Population changes in former voivodeship cities in Poland in the context of suburbanization processes and loss of the administrative function

Abstract

ORCID iD: Wioletta Szymańska: https://orcid.org/0000- 0001-8673-2074; Tomasz Michalski: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7916-9620 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A BS TR A CTThe article presents an attempt to analyse population changes and to measure the strength of the impact of factors causing these changes in former voivodeship (province) cities in Poland. In view of the ongoing processes of suburbanisation, the discussion also concerns the areas surrounding the city, i.e. those creating urban systems together with the city. These zones were delineated, calling them demographic influence zones, because only demographic factors were involved in defining them. The research was conducted in the period between1999-2015, and took into account the administrative reform of the country that degraded 31 cities from voivodeship (NUTS-2) capitals to poviat (LAU-1) cities. The main aim of the study was to find an answer to the question: do the directions and the strength of population changes confirm a hypothesis of the destructive impact of the loss of administrative function on settlement units. The results of the study only partially confirmed this hypothesis. Although a decrease in the population is overwhelmingly predominant in the city core, in the case of the demographic influence zone, it has already increased. Counting both parts together, it was found that in half of the cases there was a decline and in the other half a growth of the population.

Population change and the settlement system transformation in Poland, as revealed by the 2021 census

“…Identifying the causes and consequences of ruralization is a challenging task, especially considering that it is relatively uncommon in European countries. However, Poland has experienced a decline in its urban population since the end of the 20 th century [7]. While urbanization has been a characteristic trend in most European states for centuries, Poland has lagged behind many of them in terms of its level and pace, largely maintaining its identity as a predominantly rural country.…”

Population Change as an Aspect of Suburbanization of Major Cities in Poland

“…The problem of depopulation was studied by Spórna (2018). Research on population change caused by suburbanization was dealt with by Szymańska and Michalski (2019) in their study, as well as Gnat and Bas (2013). The social and spatial changes brought about by the collapse of socialism were studied by Marcińczak et al (2013).…”

Which Polish Cities Sprawl the Most

“…In demographic terms, suburbanisation is most often recognised as a process leading to a significant increase in the population on the urban agglomeration fringe compared to the number of residents in the city core (CC) [7][8][9]. This specific process is often referred to as a preliminary stage or residential-area suburbanisation because people tend to choose fringes rather than the core to live at this point [10].…”

“…Polish suburbanisation discourse is dominated by research on its socioeconomic aspect [8,[51][52][53][54][55]. Most publications are based on data from public statistical resources (the Local Data Bank of the Polish Central Statistical Office) [1,56,57].…”