‘Inner’ suburbanisation – Background of the phenomenon in a polycentric, post-socialist and post-industrial region. Example from the Katowice conurbation, Poland

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of ‘inner’ suburbanisation – a unique spatial and social phenomenon. The process of ‘inner’ suburbanisation involves the development of low-rise housing estates (characteristic of ‘classical’ suburban architecture) within highly urbanised areas. This phenomenon, with its anti-sprawl effect, develops in polycentric systems on account of the specific distribution of ground rent and the availability of free land for new housing developments. This paper presents ‘inner’ suburbanisation in a post-industrial example, in the post-socialist Katowice conurbation in southern Poland. Referring to that example, the factors of the advancement of ‘inner’ suburbanisation are discussed, as well as the typology of spatial manifestations of this process within the metropolitan core. It was established that ‘inner’ suburbanisation processes developed in the surroundings of most towns in the core of the polycentric urban region.