Functional Differentiation Of Degraded And Restituted Towns To The Background Of Other Similarly Sized Towns And Villages In Eastern Poland
Creators: name: Sokołowski Dariusz
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: small towns, new towns, restituted towns, degraded towns, economic functions, Poland

description: Economic functions constitute a particularly important element of a town’s life cycle as they often determine its emergence, its favorable or unfavorable location, and then its growth or demise. Numerous towns in Poland have lost their town privileges due to economic reasons, enlarging in that way the category of settlements referred to as ‘degraded towns’. For many decades, small towns have been facing various crises. The economic functions of degraded towns constitute the main research topic of this paper, which departs from the following research hypothesis: degraded towns, in view of their determinants of growth, have a functional structure more similar to towns rather than to villages.<br>
The study covers towns which simultaneously meet two criteria: they have a particular size (2.000–4.999 inhabitants) and perform administrative functions (serve as the seat of the municipality). For reasons of demarcation, only towns located in the five provinces of eastern Poland have been taken into account. Within this group, the following subgroups of towns have been discerned for the sake of comparison (on account of their current and historical formal status):<br>
– M – towns (localities that gained or regained urban status prior to 1980 and have retained it ever since);<br>
– N – ‘new’ towns (localities that gained urban status for the first time after 1980);<br>
– R – restituted towns (localities that regained urban status after 1980);<br>
– Z – degraded towns (localities that have had urban status in the past but have not regained it between 1980 and 2015);<br>
– W – villages (localities that have never had urban status).<br>
The study has uncovered a range of regularities across the outlined settlement categories, enabling to draw statistical conclusions. The fact that localities within particular categories differ significantly also points to the necessity to adopt an individualized approach.<br>
In terms of economic functions, ‘degraded towns’ do not differ much from villages performing administrative functions. The similarity is largely the result of upgrading the latter in terms of increased multifunctionality. As a result of this, differences between localities performing administrative functions are becoming increasingly smaller, while differences between localities not performing such functions become greater and greater – regardless of their formal status (i.e. urban or rural). Some degraded towns reach high index values in the economic dimension; some of them have already been upgraded to the category of formal towns (R), a move, which at the same time contributes to the lowering of average parameters among the remaining degraded towns (Z) as a group. An improved economic situation is likely to contribute to a positive evaluation of an appeal for restitution. Apart from aspects such as economic function and infrastructure – i.e., factors, which cease to polarize the abovementioned groups of towns – the differences between degraded towns and other villages remain especially in the morphological and social dimensions.<br>
In this article, I have confirmed and identified some of the factors that determine the nature and level of growth of local economies in the analyzed categories. Besides the administrative function, I have found locations in the vicinity of bigger cities to have favorable effects. Of note is also the spatial layout of a town, as its lack implies that agrarian functions can remain significant.<br>
The fragility of some local economies corroborates the small-town crisis, as reflected in, for instance, few workplaces, high unemployment and emigration of young inhabitants – with all the negative consequences these phenomena incur. To a large extent, the crisis is an overall reflection of a weak Polish economy, which tends to affect small towns more than cities. This is mostly due to the devolution of minor food and agriculture industry, handicraft, and various small businesses, which fail to compete with large supermarket chains. The condition of some small towns, including that of degraded towns, shows that crises can be overcome. This, however, can only happen through external support, mostly in the form of economic investments.