TERRITORIAL COHESION OF MUNICIPALITIES IN POLAND IN 2005-2017 IN TERMS OF SYNTHETIC MEASURE, IN THE CONTEXT OF CONVERGENCE AND SPATIAL CLUSTERING

Abstract

The concept of territorial cohesion has gained importance in the context of the development of the European Union’s regional policy, but definitions of the concept vary enormously. The article uses the concept of spatial development supporting economic and social aspects of cohesion and, on this basis, constructs a multidimensional index of territorial cohesion based on five dimensions (economic, demographic, infrastructural in two approaches and environmental) of the phenomenon. The measure was applied to the total population of municipalities (2175) in rural areas in Poland in the years 2005-2017. The aim of the study was to assess the territorial cohesion of municipalities in Poland in static and dynamic terms and use econometric tools to identify the potential convergence of cohesion and determine the effect of “catching up”, according to Jeffrey G. Williamson [1965], where municipalities with a higher level of cohesion are followed by municipalities with a lower level. The results of previous studies conducted at different regional levels indicate an increase in income polarization in rural areas and the creation of islands of convergence, where the regions with the highest and lowest wealth become similar intra-group but not inter-group. The results indicate a decrease in relative territorial cohesion in rural areas in Poland in 2005-2017 at a municipality level and a tendency to the formation of spatial clusters of entities with similar levels of the characteristic. They do not allow to confirm the view of convergence of cohesion between entities with different levels of the characteristic.