Abstract. The level of socio-economic development of settlement units depends on the functions performed by these units in functional hierarchy of the rural settlement system in the range of public service. As a settlement system, a registration unit -in this case equal to the definition of a commune (the smallest surface administrative unit in Poland) was taken into account, whereas a cadastral region was considered as a settlement unit. Among locations that form the settlement system, elementary units with poorly developed social infrastructure system, basic units as well as over primary ones, which are the highest-ranking in functional hierarchy units bestequipped in public service, can be identified. The research thesis of this paper is to prove that units from the higher level of hierarchy develop faster and more efficiently and also have higher development level than elementary units. The aim of the paper is to analyse the functional structure of selected rural settlement system in order to determine hierarchy of settlement units and then to confront the obtained results with socio-economic development specified by means of spatial taxonomy methods recorded in the form of a synthetic metha-index. In this article, qualitative methods, in particular analyses and logical constructions, including identification were used. The methods were applied to consolidate the analyzed problem and propose optimal solutions. The comparative analysis and analyses of relevant literature were also used to highlight the research problem. The surveys were performed taking the chosen rural communes located in Małopolska province in Southern Poland into consideration.Keywords: multifunctional development, hierarchy in rural settlement system, access to goods and services.
IntroductionMcGranahan writes that attracting people in rural areas usually depends on the availability and quality of natural resources, schools and access to public and private goods and services [1]. The number, kind and location of customer service points are conditioned by citizens' direct demand [2]. And variety of social infrastructure elements at rural areas results also, among other things, from premises of so called multifunctional development of rural areas implemented from several decades in the area of Europe [3; 4]. The development of social and engineering infrastructure in rural areas, as a component of sustainable development [5,6], is one of the most important problems in the world [7][8][9][10]. Structural changes in traditional rural employment sectors, e.g., agriculture or manufacturing challenge the future of rural communities as places to live and work [11]. It is remarkable that rural communities with attractive lifestyle and educated workforce or these situated near a larger urban place have income growth [12], but communities with smaller populations and relatively low fiscal capacity have not maintained historic levels of population or employment [13]. Social development including access to services is an essential part of efforts towa...
