews with people responsible for regional demographic policy confirms they are aware of ongoing population processes and their consequences, at the same time, however, there is a lack of actions aimed at stimulating inflows of foreigners. The initiatives aimed at stopping the population from emigrating are more important.
The main purpose of this paper is to analyze depopulation processes of rural areas in Lower Silesia in the years 1995–2015. The authors intend to determine the scale, durability and spatial distribution of depopulation in rural areas, as well as to analyze the factors of population changes which contribute to population loss. It helps them to identify depopulating rural areas and to draw up their typology according to the specificity of contemporary demographic changes. With reference to the scale of depopulation, four types of rural areas are distinguished (developing, stagnating, depopulating, intensively depopulating), and according to the durability of depopulation five types are identified (constantly developing, episodically depopulating, temporarily depopulating, prevalently depopulating, constantly depopulating). The analysis shows that depopulation is a problem in the rural areas of the Sudety Mts., Sudety Foreland, and in peripheral areas, in main urban centres. What is more, the processes of depopulation in Lower Silesia should not be associated exclusively with villages located in the Sudetes. In depopulating rural areas of Lower Silesia, the population decline is compounded by negative demographic trends (low birth rate, increase in post-working age population).
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.
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.
The article presents the regional differentiation of several phenomena economic, social, political of the Polish space. It is striking to notice that the patterns of these differentiations are very similar, which proves a well-known thesis of mutual interrelationships that exist between several dimensions of development. The historical underpinnings of these differentiations prove once again that they are the product of "long duration". Both these characteristics the similarity of differentiations and their historical roots lead to a conclusion that the regional policy should assume a modest attitude, since it can change the objective reality only gradually and to some extent. The article ends with some extent. The article ends with some suggestions for this policy.
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.
Financial self-sufficiency of the local government units, which means an ability to design their own financial policy in accordance with the applicable law, is one of the preconditions for sustainable local development. Metropolises – the largest towns with county (poviat) rights – because of their high demographic and economic potential are characterised by a high average level of financial self-sufficiency. Various processes and phenomena, including the economic crisis and the phenomenon of suburbanisation, affect the level of financial self-sufficiency of the largest cities. The main aim of the article is to assess the level of financial self-sufficiency of the metropolises in Poland in 2007-2015. The study was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the analysis was based on the development of the basic indicators of financial self-sufficiency of the metropolises, while in the second stage of the research, a summary assessment of the financial self-sufficiency of the metropolises was conducted using the TOPSIS method. The empirical basis of the study was provided by the data from the Central Statistical Office database (Local Data Bank).
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.
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 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.
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the activity of local governments’ planning and investment service in the environmentally valuable areas of Podlaskie Voivodeship. Spatial planning at the local level is extremely important, especially in the environmentally valuable areas. It makes it possible to preserve the natural environment for future generations and to maintain ecological processes. However, protective measures should not disturb municipal investments. One of the appropriate solutions is the introduction of local land development plans – a framework of rational management of natural resources and of marketing development. This is particularly important in the areas of municipalities which, beside ecological functions, play an important role in the development of tourism and transport, and are situated in suburban areas.
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.
Neoclassical economists usually think of “microfoundations” before they come to macroeconomics. We claim exactly the opposite: every microeconomic theory should be grounded in a credible macroeconomic model. Such a model may be the classical paradigm and Kaleckian economics, which are fundamentally different from the neoclassical paradigm. Thus, we will prove the following thesis: political economy is better than the neoclassical theory at describing and explaining contemporary regional development processes. State policy has a fundamental role to play in shaping regional development, while local authorities may perform an auxiliary function.
This paper is a comparative study of main social theories of urban development in the last fifty tears. The author presents various approaches and social theories from across the world. He divides the after-war period into three phases according to the profound social changes. the first one covers the years of ending the post-war reconstruction of economy, infrastructure and cities damaged by the war. the second phase includes "the golden years" between approximately 1955 and 1975, when the formation of different types of welfare state, but mainly the urban population growth, suburbanization and metropolization processes and improvement of living conditions and urbanities took place. the third phase, covering the years between 1975 and 2000, is marked by the first signs of the decline of the welfare state accompanied by deepening social inequalities increasing urban poverty, marginalization of some groups of the population, political radicalization and urban conflicts as well as by urban and regional polarization.
