Polish Voivodeship Research Articles

Spatial differentiation of the level of ecological development of Polish voivodeship

Spatial differentiation of the level of ecological development of Polish voivodeship

Demographic Development of Polish Voivodeship Cities in 1999-2022

Demographic Development of Polish Voivodeship Cities in 1999-2022

ВОЛИНСЬКЕ ВОЄВОДСТВО В ДРУГІЙ РЕЧІ ПОСПОЛИТІЙ: З ІСТОРІЇ ТЕРИТОРІАЛЬНИХ ЗМІН У 1921–1939 РОКАХ

The article examines the administrative and territorial changes that took place in the Volyn voivodeship in the interwar period. Changes in the territorial division of voivodeships became the subject of numerous discussions, the participants of which emphasized that the division into voivodeships built in 1919–1921 was imperfect and did not meet the needs of state administration and economic challenges. Most projects were presented in the 1920s in connection with the activities of three governmental and parliamentary commissions that worked on the concept of territorial division. The voivodships of the Second Polish Republic were very diverse in terms of area, population, population density, and level of economic development. Volyn voivodeship was economically and financially weak and could not withstand investment challenges, especially in terms of infrastructure, like most voivodeships. Most of the proposed changes in the administrative-territorial structure of the Volyn voivodeship concerned either the northern territories bordering the Polish voivodeship, or the western territories adjacent to the Lublin Region, but most of these proposals were not implemented. The only significant change in the territorial structure of the interwar Volhynia voivodeship was the inclusion of the Sarny County. At the same time, throughout the interwar period, internal changes took place in the administrative and territorial structure of the voivodeship.

Health Care in Cities Perceived as Smart in the Context of Population Aging—A Record from Poland

Population aging is a global problem affecting many modern economies. Thus, the article attempts to answer the following research questions: What demographic trends characterize cities considered smart, and is the health care offered by these cities adapted to the changes identified in this regard? In other words, can seniors feel safe now and in the near future? In search of an answer to such a question, data as well as demographic and health indicators were used from 16 Polish voivodeship cities mostly considered smart or aspiring to that title. The analysis covered the years 2010–2020. The results indicate a systematic aging of all surveyed urban communities. However, it is progressing at a rather different pace. Unfortunately, not all cities are adjusting the level of health care (medical and nursing staff and hospital infrastructure) to the needs of the growing number of seniors, which—in the future—may exacerbate regional and local medical and social problems. The analysis also shows that the best-performing cities in terms of health care development are Warsaw, Białystok, Kraków and Rzeszów—the units most often identified in international rankings as smart. Their “smartness” in this case lies in forward-looking management that takes into account the aging of the urban community in the process of developing medical care.

Measurement of spatial order as an indicator of sustainable development of functional urban areas in regional capitals

The preservation of spatial order is one of the key objectives of spatial planning. Due to the dynamic changes associated with rapid urbanization, special attention should be paid to cities and the surrounding areas. The aim of this study was to measure spatial order in social, economic and environmental dimensions in the Functional Urban Area of Olsztyn, the capital city of the Polish voivodeship of Warmia and Mazury, and to propose indicators for measuring spatial order. Socioeconomic development should be balanced with environmental protection to promote spatial order and improve the quality of life. Functional urban areas should be regularly monitored to ensure that planning measures contribute to the preservation of spatial order, and to minimize local problems and conflicts. The municipalities belonging to functional urban areas should be regarded not only as distinct territorial units, but also as members of a cohesive area whose development in every dimension of spatial order contributes to an improvement in the quality of life for local communities.

Why ruling politicians grow rich faster—Rent-seeking or selection bias?

AbstractThe high rate of increase of ruling politicians' wealth has been empirically proven many times. However, in the literature it is almost always assumed that politicians grew rich faster due to political rent-seeking or corruption. The aim of this article is to discuss the assumption whether corruption and rent-seeking is indeed the only possible cause, and to present empirical findings undermining the assumption. The results of the analysis of levels and rate of growth of Polish politicians' wealth clearly show that the other explanation is the selection of people exercising authority. Based on statistical analysis of 2024 asset declarations of 689 councillors from Polish voivodeship assemblies from two terms in the period of 2010–2018, the paper demonstrates that the different rates of changes of the value of assets of coalition and opposition councillors are at least partly the effect of the selection bias.

Dekomunizacja zielonogórskich urbanonimów

The article describes the process of decommunization of urbanonyms in one of the Polish voivodeship capitals, Zielona Góra. It presents both the changes in naming we are witnessing currently and past ones. During the first removal of communist patrons we still had to deal with the period of the Polish People’s Republic after Stalin’s death and Władysław Gomułka’s coming to power. However, the changes introduced at that time were quite limited and concerned a small number of people who were no longer in power – Stalin and Marshal Rola-Żymierski. The proper decommunization was related to the political transformation after 1989. The previous urbanonyms, based mainly on anthroponyms, were replaced with names referring to people and events that could not be commemorated before and were to be erased from history (e.g. ul. Hanki Sawickiej changed to ul. gen. Okulickiego). In addition, the changes were motivated by the need nto commemorate local activists and heroes, and to highlight the history and topography of the city. The last decommunization was enforced by the enactment of the Act on the Prohibition of Propagation of Communism or Other Totalitarian Regimes and ended quite recently (the last street name change was voted on on March 27, 2018). Four streets in Zielona Góra have been renamed, including two referring to military organizations associated with the communist movement (ul. Armii Ludowej→ ul. Władysława Jagiełły and ul. II Armii → ul. Żołnierzy 2 Armii), and two based on dates (ul. Przylep-22 Lipca → ul. Przylep-Solidarności and ul. Przylep-9 Maja → ul. Przylep-8 Maja). Therefore, in the case of both decommunizations, ideological considerations prevailed, and to a lesser degree so did economic or cultural ones.

Spatial differentiation in the social and economic development level in Poland

Research background: Social and economic development involves a broad spectrum of social, economic and spatial phenomena. The multi-faceted nature of regional development arises directly from the fact that it is shaped by multiple factors. Current discourse emphasises the role of endogenous factors, which indicate the specific nature and the distinctive features of the given territory. Mobilising the endogenous potential ensures stable regional development dynamics. At the moment, one of the fundamental economic problems are the increasing differences in the development of specific regions.
 Purpose of the article: The purpose of this study is to assess the differentiation of the social and economic level development of Polish Voivodeships, applying the selected assessment methods for the years 2010 and 2015, draw up a rank list of regional units according to their development levels, and identify the groups of Voivodeships sharing similar development levels. The indicators used in this study, characterising the level of the social and economic development, have been systematised according to the following areas: demographics and labour market, regional entrepreneurship, local economy structure, innovation and research & development activities, technical infrastructure, social infrastructure, and the condition and protection of the natural environment.
 Methods: The level of the social and economic development of Polish Voivodeships was assessed using Zdzisław Hellwig?s development pattern method, which made it possible to rank them according to the level of development of Polish Voivodeship. The methodology is supplemented by Ward?s agglomerative clustering method, which made it possible to distinguish other Voivodeships according to the analysed phenomenon. The Voivodeship clustering method used Jenks' natural breaks classification method.
 Findings & Value added: Pursuing the research aims, the authors focused in particular on clear spatial differences. Through the analysis we were able to identify the changes in the social and economic development processes of the Polish regions. The Voivodeships were divided into groups according to their development level: the highest, high, low and the lowest.

Transformations and the Level of Tourist Function Development in Polish Voivodeship Capital Cities

The article discusses transformations of the tourist function in Polish voivodeship capital cities in the period between 2005–2015. The first research stage was carried out through the background of the theory of city economic base using two indicators: index of surplus workers (ISW) and Florence specialisation coefficient (FSC). The conducted research covered employment size, structure, and changes, with a particular emphasis on employment in tourism. In the second stage of the study, based on a group of diagnostic characteristics describing the tourist functions performed by cities, taxonomic measures were constructed to determine the level of these functions’ development.

Cerebrovascular diseases in Poland-inconsistent seasonal patterns of hospitalisation and mortality.

A seasonal variation in the incidence of cerebrovascular diseases still remains inconsistently evidenced. Herein, we analyse the monthly patterns of two health phenomena: hospital admissions and deaths due to these diseases. We identified 69 511 cases of hospital admissions and 14 956 deaths due to cerebrovascular diseases (ICD10: I60-I69 and G45) among the inhabitants of five Polish voivodeship capitals in 2004-13. The method of time series analysis (exponential smoothing with linear trend and monthly additive seasonality) was applied to calculate the monthly specific seasonal indices. The monthly variation in an in-hospital fatality and nonhospital deaths were also analysed. A summer season reduction in number of cases was observed for hospital admissions and deaths. Interestingly, the winter season effect is much more complex, mainly due to the contribution of December, when a high mortality is accompanied by a substantial decrease in the hospitalisation level. This unique discrepancy was observed for all the studied cities. Moreover, this month is characterised by a notably high in-hospital fatality. However, neither the number of non-hospital deaths nor the average length of hospital stay or the kind of hospitalised diseases evidenced that cerebrovascular problems were more serious in December than in any other month. The obtained results confirmed a seasonal variation in cerebrovascular diseases among the inhabitants of Polish cities. Habitual and administrative limitations in hospital activities observed every December do not seem indifferent from the patient health's perspective since they may lead to a low hospitalisation level and a high in-hospital fatality.

TOURIST ACTIVITY OF OLDER INHABITANTS OF THE WARMIAN-MAZURIAN VOIVODESHIP

Purpose. Describing tourist behavior of people over the age of 60 = living in the countryside and cities. An attempt to indicate differences in behaviour of elderly tourists according to their place of residence. Method. The research included 380 individuals (305 women and 75 men) over the age of 60. The authors used a diagnostic survey and an anonymous questionnaire. The results were drawn up with STATISTICA v.12 using a descriptive statistic module (N and %) and the statistical hypothesis test for two indices with the significance of  = 0.05. Findings. The majority of the tested senior citizens are active tourists. They travel more than when they were younger, and a considerable group claims to have started travelling when retired. Seniors have time and money which they willingly spend on tourism, even at the expense of services or products. However, the research showed that place of residence (countryside or a city) is a factor that has a substantial influence on the participation of elderly people in tourism, their reasons for travelling, manners of travel organization and realization, choice of transport and accommodation. Senior citizens living in the countryside definitely do not opt for tourism as often as the city-dwellers. Research and conclusion limitations. The difficulty in reaching elderly people, especially those living in the countryside and those who are not members of any organizations for seniors was the limitation of the research. What is more, the research was only conducted in one Polish Voivodeship. Practical implications. The collected data may be useful for organizers of tourist events directed towards seniors and social organizations working for the elderly. Originality. The available literature on the subject does not include data connected with tourist activity of the elderly living in the countryside. Type of paper. The article presents the results of empirical research.

ROLA I MIEJSCE ADMINISTRACJI SPRAW WEWNĘTRZNYCH W SYSTEMIE WŁADZY PAŃSTWOWEJ II RZECZYPOSPOLITEJ

ROLE THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS ADMINISTRATION WITHIN THE GOVERNMENT THE IN POLISH SECOND REPUBLIC Summary Basic and primary functions of administration were peacekeeping and regulatory activity. Other, like social, economic and regulatory economic were added in the first half of XIX century. It is safe to say that peacekeeping and regulatory activity were indeed the most important tasks of administrations activity. That was the reason that this predecessor of modern ministry of foreign affairs supervised not only public safety and internal security but also education, relations between state and religion and controlling and audit of other state agendas and local administration. This significant role of ministry of internal affairs remained nearly intact in the Second Republic of Poland. The minister of internal affairs supervised both central administration local administration including controlling over voivodes (centrally-appointed governor of a province in polish voivodeship) and starostas (head of county in polish starostwo).

The Possibilities of Production Engineering in the Development of Smart Specialisations Illustrated with the Example of the Silesian Voivodeship

Abstract Smart specialisations, a new area of economy/science which constitutes a new, growing economic specialisation based on utilising the unique natural resources of a region, connecting various branches of the industry, applying innovative technological solutions. Each Polish voivodeship has a specific list of smart specialisations aimed at creating new markets for economic activity, modernisation and increasing the region’s competitiveness. Using as an example the technical universities in the Silesian Voivodeship, the author considers the possibility of teaching future experts for Smart Specialisation implementation as part of the Production Engineering course. He signalises the potential and omissions.

The Evaluation of the Use of Mobile Apps by Citizens of Polish Voivodeships Cities

Digital government is universally gaining acceptance as the public becomes more technologically advanced. It is critical for the government to embrace new technology for not only minimizing costs and maximizing utility of services to the taxpayers but also for serving the general needs of inhabitants and tourists. The paper focuses on one of the aspect of cities’ communication with environment – apps created for mobile phones (smartphones). In past few years there has been a tremendous increase of mobile apps for all major mobile platforms. The objective of the paper is the analysis of mobile apps created by Polish voivodeship cities for Android platform with the use of specially elaborated methodology of evaluating mobile apps.

Spatial Concentration of Land in Poland in 2002-2007

The publication presents regional changes in the concentration of land in agricultural holdings in 2002 (before the accession of Poland to the EU) and in 2007 (three years after the accession) in 16 regions (voivodeships) of Poland. The thesis was adopted that the integration of Poland with the EU contributed, among others, to the increase in the concentration of farmland. To assess the level of concentration of land in a given Polish voivodeship, the Lorenz concentration ratio was used, which synthetically takes into consideration the degree of concentration of a number of holdings and of arable land in a given land-size group. The ratio was calculated on the basis of eight land-size groups of holdings: 1-5 ha, 5-10 ha, 10-15 ha, 15-20 ha, 20-30 ha, 30-50 ha, 50-100 and 100 or more ha. The ranking of voivodeships was created according to the level of land concentration ratio in 2002 and 2007 and changes were determined between the years 2002-2007. In addition, the correlation ratio was calculated between the average size of a holding in a given voivodeship and the Lorenz concentration ratio, calculated for this voivodeship. The conducted analyses show that the concentration of arable land in the country has slightly increased, but in specific regions the changes were varied with the tendency towards convergence.