Industrial Spaces in Small and Medium Cities in Southern Poland – The Selected Examples

Abstract

The industrial areas of small and medium size Polish cities, which were the elements of large industrial districts in the past, are the subject of the article. The effects of historical spatial conditions, the impact of industrial districts on these cities, as well as the consequences of transformations from the turn of the eighties and nineties of the last century are analysed. In the last twenty years, there have been profound changes in the industrial areas of urban spaces. Many of them did not raise after the period of systemic transformation and changes of the centrally planned economy to free market. The transformation of urban and suburban space has been and still is the effect of these changes, changing the purpose of the old industrial buildings and establishing the existence of new structures in open areas, such as “greed field”. In turn, this results in the reconstruction of the existing transport systems and road corridors, profound changes in the city’s infrastructure and affects human resources, directing new workforce to the routes. In addition to the transformation of the spatial structure of the city, a new standard of work space organisation has appeared: on the one hand, based on the old tape production system, and on the other, closed and isolated. The author presents a selected example of cities from the Bielsko Industrial District, which was established in the first half of the XIX century, and its area currently amounts to 2,6 thousand km2. Currently, the machine, automotive, textile and metallurgical industries are mainly developing in this district. Furthermore, there are two subzones of two special economic zones in the BID: Katowice and Cracow. After years of stagnation, today the largest industrial areas are developing on the outskirts of the cities and villages, where industrial zones or economic activity zones are built. Such areas are located in Bielsko-Biała, Żywiec, Pszczyna, Czechowice-Dziedzice, Wilkowice, Rybarzowice, Skoczów, Cieszyn, Jasienica, Kęty and Andrychów. In small and medium-sized cities, the process of transformations and changes taking place under the influence of the development of industrial areas is particularly visible.