Social and economic urbanization processes in communes in a metropolitan area
Authors: Borucinska-Bienkowska Hanna 
Published: September 2019

The article discusses selected social and economic changes taking place in the communes of a metropolitan area following a political transformation period in Poland, Central and Eastern Europe. Dynamic urbanization of communes of Polish metropolitan areas was one of the numerous results of socio-economic transformation of the country after 1989. The process played an important part in shaping both functional-spatial systems and awareness of self-governmental authorities and local communities in terms of the values of development of integrated systems of the technical infrastructure. Rapid changes taking place during the first years of the social and economic transformation caused a few negative functional-spatial phenomena in the communes bordering the central city. The analysis covered processes taking place in the communes that constitute a considerable part of the Poznań Metropolitan Area. Monitoring processes which promote increased electricity demand (of both social and economic nature, including migration and increase in the number of economic operators in years 2000-2018) taking place in areas of the communes within the impact area of the central city may enable selfgovernments to implement sustainable development rules and facilitate both controlled urbanization of communes of Polish metropolitan areas and correct sustainable development of the technical infrastructure. The example of the analysed selected economic and social issues concerning transformations of communes within the impact zone of the central city shows that the transformation process in the metropolitan areas in Poland after the political change occurs at different levels and to varying degrees. As a result, the new situation rendered it necessary to connect developing economic functions, urban in character, with the traditional functions of agricultural production space. However, expansion of the central city caused a lot of rural communes to lose their primary agricultural character. Combination of housing and economic functions along with traces of agricultural functions, development of technical infrastructure, and transportation network for cars and passengers caused qualitative and quantitative changes in areas of communes adjacent to the central city. The functional-spatial changes and socioeconomic transformation in Poland began a dynamic urbanization process of areas of rural communes bordering the central city. All the processes facilitated synergy in the transformation of communes. A variable pace and scale of the ongoing ecological, economic and social phenomena require constant monitoring both by architects and urban planners, both in practice and theory to examine synergistic processes occurring in contemporary urbanization in the rural areas. Self-governments and local communities, who share responsibility for functional-spatial planning and management of the communes in a metropolitan area, should modify tendencies of sustainable functional-spatial and socio-economic development. The need to design and realize new buildings with the diverse functions in rural communes activates their further development. Finally, this need stimulates synergistic processes occurring in functional-spatial and socioeconomic development in communes of a metropolitan area.