Rozwój miast w Polsce a ich położenie względem autostrad i dróg ekspresowych = The development of cities in Poland and their locations in relation to motorways and expressways

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of changes in the level of development taking place in 913 of Poland’s urban gminas (local-authority areas), in relation to their locations as regards the country’s transport corridors. To achieve the objectives set, use was made of a database with the results of two assessments (for 2004‑2014 and 2008‑2018) – carried out to monitor the development situation of towns and cities in Poland, and with a view to relevant regional policy being pursued (Śleszyński, 2017; Śleszyński et al., 2017). The two indicators (in fact indices) used were the synthetic development index (SWR) relating to the status at a given point in time, and the development distance index (WDR) encapsulating change over time. The SWR was based on 14 sub-indicators (demographic old age, migration balance, population education, schooling level, income poverty, social activity, accessibility of services, general level of economic development, advanced entrepreneurship, local-government wealth, population wealth and investments, unemployment rate, spatial accessibility and level of urbanisation). In contrast, the WDR was compiled by reference to 7 sub-indices (change in the registered population, population forecast, change in numbers unemployed, change in own to gmina budgets, change in the numbers of accommodation places, change in the number of registered businesses and change in numbers of seats of large companies). Values for these synthetic indicators noted for given years were then set against location in respect of Poland’s main express routes (at a node or junction, at a location along a corridor, or at a location beyond a corridor) and its urban centres (in this way identifying centres – be they towns and cities – within agglomerations or considered peripheral). The routes taken account of were freeways, expressways, and dual carriageways providing for faster traffic. Cities with the lowest SWR values were shown to be those located between corridors. Moreover, centres within agglomerations always reported higher values for the development indices than did other centres (e.g. in Central Pomerania, Masuria and Warmia, the Sudetes Mountains and the southern part of Lubelskie Voivodeship). At the same time, a status as located in an agglomeration is seen to be more important than a status as located along a transport corridor. Basically speaking, in the case of the WDR indicator, the increased importance of development functions in all categories of centre was more marked where locations were in hubs or along transport corridors. In the case of population changes, a faster rate of growth is expected in gminas in nodal locations in particular. In turn, both supra-regional and regional centres will lose out (i.e. depopulate), with the location in relation to the main transport corridors mattering little in this respect. Only in the case of the smallest peripheral towns is a location along a route expected to halve the rate of population decline. To that cautious extent, transport location (understood as siting along the corridor of a freeway or expressway) may be considered to exert an effect in inhibiting present and near-future depopulation. Beyond that, these results are able to point to a positive influence of a location along a main transport route in Poland, with this however denoting a growing developmental gap (i.e. increased disparities) between urban centres (large or small) that are within agglomerations, as opposed to their peripheral counterparts.