The article discusses the problem of restructuring old industrial areas in the context of foreign investment inflow, using the case of Silesia Steelwork (Huta Silesia) in Rybnik. Old industrial areas constitute a complex socioeconomic problem. Their restructuring, resulting from objective economic processes, is necessary and inevitable. One of the incentives for the transformation is foreign capital which can possibly play an important role in the transformation process. The article begins with the general characteristics of the Rybnik area, describes changes in the region and the situation of Huta Silesia. Further on it presents the influence of foreign undertakings in the region. The conclusions bring the final assessment of the role of foreign capital in restructuring old industrial areas.
The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how the development of European peripheries can be strengthened by cooperative clusters, viewed as loose business organizations where cooperation of partners results in a synergy effect. The existence of clusters in peripheral areas may give efficient solutions to many problems, such as unemployment or the need of restructuring regional economy. Partnership of clusters may add up to their competitiveness thanks to the home demand. The present paper presents an example of the Lubelskie Region, the most neglected region in Poland. It is argued here that cooperation among local clusters provides a chance for an increase in the region’s social activity and for its economic growth.
A socialist city is mainly associated with the imperial architecture of Minsk or East Berlin, the functional division into districts, monumental public buildings, or housing developments. This article aims at restructuring the prospect of city development in the first post-war period, i.e. 1945-1949. Based on the example of Łódź – Poland’s biggest city in view of the demolished Warsaw as well as the working-class capital of textiles – I reconstruct modernisation discourses in press, showing that in the first period of the reconstruction, modest suggestions as to the city development were made, ones adjusted to the needs of its inhabitants and the comfort of everyday life. It was only with the aggravation of the political course after the year 1948 when these were replaced with more daring prospects of a socialist city, gigantic investments, and the construction of new districts for the working-class masses.
The paper discusses urban renewal projects implemented in Polish cities in the framework of Cohesion Policy 2004?2006. Renewal projects constituted only a small portion of the intervention under the Cohesion Policy programmes in cities. Relatively small outlays and a small number of projects resulted in a clear diffusion of the intervention, which undoubtedly affected the scale of results. Most undertakings classified as renewal projects were not comprehensive, i.e. they did not consist in restructuring of spatial, social and economic structures, but were rather repair and modernization investments. The general influence of the projects classified as renewal projects at the domestic level was small, even though most individual projects had a definitely positive impact on their direct surroundings or even the whole city (especially the projects concerning larger public spaces).
The absorption the European Union structural aid, available in 2007–2013 period, provides Poland the opportunity of fast development and improvement of life quality. A regional policy that will effectively use the structural funds may contribute to the improvement of infrastructure, development of entrepreneurship and restructuring of rural areas. The issue of absorption ability has to be considered with particular attention. This study – on the basis of experiences in implementing the Integrated Regional Operational Programme – points out some threats and bottlenecks limiting the potential absorption of funds. The barriers have been identified using the questionnaire based research on the experiences of local governments in the swietokrzyskie region.
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 author of the paper describes the process and conceptions of regional development which have been used in the past 40 years of the economic transformation in the Ruhr Region in Germany. The article describes the socio-economic situation and explains the need for transformation in the region. It also presents a wide range of possible solutions for restructured mining regions and discusses the effects of implementation of the development methods used in the Ruhr Region. Finally, it describes the main points of the current strategy of development for the Ruhr Region. The data presented in the paper have been collected and developed thanks to a scholarship at the University of Duisburg-Essen, financed by The Foundation of Polish-German Cooperation.
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.
