Changes in the Characteristics of Suburbanization in the Warsaw Metropolitan Area in the First Decades of the 21st Century

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study on the nature, pace, and directions of socio-economic and spatial changes in the Warsaw Metropolitan Area (WMA) related to the suburbanization processes taking place there. This paper’s contribution to research on suburbanization processes and the uniqueness of the research approach used are related to the dimensions of suburbanization analyzed and their integration while distinguishing types of municipalities, as well as an attempt to present the course and dynamics of changes in suburbanization in municipalities depending on their location, their development potential, and the time of appearance of suburbanization in their areas. In the course of our research, data on municipalities from the Local Data Bank were used, and that made it possible to trace the changes occurring in 2002–2021. The selection of analytical characteristics took into account a wide range of socio-economic diversities of the area related to changes in population, construction activity and housing stock, land use and spatial policy, and economic factors and those associated with investment attractiveness. The components of diversification were used to develop the typological classes of municipalities. The final result of this study is the identification of the specificity of suburbanization in the WMA which is reflected in the social, economic, and spatial aspects of the functioning of municipalities.