This paper examines the challenges of implementing contemporary development concepts in old industrial regions, focusing on the Silesian region of Poland. The central question is whether the structural transition declared in Silesian strategic documents represents genuine adaptation or merely symbolic compliance with policy paradigms, that is, window dressing. The analysis highlights a new factor in window dressing, namely a pronounced temporal lag in adopting new development paradigms arising from the legacy of the past compared to Western regions, contributing to heterogeneous structural change across the region. Finally, the study formulates recommendations for regional policy programming to overcome window dressing and support more effective, context-sensitive policy.

This article examines the influence of external factors on air passenger transportation, a key component of tourism. Factors such as military conflicts, epidemics and large-scale international events can both stimulate growth in passenger traffic and cause sharp declines. Methodologically, the study is based on the analysis of statistical data for 2012–2024 on the volume of passenger air transportation, with further spatial aggregation of data and the construction of trend models for 2022–2025 for airports in countries bordering Ukraine. The results indicate a transformation of air services associated with the displacement of logistical, evacuation, and migration routes. The forecast models suggest that high activity will persist at these regional airports in the short to medium term, even if the security situation partially stabilises. The study highlights both negative and positive changes in the spatial restructuring of aviation infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on the role of peripheral airports under new conditions of population mobility.

This article examines the development planning process in the Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State of Ethiopia and identifies factors influencing its effectiveness. A mixed-methods approach was employed, with data collected from 365 civil servants through surveys and 19 key informant interviews. Multistage stratified random sampling ensured representation across the regional, zonal, and woreda levels. The quantitative data were analysed using binary logistic regression, while the qualitative data were analysed thematically. The results revealed weaknesses such as a top-down approach, weak situational analysis, poor monitoring, and exaggerated reporting. The determinants of planning failure, measured as odds ratios, included infrastructure inaccessibility (OR = 4.4), inadequate financial allocation (OR = 6.8), lack of stakeholder participation (OR = 8.8), political instability (OR = 2.6), and weak innovative capacity (OR = 6.3). The study calls for a pragmatic planning approach that emphasises strong local stakeholder involvement to improve regional development planning.

Counties (poviats) undertake a variety of activities aimed at improving environmental quality and ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources. The aim of this paper is to examine the efficiency of these activities among the counties of the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship within the framework of the “Environmental Protection Program for the Wielkopolskie Voivodeship for 2016–2020.” Using the DEA method, we analysed the efficiency of pro-environmental activities across individual counties in 2015, before the program’s implementation, and in 2020, in its final year. A ranking of counties in terms of their environmental efficiency was constructed, changes in their positions between the two analysed periods were examined, and the Malmquist index was also calculated. The study found that the relative efficiency of individual counties increased over the analysed period. It also identified the counties showed the greatest improvement in environmental efficiency, and demonstrated that changes in productivity were predominantly endogenous in nature, resulting mainly from improvements in the efficiency of resource utilisation rather than technological progress.

The study focuses on the spatial concentration of street art in Belfast within the context of the conflict in Northern Ireland and the influence of the city’s ethno-national composition on its distribution. Both majority- and minority-British areas featured loyalist (pro-British) murals. Nationalist (pro-Irish) art was present in areas with an Irish majority. There was a difference in the frequency of the themes depicted between districts, influenced by factors such as tragic events from the Troubles and the control of territory by paramilitary groups. In the city centre, street art unrelated to the subject of the study was observed. This can be attributed to restrictions on access to the area and limitations on organising public demonstrations in this part of Belfast during the Troubles, as well as to subsequent urban regeneration, the high proportion of foreign residents, and the presence of a large young population.

This article analyzes local agency as a category describing the relationship between individuals and their local community. Agency is conceptualized as a two-dimensional phenomenon, encompassing a subjective sense of agency, responsibility, and the ability to influence one’s immediate (referred to in the sociological literature as the sense of agency), and a behavioral dimension, expressed in residents’ actual engagement in activities aimed at changing or maintaining the local social order. The article focuses on the interrelationships between these two dimensions of agency and on the socioeconomic determinants of its behavioral dimension. The text highlights the interconnections between local agency and social capital and their importance for local development. The empirical basis of the study is a representative sample of 1,000 Warsaw residents representing a metropolitan local community characterized by high heterogeneity and weakened social ties.