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 text aims to analyse the patterns of immigrants’ settlement in Warsaw agglomeration, especially their settlement in the area of the city of Warsaw. The subject of the study is: the emergence of places where immigrants concentrate and a relation between their places of residence with other types of concentration; factors that determine the places of immigrants’ residence and how migrants operate in the urban environment, as well as a relation between the places of immigrants’ settlement and their economic activity and its localization, cultural characteristics and the adapted acculturation strategies. To study these problems the authors use the example of the population of the Vietnamese and Ukrainians possessing a permission for settlement in the Mazowieckie Province. The article discuses differences in the patterns of settlements of both groups and shows the emergence of small clusters in the case of the Vietnamese.
Sustaining the development at the local level is associated with many different issues. One of the major ones is the urban growth policy. This can be justified by the importance of space as one of the most important environmental assets, which has to be treated as non-renewable one. At the same time it is necessary to remember that the shape of this policy is influenced by many factors, i.e. legal regulations and current paradigm of urban development. Along with introduction of the sustainable development concept this paradigm evolves. Currently as some of its most important components one should mention urban regeneration of the degraded areas and limiting urban growth to the areas already urbanized. As far as urban regeneration is discussed, it is possible to mention a number of issues that have to be taken into account. At the same time one can regard the inside growth of cities which means reusing degraded areas – as real alternative to the on-going suburbanization and encroachment of urban structures to the areas still remaining its agricultural or natural character.
The paper deals with the analysis of spatial identification treated as the process of individual identification with the particular space by taking the role of the inhabitant of the particular territory as well as the sense of the connection with the territorial community which makes the social group of positive reference for the individual. The paper analyses two measures of spatial identification: individual identification and collective one. The analyse results in answering the question what is the range of coherence of spatial references of Lodz inhabitants. In order to do that the typology including indicated aspects of spatial identification was created. Obtained results present that within investigated individuals category including the process of identification with the city in individual measure and treating the neighbour community as the reference group dominates. That is why it is necessary to notice the lack of the coherence between individual and collective measure of spatial identification of Lodz inhabitants.
The aim of the present research is to describe the role of the Warmia and Mazury University in the formation of the functional macroregion in the Olsztyn agglomeration. The main criterion used to delimitate the macroregion of Olsztyn is the range of educational services of the biggest university in Warmia and Mazury. The authors use data relating to the place of living of the candidates who registered during the recruitment process in 2011 and 2012. They also analyze the impact of selected factors on the size of the area of Olsztyn university’s spatial influence. The research results show that the functional macroregion of the Olsztyn agglomeration covers, apart from the Warmia and Mazury voivodship, also the neighbouring districts of the Podlaskie and the Mazowieckie 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.
Local spatial development is affected by various authorities, including environmental authorities. The purpose of this article is to identify the extent to which national parks (on behalf of which the directors of national parks act) affected spatial development in municipalities in Poland in years 2008–2011 based on the arrangements made by them. In addition, an attempt has been made to verify whether in this period of time there were spatial conflicts between the intended space-related maintenance and development of national parks and other, occurring at the local level allocations. The article analyzed the data obtained from thirteen Polish national parks.
The aim of this paper is to define the relationship between the level of human potential and economic efficiency of companies in different voivodeships. For the purpose of this paper, a synthetic indicator was constructed to evaluate the economic efficiency of companies as well as a synthetic indicator of human potential in a region, based on previously selected set of diagnostic variables. All 16 Polish voivodeships were included in the research. The TOPSIS method, Ward’s method and the PAM method were used in the research to classify different voivodeships. Moreover, correlation analysis and spatial autocorrelation analysis were carried out. The main criterion when selecting variables was their completeness and their accessibility for all objects in the research between the year 2009 and 2013.
The article presents a comparison of the dynamic for the increase in the number of enterprises as set against the population of working age in the private sector in the years 2001–2004 (the immediate pre-accession period) and 2004–2007 (the immediate post-accession period). The study was conducted with regard had to the main sectors of economic activity (agriculture, industry, lower-order services and higher-order services), as well as the functional diversity of gminas (urban and suburban categories, transportation corridors, tourism, etc. – in total 16 categories). The research points to decline, inertia, spatial polarization and a mosaic like spatial structure to the dynamic for the development of private enterprises.
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 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 aim of the paper is to present the impact of ICT on the spatial behaviour of the main actors (households, enterprises, public administration) that constitute the regional economic system. The results are based on the regional case study developed within the ESPON 1.2.3 project. The research has been conducted in 2006 in the Podlaskie Voivodship – an example of peripheral Polish region. In particular the analysis covers the range and effects of new technologies implementation both in private and public sectors.
The article gives the description and analysis of regional ownership changes in Poland at the end of 2004 with close attention to the privatization process. The research proves that in both dimensions - the whole-Poland and regional there have not been noticed any dominant privatization methods, though in particular voivodships there are some differences concerning their usage frequency mostly determined by the number and profile of state enterprises from particular voivodships. The privatization analysis in a regional aspect reveals an area differentiation of the process advancement.
During the last few years Polish financial sector has been expanding in a very dynamic way, also in a spatial context. In cities banks displace other forms of urban activities from their previous locations. The aim of the paper is to examine spatial distribution of banking services in Warsaw at the beginning of 2009. The author, based on her own research, presents main current features of spatial structure of the phenomenon, resting on Proudfoot’s conception of principal types of city retail structure. Special features of the structure related to the specifity of banking services were also considered.
According to its development strategy and currently defined physical planning policy Warsaw should become the European metropolis, with a good quality of life, high culture, a durable physical order and public areas of high standard. These are the goals of the municipal authorities, but a short walk through the downtown shows that they are far from being reached. The obvious way for Warsaw to meet the ambitions of its authorities is through physical planning – transparent, with a high level of a public participation. That is – completely different from how it is now, what can be confirmed by some spectacular examples. If bad governance will be continued, Warsaw may soon become closer to the cities of the Third World, than to the European metropolis.
The risk and the threats of modern world became the problem of day-to-day life of millions of people. They are tightly linked to different dimensions of globalization. In the sphere of nature we have greenhouse effect together with its all real and assumed consequences. In the economic dimension we have financial flows causing the threats to the stability of international economy, in technological dimension there is oversensitivity for terrorist attacks or simple breakdown of the computer systems. The political dimension brings the threats of war and terrorism. Number of these threats is related to spatial economy. These specific types of risk are discussed in this article.
The paper presents the spatial and socio-economic transformation of one of Warsaw’s large-scale housing estates – Sluzew nad Dolinka, especially after 1989. In spite of potential threat of physical and social degradation, the area has not converted into a city slum and still offers attractive living conditions for its inhabitants. Continuous and regular actions of the local housing association, city authorities, entrepreneurs and dwellers, as well as propitious circumstances of the Warsaw real estate market, protect the estate from physical and social decline.
The development of Lithuania was deeply affected by the recent world economic crisis, which had a negative impact on most countries in Europe. However, the degree of impact was quite differentiated spatially, and various localities suffered from the crisis unevenly. The economic sectors that suffered the most in Lithuania, were concentrated in metropolitan areas, so the crisis damaged urban economy most seriously. How the economy of the capital city was affected at this time is a central question for researchers. Different areas and sectors of the urban economy were affected differently, so the impact on urban space was fragmented. Our analysis is mainly seeking to understand changes in the construction sector and housing market. The paper also tries to reveal the main features of the development of the whole Vilnius urban region, which occupies much wider territories than the city municipality. The capability to withstand economic threats depends both on urban economy and on the situation in the surrounding region or hinterland of the city. The process of the transformation of rural areas into urban regions is constantly taking place and in the case of metropolitan regions, it depends on the situation in the urban, country, and global economies. The rise of discussion about possible paths of prospective development of the Vilnius city region is also among the tasks of this paper.
Rock mining is popular and characterized by the exploitation of local deposits, which are used as a bargaining chip in local economic and socio-political politics. The aim of the paper is to analyze the impact of rock mining on the local economy of Polish communes. A contextual analysis was performed of inflows to the communes’ budgets resulting from the exploitation of rock minerals, the contribution of rock mining in the creation of local jobs was assessed, and the benefits from reclamation and development of post-mining areas were estimated. To do all that, the Author used the method of indicator analysis of local government units and stochastic methods of data analysis, as well as inference based on collected data. Studies have shown that rock mining is a factor supporting the local economy. Benefits from the exploitation of rock minerals should be taken into consideration in the development of plans concerning mineral rock deposits.
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 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 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.
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.
The objective of this paper is to assess the advance of planning works in the area of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The authors determined the degree to which districts were covered by local land development plans at the end of 2007. The assessment was done on the basis of plans which were carried out and those that still await implementation. In the assessment, we used one essential indicator of the demanded covering, which accounted for use intensity and the amount of existing functions.
The objective of the research was to analyze the patterns of behaviours in the urban space of the rich inhabitants of Warsaw. The targeted group can be classified as members of the rising metropolitan class. The research covered interviews with 132 inhabitants of the luxury apartments. The location of the apartments in Warsaw is in fact the result of the former socio-spatial structure of Warsaw and the subjective valorisation of urban space. The research revealed that one of the main motives for choosing the apartments as a place for living was the need of security. Another reason given by the interviewee was a sense of belonging to the own class – sense of being in a “peer group” and the prestige of the place. The inhabitants of the apartments create “a separate world” around themselves. It consists of well secured, protected, isolated houses, luxury consumption, top restaurants, malls, pubs, private schools and travels to exotic, foreign countries (for business purposes or just for vacations). The inhabitants of the apartments have spots of interests in the urban space and they travel between these isolated points of the city in their luxury cars. Thus, these members of rising metropolitan class have very limited contact with the “life on the ordinary streets”.
Danuta Kochanowska, Mieczysław Kochanowski
In the early 90’s public authorities in Poland considered all kinds of planning as a remaining of the socialist economy, unnecessary under the free-market rules. As a consequence, the chaos became a dominant characteristics of the Polish space at the beginning of the XXI century. This applies also to the situation in Warsaw Metropolitan Area, that exists as a real system of functional relations, but not as an administrative or planning unit. In effect, we observe the “wild urbanization” of the suburbs, and lack of development in the central part of the city. Recent centralization of local government in Warsaw has made the situation even worse, by blocking the investment and planning decisions. All these processes may lead to further marginalization of Warsaw as an European metropolis.
The question as to whether Warsaw is becoming a Third World city may be regarded as a metaphorical question, which expresses concern about whether the changes being wrought now are moving in the right direction and how the city’s spatial values are adhered to. Shaped as a traditional city, Warsaw lay in ruins in consequence of World War II. Imposed on it was an order of a total character, which, in chosen places, gave rise to forms dominating over the city huge areas which might be described as having a blurring and diluting effect. In the years of transformation, the spatial values leading to the expected balanced development, whose result would be the order of freedom with due regard for the sprit of the place, were not reasserted, and were not incorporated in the public dimension.
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 authors put a hypothesis of positive net agglomeration effect in Polish subregions in 2000–2005. The net agglomeration effect is a relatively new theory explaining spatial differences in economic activity. A production concentration function suggested by Ciccone and Hall is used in analysis. The hypothesis was verified with econometric methods. Multiple scenarios gave ambiguous results. Panel methods appeared to be ineffective, as opposed to pool methods. Cumulated number of patents was used as an approximation of the level of technical development. Among pool scenarios, domestic patents allowed to reduce problems connected with co-relation of explanatory variables. This approach gives conclusions about positive net agglomeration effect.
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 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.
The author discusses different definitions of social justice related to equality of outcome and equality of opportunity. It is argued that, in the territorial perspective, public policy should aim at improving the equality of opportunity by means of reducing social exclusion rather than at fighting regional disparities in the standards of living. What is challenged is the interpretation of the relationship between political preferences and the core–periphery division of Poland into Northern and Western Territories on the one hand and Eastern and South-Eastern regions on the other, as presented by R. Perdał et al. (2020).
Tadeusz Kudłacz, Tadeusz Markowski
The paper presents the principles regarding the protection and shaping of rural settlement landscape, drawn up on the basis of literature analyses. The authors confront the principles with the provisions of local planning documentation and the actual changes in the commune that have taken place since the plan was adopted. Finally, the authors determine the degree of implementation of the provisions. They identify some irregularities and shortcomings in the provisions and some differences between the provisions and actual spatial development. They also indicate the main directions of changes of local spatial policy.
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 article presents a synthetic assessment of the diversity of the housing situation in Polish communes in the context of ongoing demographic changes. In addition, it presents an original method of typological research combining measures of the housing and demographic situation for all 2,477 communes in Poland as at the end of 2021. The scope of the study covered the years 2011–2021. The article identified that both functional urban areas and coastal municipalities have their own specificity in terms of housing and demographic situation, to a lesser extent this phenomenon affects mountain municipalities. It was also pointed out that the lack of a place-based policy in the National Housing Program makes it difficult to shape the national housing policy in a manner adapted to local and regional conditions.
The paper provides a comparative analysis of so-called land management and spatial development studies of the biggest Polish cities regarding the scope of functional and morphological delimitation and zoning. Due to the lack of detailed regulations, individual cities developed their own zoning methodologies. The authors of such studies take into account three factors: functional, morphological and administrative aspects. The zoning in the analysed cities is determined by individual factors which vary from city to city.
The work has two goals: 1) to identify the dominant charges in complaints to administrative courts regarding land use plans for municipalities (gminy), to assess their legitimacy and effectiveness, and to classify the complainants; 2) to show that the court rulings are related to the diversity of municipalities, i.e., their character (morphology, social and economic functions, etc.) and characteristics of socio-economic development. All the judgments of voivodship (regional) administrative courts issued in 2010–2019 concerning complaints about municipal plans were analysed (531). The problem turns out to be the undefined scope of such plans, which, however, does not affect the extent to which these instruments are challenged by property owners. A high concentration of complaints in the regional capitals and their suburban areas is also demonstrated.
The article presents the analysis of spatial planning process in communities at the end of 2004, based on information by Ministry of Transport and Construction and Central Statistical Office survey. Briefly discussed are the most important indicators reflecting the advancement of planning works. As a result of the research carried out, the practical conclusions for the regional politics were formulated. The research helped to identify and judge the state of the preparation of planning works in relation to the forming of spatial structure in the country. The analysis shows that the state of the planning works in the municipalities especially in relation to local plans, is unsatisfactory especially in urban areas. The planning predictions, contained in Priorities and Conditions… should be also critically judged. They are unrealistic, inconsistent with the real socio-economic situation. In the future it is necessary to develop a detailed monitoring system for the spatial planning on a regional, sub-regional and local scale.
Internet shops are becoming an increasingly popular form of trading. In 2006, their turnover in Poland reached 1.3 billion zlotys, or about 1% of total retail trade in the country. According to different experts, the sales and turnover indices are on an upward trend as the numbers of shoppers buying on-line and also e-shops are still increasing. Interestingly, a lot of research show that the central points of e-business concentration are metropolitan areas although the administration of e-shops is possible from virtually any place in the world. This indicates that economic, technological and social factors have an impact on the growth and concentration of e-shops.
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 focuses on the most significant space management instruments, i.e. local zoning plans. The authors’ purpose is to determine whether and to what extent spatial development is constrained by environmental and nature protection provisions included in local plans. The research has been conducted on the planning documents from the area of the West Pomeranian region. The contents of all local development spatial plans from 2013 have been analyzed, i.e. 92 plans, including 78 adopted in rural and rural-urban communities, and 14 in towns with county rights.
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.
The aim of this study is to assess the impact of foreign investments on the development of one of the poorest Polish provinces – the Podkarpackie region. The article shows the location, structure and spatial variation of direct foreign investments in the region. The institution method was used to compile data: the number of employees and the size of investment were assigned to places where they were made, but not where the company`s headquarters are located. Results suggest a rather positive impact of foreign investments on local and regional development in the Podkarpackie province, especially in manufacturing industries. The influence of FDI on growth of socio-economic disparities in the region should be rated unfavourably.
The main objective of the paper is to analyze the impact of 2004?2006 Cohesion Policy on the development of Zielona Gora (a city in western Poland). It concentrates on three key aspects of the development: competitiveness and attractiveness; social and territorial cohesion; and the diffusion of developmental processes. In our research, we have used a variety of methods and sources of information. Our main conclusion is that the Cohesion Policy of that period contributed more to the improvement of the quality of life in Zielona Gora and its surroundings than to its medium- or long-term development.
This paper includes the general overview of the architectural and urban order issue in respect to Polish space. It focuses both on the problems of large cities as the peripheral and rural areas. Also the problems of rural areas losing their traditional character are discussed. Special attention was paid to the historical reasons staying behind the urbanization processes and their influence on the current situation. In this respect both the diagnosis of the current situation as well as the proposal for building the complex upgrade strategy were presented. Also the set of available implementation instruments were presented as a part of this proposal. Finally, the concept of urban regeneration was discussed. This concept can become the key element in the process of upgrading the condition of the Polish space. As a summary, a set of conclusions concerning the possible actions leading to desired change in the spatial order was presented.
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.
The main objective of the study was to identify regularities related to selected aspects of stability of cross-border cooperation on the example of Polish borderlands. The basis for the analysis was a comprehensive study of cross--border cooperation projects Interreg, ETC, ENPI, ENPI implemented in 2007–2013 and 2014–2020. The study covered a total of about 1500 projects in terms of stability of the subject of cooperation and stability of spatial structures of cooperation. The analysis allowed to find partial stability in relation to selected thematic categories of implemented projects and spatial stability in terms of distribution of cooperation beneficiaries by locality.
The article presents the results of a questionnaire received in Autumn 2013 from over 1,300 Polish municipalities whose population does not exceed 50 thousand people. The material obtained from this questionnaire offers exact data concerning the performance of local governments in promoting local economic development, as well as opinions and values shared by these governments. The research is related to a similar undertaking performed in mid-1990s, and confirms earlier hypotheses indicating that spatial differentiation of performance of the local governments in Poland has deep historical roots.
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 notion of a network is one of the key terms used to describe the contemporary world. The role of cooperation networks is also stressed in the context of innovation and its spatial aspects. In this particular case, most attention is given to metropolises as major networks of flows not only of people, capital or goods, but also of information and knowledge. The paper discusses selected spatial aspects of collaborative networks in Polish science. The discussion of examples is preceded by a theoretical introduction intended to outline various aspects of innovation networks at national and regional levels, with particular emphasis on the role of metropolises in collaborative networks.
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 purpose of this paper is to analyze cities’ promotion and information policy regarding the development of economic activity. The study was carried out in the form of electronic audit and evaluation of the official websites of 306 cities in Poland. On this basis, promotion and information policy was assessed and its spatial diversity analyzed. The analysis revealed significant diversity of actual involvement of local self-governments in enhancing investment attractiveness of cities. It seems that in most cases such policy either does not exist at all, or is hardly implemented. The study also shows a lack of cohesion as well as temporariness of marketing activities undertaken.
Quality of life is discussed in the paper in the context of human needs. In this conceptual framework, sexual needs are considered as well as their relations with the concept of pathology in social sciences and theology. Prostitution is analysed as a special form of sexual pathology and a social service that fulfils human needs and influences quality of life. The location of prostitution in the city of Bydgoszcz is analysed in details, as well as models of spatial distribution of ‘social agencies’ in the city.
The goal of this article is to investigate the spatial allocation of human capital investment at the local level in Poland. In particular, this analysis refers to the funds within the Human Capital Operational Programme (POKL 2007–2013). The study is divided into the following parts: extrapolation of the algorithm for allocating the POKL funds between regions to the local level; comparison of the allocation based on the data from the period before the programme with the hypothetical allocation of the same funds based on the measurement done after the end of the programme (the „before-after” method); and a comparison of the intentional allocation of POKL funds with the observed actual absorption of funds at the local level in 2007–2015. The analysis carried out in this article proves that the final effect of POKL allocation at the local level is not a simple extension of the government’s plan of division expressed by an algorithm. The absorption of funds per capita differed between municipalities within individual voivodships, but more funds did not necessarily go to the areas that were particularly structurally burdened (according to the governmental algorithm). The „before-after” analysis leads to the conclusion that, in the period under study, development disparities increased, and development gap between eastern and western Poland deepened. The situation is particularly difficult in the territories of the so-called internal peripherals.
The aim of the paper is to identify different visions and expectations of the citizens and the local government regarding the development of their suburban space, which are a source of potential spatial conflicts. It discusses contradictory interests of all the people living in the suburban area, certain groups of inhabitants, and local authorities. The paper characterizes different types of conflicts, including spatial ones. The conflicts in the suburbs are generated by a desire to keep the suburban character of the place of residence, the primacy of property rights and individual interests over collective ones, and excessive development ambitions of local authorities. Considerations on spatial conflicts in a suburban zone are illustrated by the results of two surveys carried out in the Lesznowola municipality near Warsaw, one on a representative sample of residents throughout the whole municipality (394 persons), and the other on a representative sample of residents of Mysiadło (305 people).
Integrated forms of planning and managing local development are seen today as essential for implementing a successful development policy. This is emphasized by the high priority of these forms in EU local development approaches. In his analysis, the author contrasts the Polish and the German planning system in order to evaluate the compatibility of the Polish spatial planning system with the requirements of integrated local development planning and management. The analysis concerns the areas defined as having key importance for integrated form of local development, i.e. the organization of planning and participation processes, the role given to planning documents in spatial management, and the availability of operational planning tools. The identified major differences between the two systems lead to the assumption that the Polish planning system hardly sustains integrated forms of planning and managing local development, as it is solely oriented towards regulating spatial development schemes.
The article is based on the statistics of intercommunal data matrix concerning employees who commuted to work in 2006, compiled on the basis of the taxpayers’ tax deductions provided by the Central Statistical Office of Poland (Urban Statistics Centre in Poznan). The author identifies directions, intensity and catchment areas of commuting flows to Warsaw and calculates other basic characteristics, providing a basis for further studies into occupational mobility in relation to the development of the labour market. It has been demonstrated that Warsaw plays a significant role in the spatial structure of the voivodeship in terms of the number of workers who commute to the city. It is the result of its function as the capital and of the development of the labour market in the transition period.
System transformation is a long-lasting process which is reflected in the model of property relationships and the way inhabited environment is created. This paper discusses the Polish urban area as an example of a neoliberal model of space transformation characterized by: atrophy of the public sector, arbitrary spatial order, and deepening spatial segregation. The transformation of the urban area in a neoliberal model has affected the legal order, spatial planning, privatization of housing resources, and public infrastructure. The paper is based on source literature, official statistics, and an analysis of Polish legal acts.
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.
The paper analyses the changes in the scale of the rural economic activity and identifies their selected determinants. The socio-demographic characteristics of the labour resources and the economic differences between rural regions in Poland were analysed as reasons for the dissimilar levels of rural employment. Analyses have demonstrated that, in 2010–2016, rural economic activity measured by the employment rate increased from 50% to 53%, primarily as a result of the impact of cyclical determinants, reflected in the increase in the number of the employed being higher than the number of inactive persons, with a reduced scale of unemployment overall. The studies indicated similar values of the employment rate for urban and rural areas, while the differences in its level within the selected social categories were much more visible for rural populations. This reflected a persistence of territorial disparities in labour markets as well as a trend towards their convergence. The level of territorial differences in the rural employment in Poland was moderate and should be linked with regional economic characteristics. In this context, the allocation of rural labour supply could be attributed to the impact of cities and their functional areas and to the progress in economic diversification of villages located in a particular region. The discussion section of the paper outlines the institutional opportunities and barriers increasing rural economic activity. The presented conclusions were based on the Central Statistical Office data (mainly the Labour Force Survey and the Local Data Bank) and statistical and comparative analysis methods.
Strengthening economic cohesion of regional economies is usually considered as one of the major goals of regional policy. At the same time, metropolitan cities are recognized as main centres of economic growth, influencing the development perspectives of more peripheral areas. It is therefore important to know the range and the mechanism of spillover of socio-economic development from metropolises to their surroundings, as well as to identify the areas which are economically lagging as a result of missing functional links with metropolises. The authors apply the local spatial correlation measures (local Moran’s statistics – LISA) in the analysis of municipal revenues in order to delimit the diffusion and polarization of economic development in Poland.
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.
The aim of the paper is to present spatial variation of social capital in Poland, especially in relation to historical differences between various regions (resulting from the country’s partitions and border changes) and the level of urbanization. Previous studies indicate that such variation exists. However, they were carried out on the basis of declarations, an approach which has its drawbacks. This study uses a novel approach to assessing social capital: observing the behaviour of a study group using experimental economics, used in conjunction with a questionnaire which enables us to study the intention-behaviour gap. The study group consisting of 1540 individuals indicates very little variation between the regions. However, there are differences concerning the gap between declarations and behaviour in questions related to trust, trustworthiness, and cooperation, and our results confirm the conclusions from previous studies only weakly.
The paper includes the most important results of the project of the same title, carried out as part of a larger project “The Development Trends of the Mazovia Region”, implemented for the local government of the Mazowieckie voivodship in 2010?2012. It primarily concerned demographic and settlement issues related to the evolution of functional relations and linkages, spatial availability, as well as infrastructure and land use conditions. The main objective was to formulate the conditions which would ensure development, and to identify the factors and conditions that affected easy flow of development stimuli and better efficiency of the suburban zone and spatial cohesion of the Mazovia region. The horizon time of the project concerned the period after 1990 (diagnosis and retrospective study) and 2030 (forecast). The paper has a survey character, it reports on selected topics only, and its aim is to disseminate important research results.
As a form of spatial and social organization, the city has been in deep crisis in the recent years. Nowadays in Poland, we can observe the renaissance of urbanity, as evidenced mostly in the increasing activity of social movements and the growing importance of civic participation. This paper discusses the role public consultation on spatial planning can play in urban policy. The analysis is based on a case study of active and innovative approaches to public consultations carried out during the process. The authors describe the potential of such sociological intervention in solving the crisis of urban communities.
Along with time-related changes in the migration of Poles to Germany, the invisibility that has been ascribed to them has also evolved: from intentional hiding to deliberate merging into local social and spatial structures. The city of Berlin, perceived as an open, modern and multicultural metropolis, is an exceptional laboratory of transformations and diversity of social behaviours shown by Polish migrants. It attracts new citizens who not only want to make a living here, but also – and more frequently – to achieve self-fulfilment. While the invisibility of the economic migrants is mainly a result of their alienation in a new country, the representatives of lifestyle migration deliberately merge into the culturally diverse society of Berlin and they try to identify with other social groups. The aim of this article is to identify the existence and forms of every-day functioning of Polish migrants in Berlin in the context of invisibility.
Public space of the post-modern epoch is a conglomerate or blend of discontinuous functions, a collection of loosely connected fragments, increasingly more frequently unrelated to a city. People compose for themselves their own town from individual trajectories that are outlined by means of motor roads. Neo-liberal logic of city development recognizes the rule of spontaneity wherever the interest of big capital groups dominates, pushing onto the sidelines the more important task of contemporary urban planning – the protection and development of public spaces. Due to the crisis it is undergoing at present (commercial pressure), the efforts are taken to regain its social and spatial significance. The purpose of these transformations is bonding public spaces with broader surroundings (with open terrains, waterside zones, promenades, playgrounds, etc). These changes use programmed connections, contacts, passages, links, connecting areas and other relations that invest new sociological and cultural meanings into public spaces. The integration process gives positive results in numerous cities of Western Europe. One of them, perhaps the most essential, is development of more attractive and deeper relationships of inhabitants with their urban environment. Although the task fails to be easy (integrating tendencies compete with inclinations for disintegration), it is an important step towards the enhancement of urban life quality. The evidence can be numerous discussions and conferences on the issue of public space.
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 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.
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 aim of the article is to identify in spatial and thematic terms the so-called special areas in strategic and planning documents at the national and regional levels, and a quantitative and qualitative description of spatial delimitations (comprising the communes categorised in particular special areas). The analysis included documents at the national, supra-regional and regional levels, i.e. 10 country-wide strategies (including 7 industry-specific strategies), 5 supra-regional strategies and 16 regional strategies and voivodeship spatial development plans. All the special areas were vectorised or assigned to the relevant municipalities, and then such issues as the number of special areas within them were examined. The analysis demonstrated significant over-regulation of strategic planning (in one of the communes 87 different categories of special areas at the national or regional level were identified). This article expands the issues examined in the project carried out in 2015-2016 at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organisation PAS for the Ministry of Development, entitled “Identification of the state intervention strategic areas, including problem areas” (Śleszyński et al. 2017a, 2017b).
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 article offers a multidimensional analysis of the dynamics of population ageing in Poland. To this end, the spatial dynamic shift-share method is used. The data used in the analysis include the number of people aged 65 or over per 1,000 population, based on the criteria of sex and place of residence (urban or rural areas) in 72 Polish subregions in the period from 2003 to 2016. The study analyses the pace of changes in the scale of the phenomenon and identifies structural and local factors underpinning the net effect in specific subregions. In effect, subregions with the greatest pace of change and its underpinning factors are identified.
The purpose of the article is open to debate. It presents the main conclusions from a study made in March 2017 for the Office of Analysis and Expertise of the Senate of the Republic of Poland on the merits of changes in the territorial division of the Warsaw Metropolitan Area. In this study was carried out a synthesis of the research conducted mainly by the author on the development of Warsaw Metropolitan Area and the Mazowieckie voivodship, including the impact of the capital and delimitation of its functional urban area. In its summary were formulated the most important conclusions, arguing for finding a compromise solution, aimed at establishing a new administrative division system, taking into account both the daily urban system, spatial cohesion needs, and the interests of residents and entrepreneurs. Due to the importance of the area, including Warsaw’s functions as a capital city, the conclusions apply to the whole Poland.
The paper discusses research results regarding the influence area of cultural institutions located in Łódź. The analysis includes data collected from nine biggest museums and theatres. In order to gather the information, customers were asked for their zip-codes. This method allows for surveying a large group of people and at the same time it does not interfere much with current activity of the institution. During the spring of 2012, the information about places of residence of 35 thousand customers who visited cultural institutions in Łódź was gathered.
Spatial planning is one of key tasks of regional (voivodship) local government in Poland. A spatial development plan for a voivodship includes many aspects which need to be decided upon. However, the implementation of this plan is largely independent of the will of the local government. The theory of planning (including spatial planning) emphasises that implementation of the plan is an inherent aspect of planning. Therefore, the article analyses to what extent regional spatial planning can actually be considered planning.
The last decades have brought intensive development of urban areas. In many Polish cities, including Warsaw, such development takes place without obligatory local plans. Thus, administrative permission decisions concerning any investment are prepared on the basis of so-called studies of conditions and directions of spatial planning. The aim of the present paper is to discuss how general plans of spatial development in Warsaw can influence some features of its climate which are important for the quality of life of Warsaw citizens. Special attention is paid to Urban Heat Island.
The article attempts to indicate the hypothetical spatial extent of the process of rural gentrification. To this end, using the extended case method, the author elaborates on the rural gentrification index that has been developed by describing demographic, social, economic, and spatial changes. This approach made it possible to identify areas where the phenomenon in question is the most active. It turns out that the potential range of gentrification in Poland mainly includes counties located near large cities – especially those located in central, northern, western and, south-western parts of Poland – which could be described with the English-language term as city’s countryside.
The article seeks to identify socio-economic conditions that affect the demand of individual consumers for cars and to analyze spatial differences in these conditions. To achieve this objective, econometric modelling is conducted. The analysis was conducted in all poviats in Poland and covered the years 2010-2015. The findings show that the demand for new cars is stimulated by incomes of potential consumers and by a net in-migration, while the level of unemployment together with prices of complementary goods (especially petrol prices) negatively affect the demand for cars. Moreover, geographically weighted regression shows that the identified conditions differ across the country, which may explain the noticeable differences in the level of motorization between poviats.
Tri-City, with the suburban area, like other Polish urban centres with metropolitan aspirations, has real chances for becoming metropolitan area of European importance. According to some European concepts, Tri-City is recognized as a member of the group of European metropolises and regarded as a link in the zone of high dynamic development in the Baltic Sea Region. The main problem for the functional efficiency of Tri-City agglomeration is cooperation and competition between cities and municipalities. The lack of common activities can be the reason of efforts and effects to squander in the field of spatial planning, programming of regional development and functioning of the whole settlement system of the metropolitan area. Pursuing the integration of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot and thus creating an integrated metropolitan space of the highest ability to compete in the global economy, is a real challenge for the Tri-City.
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 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 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.
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 aim of the article is to measure the sustainable development of rural areas of the Wielkopolska region and define the role of the Rural Development Programme for 2007-2013 in reinforcing developmental changes. The conducted research measured sustainable development for the year 2015 (in three dimensions: economic, social and environmental), and shows the spatial variations of the analysed phenomenon. As the next step, the awarded funds were measured and their impact on sustainable development was assessed. The measurements were carried out with the use of a synthetic measure, while the relationship between the level of development and the level of the awarded funds was assessed using analysis of variance. The research comprised rural and rural urban municipalities in the region. The findings demonstrate significant variations in the level of sustainable rural development in the Wielkopolska region.
Over the past few decades, voivodeship-level spatial planning has been the subject of numerous theoretical studies and legal regulations. During this period, the authorities of the Lublin voivodeship prepared a number of spatial development plans, sometimes referred to as regional plans. In theoretical dissertations, this spatial planning (especially the regional one) was usually seen as a plan of the future spatial structure and of activities aimed at achieving it, whereas regulations on spatial planning and its practice increasingly shaped voivodeship plans as documents defining only the desired spatial structure – first of all its socioeconomic and environmental functions. A strong impact of political and legal conditions on the practice of voivodeship-level spatial planning is undoubtedly the reason for this difference.
The article introduces the concept of ESPON (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) programme, dealing with a research on spatial development of enlarging European Union. The role of Polish research units in the programme is described. The article demonstrates also the benefits and constrains related to the participation in ESPON, based on the experience of the Centre for European Regional and Local Studies. Several suggestions on how to increase Polish participation in the ESPON programme are formulated.
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.
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.
The article presents selected results of studies presented in the Report of the State and Conditions of Planning Works as at the End of 2006. The report was prepared in the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences, for the Ministry of Construction in autumn 2007. In this article attention is focused on the analysis of the Local Development Spatial Plans coverage and agricultural land changes in 2004–2006. In the studies, delimitation and classification based on the administrative-settlement structure, routes of the transport corridors and land use kind and intensity were taken into consideration.
This paper is based on data collected during a study (questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews) conducted in selected Polish gminas and focused on selected road corridors. On this basis, social perception of the accessibility of selected services is assessed as well as changes in frequency of road use, quality of life, and road safety. In the case of three road corridors (highways A1 and A4; express road S8), changes in accessibility have occurred as a result of road investments.
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 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.
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.
Changes caused by transformation of political system such as comeback of ground rental and other market factors caused some changes in socio-spatial structure in Eastern Europe cities. One of them was segregation, which means increase of differences between social status of dwellers of particulars zones and quarters. These changes occur mostly in Eastern European greatest cities. Meanwhile socio-spatial structure of industrial "dependent cities" is less crystallized. Changes in these cities are still in initial phase. In four concentric spatial zones of the city social status of dwellers is similar. Meanwhile at the level of settlements there is clear, although weak statistical connection, which reveals some degree of socio-spatial differentiation. Social status of dwellers in eastern part of the city, especially in the Widzew quarter is higher, than in the other parts of Lodz. But in general differences of social status of particular spatial units are small, what corroborates basic hypothesis about weak differentiation of socio-spatial structure of lodz. It means, that processes of segregation and polarization are at the very beginning phase. For now, its negative consequences of globalization which occur in Western metropolises such as ethnic ghettos and “dualization" of city are no threat for lodz, but, on the other hand, this result reveals small dynamics of development of the city. There are some negative effects of transformation process, such as decrease of social status of dwellers of standard housing units. On the other hand, there is no concentration of the poorest people in particular parts of the city, and existing enclaves of poverty are the margin of urban space; however, this margin is growing. Also people of the highest status don`t live in particular parts of the city and there are very few settlements of the very high standard. There are some enclaves of such houses, which don`t cause the clear increase of standard in broader units. Trend of increase of social status of dwellers in the Eastern parts of lodz may be the response to the expectations for very far future perspectives of common Warsaw lodz metropolis. Basic hypothesis, verified during the research, claimed, that socio-spatial structure of lodz is differentiated in small degree. Survey was run at the turn of 2001 and 2002 on the sample of 797 dwellers. Method of selection caused, that demographic structure of sample in particular zones, quarters and smaller settlements was the same, as in population. We analyzed three attributive variables: character of employment, level of education and financial standard, measured with number and quality if durables. These variables were the basis for indicator of social status.
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.
The paper’s main objective is to introduce into the topic of regional development in the postindustrial regions Ruhr and Upper Silesia taking aspects of economic and spatial planning under consideration. The region Ruhr has lived through a difficult period of development. A lot of self-given objectives could be accomplished. Anyway various long-term problems like the relative high unemployment rate, the demographic challenges or industrial waste lands are still present and are awaiting solutions. In some problem areas Upper Silesia might orient oneself to the strategies conducted in the Ruhr agglomeration and adapt strategies which delivered positive results and prevent failures which resulted by middle-rate measures.
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 an overview of changes and relevant problems that have occurred in Moscow in the period of post-Soviet transformation. Authors briefly discuss historical and contemporary studies on capital city of Russia in the field of social geography. On this background authors comment on contemporary hypothesis related to metropolisation processes including social and spatial polarization observed in global cities.
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.
Branches of international corporations are a significant element of the economic structure of towns and regions, and depending on the degree of their integration with (‘embeddedness’ in) the regional and local economic milieux, they can play an important role in their development. The location of a branch of an international corporation has a multitude of effects in a variety of spheres: economic, social, spatial, and environmental. The effects in the social sphere include the formation of attitudes of the residents towards the investor, which takes place on the basis of the knowledge about the investor and his/her image, and then gives rise to some forms of behaviour towards him. This paper compares the attitudes towards foreign investors of the residents of a big city and a small rural commune. The analysis is based on a survey research carried out among the inhabitants of Poznan city and the commune of Zbaszynek. The attitudes examined in the first case were those towards a branch of the international corporation EXIDE Technologies, which has been operating in the city since 1995, and in the other case, the attitudes towards a branch of the Swedwood corporation, present in the commune since 1999.
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 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 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 purpose of the paper is to point out the characteristic features of spatial development in cities of the Metropolitan Union of Silesia (GZM), located in the central subregion of the Upper Silesian region. The specificity of its development is the result of both historical conditions arising from the exploitation of natural resources, which were taking place for many centuries, as well as the contemporary economic and social impacts that are affecting the functioning of highly integrated territorial units that co-create the GZM. The presented research results refer to a selected area of interest in urban morphology. In this case, it is the comparison of a combination of building types located in the GZM cities with buildings in other cities of the Upper Silesian region and all other Polish cities.
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.
Endogenous growth theories presume knowledge plays the key role in economic growth (1). Yet, new economic geography along with empirical findings suggest the possibility of divergence occurring in development processes (2). Combining (1) and (2) indicates the importance of studying knowledge factors’ distribution. To obtain the fully fledged picture of a given economy one shall go beyond simply analyzing knowledge factors but include also their spatial location. The article touches upon this issue. It is devoted to Germany and examines three territorial and administrative levels: one referring to former country division (DDR & BRD), the second relating to NUTS 1 (16 Bundesländer) and third represented by 41 Regierungsbezirke (NUTS 2). Results are obtained by investigating 5 factors (e.g. expenditure on R&D, human resources in S&T, patent applications) and applying 4 measures (Gini, Rosenbluth, Ellison–Glaeser and Herfindahl–Hirschman Coefficients). This paper is meant to supplement earlier studies as well as a good starting point for further research devoted to country’s knowledge landscape.
The article aims to identify the geographical dimension of social (in)justice in the context of the existing permanent differences in the level of socio-economic development in Poland from the geographical and historical point of view. It also discusses the consequences of these inequalities for development policy on regional and local levels. The study consists of two essential parts. The first one presents synthetic deliberations on the geographical aspect of the social justice discussed. In the second part, an attempt was made to exemplify a geographical dimension of social (in)justice through the analysis of the spatial distribution of the socio-economic development level (a synthetic indicator) and selected partial indicators. In addition, the presence of dependencies of the socio-economic development level and the degree of political support for political fractions proclaiming the slogan of “social justice” was verified. The results of the conducted research confirm the existence of considerable developmental differences in the Polish space. Their strength is historically determined and, despite the passage of time, their pattern invariably corresponds to the former partition boundaries. These disparities are not minimised and the influence of economic growth on the income rise remains limited, especially in economically weaker areas, which leads to growing social dissatisfaction. As a result, one can conclude that in Poland those differences constitute the geographical dimension of social (in)justice.
