Urban attributes of degraded towns on the example of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

Abstract

The article presents degraded towns in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship that currently maintain the status of a village. Five settlements, which today are seats of communes, were analyzed in detail, as well as four that performed such a function in the post-war past. First of all, the origin of the emergence as well as the circumstances of the loss of the urban status were discussed. Then a current level of development of the features of urban centers was presented, as regards to the population, functional and spatial aspects. In addition to the number of population and the structure of the economy, particular attention was given to the urban spatial structure that co-create the local cultural landscape. The summary presents the main reasons for the degradation of the discussed centres and highlights those that potentially have the greatest predisposition to regain the urban status.