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Maciej Smętkowski, Bohdan Jałowiecki, Grzegorz Gorzelak. Metropolitan Areas in Poland - Diagnosis and Recommendations

The aim of the paper is to identify and diagnose problems relating to Poland`s metropolitan areas. In the frst part, the authors offer a review of the most important features metropolisation process and indicate problems associated with such processes on the local and regional scales. This is followed by an identification of major urban centres in Poland, and a delimitation of their metropolitan areas. In the subsequent part of the study, the identified metropolitan areas are characterised in terms of their pertinent development problems. Finally, a set of conclusions and recommendations is proposed, with the aim of improving the functioning of the largest cities and their environment.

Darina Dvornichenko. Assessing the Correlation Between Women’s Civic Engagement and Elected Political Participation: A Case Study of Six Polish Cities

This paper focuses on the link between women’s civic engagement and elected political participation. The first part presents the theoretical aspects of both concepts – i.e. civic engagement and political involvement – and combines them with another category, namely the descriptive representation of women. The second part of the paper is devoted to the methodology of the present research, which consists of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative research examines the composition of six city councils in Poland (Wrocław, Kraków, Gdańsk, Łódź, Lublin, and Poznań) as well as city mayorships after the last elections (2018). The results confirm a positive correlation between women’s elected political participation and women’s civic engagement. The qualitative research, based on 11 semi-structured interviews, aims at explaining why the civic sector is dominated by women, even though politics still remains men’s domain. Another objective is to identify particular obstacles that prevent female civic activists from further engagement in politics. Specific recommendations for mitigating the identified obstacles and increasing the number of women in politics are provided.

Oksana Kravchuk, Iryna Varis, Viktoriia Zalizniuk, Tatiana Kaluzhna, Alla Samko. The Regional Disproportions of Labour Market Risks in Ukraine

The article contains a regional analysis of the Ukrainian labour market risks and its minimisation recommendations in the war period. The war’s consequences were the forced migration spread, the labour force reduction, the unemployment increase, and the decline in real incomes. The analysis of regional disproportions of labour market risks during the war showed that jobs declined, wages decreased, labour supply-demand imbalance and labour competition increased in the regions with the most consequences of military actions. The migration, unemployment, and wages trend became a base for developing the labour markets advantages matrix for Ukraine’s regions.

Maciej Smętkowski, Bohdan Jałowiecki, Grzegorz Gorzelak. Metropolitan Areas of Poland: Assessment and Recommendations

The aim of the paper is to indicate metropolitan areas in Poland as well as to provide the assessment of their situation. The first part is devoted to literature review focused on identification of the most significant trade-offs of metropolisation process in regional and local scale. This constitutes a base for indication of the most important cities in Poland for which delineation of their metropolitan areas are provided. In the next part these metropolitan areas were characterised to reveal obstacles in their development. This enables authors to provide recommendations regarding activates that should be undertaken to facilitate growth of the largest cities and their surroundings.

Grzegorz Gorzelak, Adam Płoszaj, Maciej Smętkowski. The Four Capitals Model in the Evaluation of the Regional Development Strategy - the Example of the Lubuskie Voivodeship

The article shows how the Four Capitals Model was applied to evaluate the region development strategy document and its implementation in terms of sustainable development. Firstly, it defines these types of capitals that could be used to analyse the sustainability of regional development. Then the authors describe the results of the exercise carried out together with representatives of the regional authorities, intended to assess the impact of the strategy implementation in the context of the four capitals. The results were confronted with the opinions of local governments and SME owners. This helped to identify the weaknesses of the strategy and potential trade-offs between different types of capital. Finally, the recommendations related to the updating of the strategy were formulated.

Ariel Ciechański. Changes in the Public Transport Network in the Areas of Low Beskid and Bieszczady 1990–2019 and Their Consequences

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

Dagmara Kociuba, Klaudia Rabczewska. The role of participatory budgets on the development of urban public spaces – the Lublin case study

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

Marta Szulc. Implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region from the perspective of the Flagship Project Partners from the Western Pomerania Region (Zachodniopomorskie Voivodship)

One of the elements of the implementation of the European Union Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region is completion of the flagship projects. The article presents the results of a study carried out with the participation of the coordinators of the flagship project partners in the Baltic Sea region. The study of the flagship projects was aimed at analysing the implementation of the EUSBSR through these projects and at complementing the quantitative results. As a result of the research, specific results and recommendations for actors affecting the operation of the EUSBSR are presented in the conclusions.

Tomasz Kupiec. The usability of evaluation as a tool for managing regional operational programmes

The paper presents an analysis of usability of regional operational programmes 2007?2013 (ROP) evaluations. The elements of usability under study are: quality, relevance, and credibility of the evaluation assumptions. The study consists in desk research of a representative sample (n = 71) of the evaluation reports completed between 2008 and 2012. The results show that many reports do not contain important recommendations and do not answer key research questions. In most cases, the evaluations fail to supply an answer on the impact of ROP on the socio-economic development of regions. The limited usefulness of evaluation reports leads to conclusions about negative trends in the development of the ROP evaluation system, which is focused on providing simple information, reports production, and does not respond to actual demand for knowledge.

Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse. Theory and Practice of Development of Peripheral Regions

The paper is devoted to the problems of development of peripheral regions. It contains a review of theories of endogenous and exogenous development and a description of their evolution. Based on this theoretical discussion two model strategies are presented: (1) modernization of endogenous potential and (2) building the new endogenous potential of a region. In its further part the paper focuses on the experiences of peripheral regions in Portugal and Finland. Finally it offers the recommendations for public policies in the peripheral regions of Eastern Poland.

Dominika Wojtowicz, Tomasz Kupiec. Complementarity between programmes and projects within the Regional Policy. The case of the Łódzkie Voivodship

The effectiveness of the measures implemented under the EU cohesion policy has become a significant issue. The relevance of the topic is undeniable, given the ongoing discussion of the results of public interventions conducted at the EU level, and the resulting concept of an integrated approach used to study the effects of actions undertaken within the cohesion policy. Based on various studies conducted to date, the authors argue that the effectiveness of the funds allocated in Polish regions could be greater if we focused more on complementarity of the undertaken actions. The paper concentrates on issues related to complementarity between programmes and projects implemented under the EU Cohesion Policy in Polish regions. A case study of a Polish region – namely, Łódzkie – shows that the adopted methods and tools, intended to ensure complementarity, do not work in a proper way. The results suggest the existence of severe restrictions of assessing the actual scope of complementarity and the resulting synergy effects. As both analyses of documentation and in-depth participant interviews indicate that the concept of complementarity in the projects is misunderstood or deliberately distorted (so that the highest score during the application stage can be obtained), it can be stated that the scale of complementarity is far from satisfactory. Based on their research, the authors make conclusions and recommendations regarding the solutions that should be taken into account in order to improve the implementation of the complementarity concept in the next financial perspective for the years 2014–2020.

Grzegorz Gorzelak, Adam Płoszaj, Maciej Smętkowski. Four Capitals Model in the Evaluation of Regional Development Strategy

The article presents 4 capital model as an evaluation method of the region development strategy implementation as well as strategy document analysis. The introduction provides definition of these types of capitals that might be adapted to analysis of sustainable development. Than the authors describes a result of exercise conducted together with representatives of self-government authorities consists of impact assessment of the strategy implementation in the context of selected forms of capital. The results were confronted with opinions of local self-governments authorities as well as small and medium size enterprises. These breakdown enabled authors to indicate weakness of the strategy and potentials trade-offs between different types of capital. As the final result recommendations regarding the updating processes of the strategy were formulated.

Karolina Czerwińska. Innovative implementation of the European social fund assistance: the Irish case. What lessons for Poland

The paper analyses the Irish way of implementation of the structural assistance from the European Social Fund within a context of Ireland`s development strategy. Identification of the factors influencing considerable efficiency and effectiveness of Ireland`s performance is the article`s main focus. The paper begins with a review of the Irish labour market situation and, responding to it, human capital development policy of 1990s. Then, implementation and evaluation of the measures supported by the ESF within a programming period 1994-1999 are examined in detail. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations from the Irish case for Poland are outlined.

Grzegorz Gorzelak. Poland’s Regional Policy and Disparities in the Polish Space

The article was published in Polish in "Studia Regionalne i Lokalne", 4/2004

The paper discusses regional disparities in Poland in their many dimensions and aspects economic, social and political. Individual phenomena basically have a similar spatial representation, which can be seen as a corroboration of the well-known thesis on the existence of a strong interdependency of many phenomena in the development process. The historical underpinnings of these disparities prove once again that they are the products of "long duration` processes. Both characteristics of these differences, showing their complexity and historical factors suggest caution as to what can realistically be expected of regional policy because it can change the objective reality only gradually and only to a limited extent. The paper ends with some recommendations for regional policy.

Roman Kosmalski. Differentiation of Productivity Levels and its Causes in Polish Voivodeships in the Years 1998-2008

The present article aims to determine which factors contributed most to a differentiation of productivity levels of Polish voivodeships in the years 1998-2008. The author applied a non-parametric DEA method (Data Envelopment Analysis) and the Malmquist productivity index. The use of the latter allowed the author to distinguish three components of changes in productivity: changes in relative efficiency, technological progress and accumulation of real capital. As a result, sources of changes of productivity in the studied time period were found and recommendations for regional policies were formulated.

Łukasz Lewkowicz. European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation - a new quality of the Polish-Slovak trans-frontier cooperation

The purpose of the article is to provide political analysis of European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), which are being currently established on the Polish-Slovak borderland. First, the author presents the essence and legal basis of this new instrument of the European Union, and describes the origin of the first EGTCs. Second, in the main body of the text, he discusses two Polish-Slovak EGTCs, i.e. Tatra and TRITIA, focusing in particular on their documents of incorporation, internal organization and the planned scope of activities. The article is supplemented with a comparative analysis of previously active euroregions. In the summary, the author offers some conclusions and recommendations regarding further formalization of Polish-Slovak trans-frontier cooperation.

Maciej Smętkowski. Sources of economic growth in CEEC regions – a structural disaggregation

The paper analyzes the sources of economic growth in the regions of Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) using a multi-dimensional approach that takes into account: a) disaggregation of the economic structure; b) the international and national contexts of regional development processes; and c) the main types of regions. The results corroborate the validity of such an approach, showing the interrelationships between the development dynamics of individual regions and the structural changes that are difficult or impossible to identify using an analysis of aggregated values. In particular, the analyses conducted as part of the study help identify the key constituents of metropolization processes taking place in the regions of major city centres, the progress of reindustrialisation processes occurring in transitional regions, and the mechanisms underpinning development of peripheral regions. Based on these differences, the author formulates some general recommendations for policies implemented in these types of regions.

Agnieszka Olechnicka, Grzegorz Gorzelak. Information Society in the European Space

The Information Society’s phenomenon is a subject of interest of many scientific disciplines, among them geography, economy and sociology. The ESPON 1.2.3 project differ against a background of research on the Information Society because of its thematic and spatial scope of the analyses. The operational objective of the project was not only the description of Information Society’s state and trends in Europe from the territorial perspective15, but also analysis of Information Society’s effects on spatial development in different types of regions and formulation on that basis of policy recommendations for macro-, meso- and microlevels. The project has been the first attempt to include the issues of the Information Society into research conducted in the field of spatial development within the enlarged European Union and it should be conceived as a pilot study for the future research.

Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse. The directions of future changes in the EU Cohesion Policy. Selected topics of the 2008–2010 debate

The article presents the main topics of the European debate on the EU Cohesion Policy after 2013, i.e. a discussion of territorial cohesion, the new EU economic strategy 2010-2020, and the next EU financial perspective after 2013. The debate has been continuing in the shadow of the financial and economic crises (2008-2010) and the trouble in the Euro zone (2010), which were caused by continued structural differences between the Member States. The Cohesion Policy is too weak an instrument to solve these problems. The author’s analysis focuses on the main proposals of changes in the Cohesion Policy put forward during the debate, which were shaped mainly by political interests of the dominant actors, and based on experts’ opinions and scientific concepts. In the conclusion, the author presents some recommendations for future Cohesion Policies.

Lіubov G. Kvasnii, Olena V. Moravska, Oksana Soltysik, Yurii O. Shulzhyk, Oresta Ya. Shcherban, Stah O. Vovk. Eco-Industrial Parks of the Lviv Region as a Factor of the Inclusive Development of the Western Region of Ukraine

The article examines the key points of creating eco-industrial parks in the Lviv region and reforming existing industrial parks according to the principles of circular and green economy. The intensive increase in the number of industrial enterprises in the Lviv region is due to the active relocation of enterprises from the war zone of Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to justify the feasibility of creating eco-industrial parks in the Lviv region according to the principles of circular and green economy. The authors recommend the principles of selecting industrial enterprises in the territories of industrial parks, taking into account industrial symbiosis. As part of research cooperation, we conducted and researched the stages of the design, construction, and development of industrial parks in the Lviv region of Ukraine. Practical recommendations have been developed and proposed for the creation and implementation of the production of environmentally-friendly products with further processing and the secondary cycle of waste use in order to reduce the use of natural resources and environmental pollution, and increase the socioeconomic development of the western region of Ukraine.

Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse. Assessment of the Administrative Capacity in Regional Administrations in Poland for implementation of the Integrated Regional Development Operational Programme 2004-2006

Article assesses the administrative capacity of the regional institutions in Poland for implementation of the Integrated Regional Development Operational Programme 2004-2006. Organizational works has been delayed, mainly because of slowing down of the negotiation between Poland and European Commission, lack of required legislative framework and postponement of decisions on central government level. Author presents recommendations for improvement of pace and quality of administrative works in Polish regions. The main conclusion is also importance for general rebuilding of administrative regional framework for future implementation of European funds after 2006. The basic directions for this reform are recommended.

Elżbieta Kozłowska. The City after Military Base Closure

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

Maciej Smętkowski, Katarzyna Wojnar. Primary School Students’ Exam Results and Socio-Spatial Differentiation in Warsaw

The article examines the relationship between the exam results of primary school students and the socio-spatial diversity in Warsaw. Over the past two decades of dynamic transformation and significant social changes in the city, the overall scale of socio-spatial segregation has remained relatively stable. However, studies have revealed a persistent polarisation in exam results, with students from certain districts consistently performing below average. Local educational and economic capital as well as access to non-public schools have significantly influenced both the level and changes in these results. The research provides evidence of some – albeit often weak – correlations between the quality of public education, the availability of non-public education, and the socio-spatial structure of the city. These findings form the basis for public-policy recommendations aimed at addressing the existing inequalities and ensuring access to high-quality public education in all districts of Warsaw.

Igor Babin, Lidiia Vdovichena. The Features of Parafiscality as an Institution of Local Revenues in Ukraine

This article explores the legal nature, classification, and fiscal role of parafiscal charges in the system of local public finance in Ukraine. It identifies the main features of such instruments, analyses their divergence from classical tax and non-tax revenues, and evaluates their practical use by local authorities. Comparative insights from selected European countries are provided. The study reveals significant legal uncertainty and risks of uncontrolled fiscal pressure at the local level, offering recommendations for clearer regulation and alignment with relevant European standards in the broader context of fiscal decentralisation, local governance reform, and sustainable development of territorial communities.

Piotr Rykała, Wiktoria Jędrusik. Creative and Digital Economy in the RIS Strategy: A Case Study of the Video Game Sector in Wielkopolska

The article examines the integration of the video game sector into regional innovation policy in Poland, using Greater Poland [Pol. Wielkopolska] as a case study. The analysis focuses on the relationship between the expansion of the game development (‘gamedev’) industry and the priorities of the Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS 2030). The mixed-method approach was employed, combining quantitative analysis (data on microenterprises, students, and graduates by ISCED fields) with qualitative research (a review of educational offerings and infrastructure supporting the sector). The study is complemented by a content analysis of the RIS strategy and the mapping of potential links between the video game sector and the existing regional specialisations. The findings reveal the presence of a well-developed yet spatially concentrated gamedev ecosystem in the region, alongside its absence from formal innovation policy frameworks. The article concludes with proposed integration scenarios and recommendations for future directions of support for the video game sector within the RIS.