“Productive Cities” in Poland – A comparative analysis based on an aggregate measure of development

Abstract

The subject of the article is the “productive city”, which, along with the “green city” and the “just city,” is one of the main axes of the integrated development of modern cities. The main goal is to assess the degree of productivity in the development of Polish cities. The research covered 66 cities with poviat rights in 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2020. Based on previous research and available data, an aggregated measure of the productive city was proposed based on the linear ordering method. For this purpose, the average value of diagnostic variables (stimulants and destimulants) was determined using a dynamic version of the zero unitisation method. The analysis showed moderate productivity and progress in Polish cities, with an increase of approx. 2.1% over the decade 2010-2020. However, there is a decreasing differentiation in terms of the composite measure. One of the major limitations of the research was spatiotemporal data availability and continuity.