This analysis investigates medium-sized towns in Poland, i.e. those with a population between 20–100 thousand, located up to 100 km away from the main city of the agglomeration. The aim of this article is to compare the level of socio-economic development of Polish towns depending on their location in relation to the main city in the largest agglomerations in 1998 and 2013. Three zones of distance from the main city of each agglomeration have been taken into consideration: a. the inner zone, reaching up to 25 km from the main city; b. the outer zone located at a distance of 25 to 50 km from the main city, and c. the peripheral zone, located at a distance of 50 to 100 km from the main city and including the medium-size towns located outside the agglomeration system. This analysis of the distribution of medium-sized towns and their level of socio-economic development has shown various levels of changes which depend on the distance from the main city of the agglomeration. In 1998, the highest level of development of the medium-sized towns was recorded in towns outside of these agglomeration systems, i.e. those located most remotely from the main city (peripheral zone). Most of the medium-sized towns are situated at a distance of 50–100 km from Warszawa, Kraków, Łódź, Lublin, Gdańsk and have developed their own local, or even regional labour markets and some of them have even provided administrative functions in the past as voivodeship capitals. Only in the Poznań agglomeration, the level of development of medium-sized towns was higher in the immediate surroundings of the main city (25 km). The medium-sized towns in all zones of the distance from the main city in the Wrocław agglomeration represented a similar level of development. By 2013, the level of development of the medium-sized towns in the peripheral zone in all investigated settlement systems had decreased, with a significant improvement in the level of development of the towns in the immediate surroundings of the main city. Such situation occurs especially in the conurbation of Gdańsk and the agglomerations of Warszawa, Kraków and Poznań. This shows that the largest cities of Poland are the main engines of economic development by stimulating their surroundings and their impact on the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, the towns located in the marginal zones of several agglomerations (the zone 25–50 km away from the main city) experience certain disadvantages, such as the process of “the backwash effect”. Furthermore, the lack of developmental impulses is observed in many medium-sized towns at the distance of 50-100 km from the main city of the agglomeration.
We still know relatively little about the processes of economic transformation in medium-sized towns, which are the cornerstone of the settlement system of many rural areas, together with small towns. This paper considers a group of 39 towns in Northern Italy, located in the area between Asti and Rovigo. Using data from the Italian National Institute of Data Statistics (ISTAT), we investigated the dynamics of the number of the employed at businesses in the periods of 2001–2011 and 2012–2017, the different specialisations of the towns and their ability to attract employees within the respective employment areas. Locally differentiated performance and evolutionary trajectories are evident, preventing us from being able to think of medium-sized (but also small) towns as a coherent whole. It is also clear how the drive towards centralising employees in towns increased following the Great Recession.
The article aims at assessing the diversification of business activity between a city and its suburbs, as well as identifying economic conditions taking place in a suburbanization process. Lower costs connected with running business activity are a significant element increasing the dynamie of its economic development. The authors attempt to exemplify the influence of the fiscal policy on the development of enterprises in the city and its suburbs on the basis of medium cities and their direct suburbs.
PL
Celem opracowania jest ocena zróżnicowania aktywności gospodarczej między miastem a jego zapleczem oraz identyfikacja uwarunkowań o podłożu ekonomicznym w przebiegu procesów suburbanizacji. Elementem dynamizującym rozwój gospodarczy w strefie podmiejskiej są niższe koszty związane z prowadzeniem działalności gospodarczej. Autorzy podejmują próbę egzemplifikacji wpływu polityki fiskalnej na rozwój przedsiębiorczości w mieście i strefie podmiejskiej na przykładzie miast średniej wielkości i ich bezpośredniego zaplecza.
Artykuł prezentuje wyniki badań jakości przestrzeni publicznej centrum miasta przeprowadzonych w wybranych miastach średnich regionu łódzkiego, przy zastosowaniu autorskiej metody oceny. Metoda ta składa się z trzech elementów: waloryzacji graficznej, waloryzacji tabelarycznej i badań sondażowych, w wyniku których otrzymywane są rezultaty liczbowe, umożliwiające dokonywanie analiz porównawczych przestrzeni publicznej miast w różnych aspektach. Ostatecznym efektem metody jest ranking miast, którego wyniki można przeanalizować stosując przyjęte kryteria. Badania wykazały, że najważniejszym czynnikiem wysokiej jakości przestrzeni publicznej centrum miasta jest właściwie zaplanowany i przeprowadzony program rewitalizacji, który wywołuje pozytywne zmiany we wszystkich aspektach zidentyfikowanych jako czynniki jakości przestrzeni publicznej, w tym animację nowych aktywności.
EN
This paper presents the outcomes of research on the quality of public space of town center, led in chosen medium-sized towns of Łódź region, using the authors’ method of assessment. Method consists of three elements: graphic valorisation, checklist valorisation and surveys, each of them giving numerical results, which enables comparison of the quality of public space in different aspects. The final effect of the method is ranking of towns, which can be analysed applying adopted criteria. Research revealed that the most important criterion of the high quality of public space of town center is well planned and executed revitalisation program, which introduces positive changes in all aspects identified as factors of quality of public space, between them animation of new activities.
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