Rural Communes Research Articles

Typologia i regionalizacja obszarów wiejskich województwa kujawsko-pomorskiego = Typology and regionalization of rural areas in the Kuyavian‑Pomeranian (kujawsko-pomorskie) Voivodship

The aim of the studies is the typology and regionalization of rural areas in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian (in Polish: kujawsko-pomorskie) Voivodship in 2018. Basing upon 27 features: natural, cultural, demographic, social, economic and financial conditions, 6 structural types were developed for 127 rural and urban-rural communes. All variables were subjected to the procedure of averaging the set and the standard deviation in plus and in minus. The position of the variable center meant the average level of favorable conditions, in plus – very favorable and favorable conditions, and in minus – less favorable and unfavorable conditions. On this basis, the structural typology of rural areas was developed statistically and cartographically (Figure 2A-E and Table 1). Then, 8 types of functional rural areas were distinguished: 1 – remarkably agricultural, 2 – dominated by the agricultural function, 3 – agricultural and tourism, 4 – agricultural and forestry, 5 – forestry, 6 – tourism and recreation, 7 – multifunctional and 8 – suburban (urbanized). The dominance of the occurrence or coexistence of individual functional and structural types became the basis for the geographical and economic regionalization of rural areas (Figure 3 and Table 2). Elaborated typology and regionalization is the first attempt at analytical and synthetic approach to rural areas in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship. It possesses significant application value. Presented results of functional and structural research may contribute to better understanding of contemporary geographic and economic processes taking place in the development of these areas. Their proper management, undertaken planning and strategic activities may allow for more rational use of the existing natural, social, economic, financial conditions and resources and can significantly improve life quality of rural residents.

WIEŚ PŁOCKA. OD ROLNICZEJ DO WIELOFUNKCYJNEJ

DOI: 10.19251/rtnp/2020.12(14) The process of changes taking place in the countryside can be analyzed in terms of agricultural production, spatial planning, infrastructure facilities, environmental devastation, etc. In this paper, on the example of the Plock district, it was attempted to prove that the location of rural communes in relation to the urban center offering jobs, which is Plock, affects the different dynamics of changes in the distribution and the change of the inhabitants’ sourcesof livelihood. The population of Plock county transformed from agricultural in 1950 to non-agricultural by getting jobs in Plock and starting their own businesses where they lived. In addition, since 2000, there has been a process of de-urbanization in the county. The countryside is becoming an increasingly attractive place to live.

Comparison of analytical and numerical methods in the analysis of the stability of an excavation of the high-speed line in northern Morocco

The deformation and failure mechanisms on slopes and in particular the excavations, are very complex. Slope stability analysis is performed using two types of methods: analytical and numerical, which are compared in this article to evaluate their efficiency. The excavation object of this study is situated on the high-speed line between Kenitra and Tangier, specifically in the rural commune of Hjar Nhal, Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region. It extends for a 1170 m length, its maximum height is 62 m at the axis. The soil of the site is characterized by pelitic formations with the existence of numerous water sources at the base of the excavation. Modelling by analytical methods showed that the excavation did not present a stability problem, contrary to numerical modelling. Firstly, the analysis of the results shows that before the failure, the soil is continuous and that its behaviour cannot be analysed by analytical methods, because a fracture surface cannot be established. It is then necessary to consider numerical methods that take into account the entire volume to analyze the movements and their evolution over time. Secondly, hypotheses have been made about the possibility of a poor estimation of the mechanical characteristics of the soils that constitute the excavation. The review of geotechnical investigations has shown that these soils are coarse with discontinuities that favour water infiltration, and are difficult to characterize, which can lead to an overestimation of their mechanical characteristics.

С РАЗРЕШЕНИЯ ЕГО СИЯТЕЛЬСТВА ГРАФА НАЗНАЧЕНЫ СЕМЬ ЧЕЛОВЕК НА ОТДАЧУ В РЕКРУТЫ…

In addition to completing the army and Navy with lower ranks, the recruiting system performed another function, i.e. punitive. Small-time thieves, vagabonds, persons having no passports, drunkards, as well as negligent housekeepers, tax evaders, unauthorized woodcutters, “the insolent” and others, who for various reasons being objectionable to society or the landowner, were punished by sending to military service. In this paper, based on the materials of the local patrimony archive of the Sheremetevs, the patrimony management is considered in detail, as a mechanism aimed at clearing the rural society of the taxes non-payers and persons of depraved behavior by sending them to recruits. It is shown, in particular, that such a process on the part of the patrimony owner was a thought-out, organized and systematic one, what in some cases led to a mass, up to several tens people at a time, provision of peasants for military service. The final decision on punishment was made by the Count, taking into account the opinions of rural commune, patrimonial and house boards.

The village fund as a support tool in spatial planning activities: a case study of Poland

With respect to space, local authorities may deploy diverse instruments designed to promote the engagement of local communities in the spatial planning and decision-making process. The Village (Polish: Sołecki) Fund, established for rural and urban-rural communes, is one of the ways for achieving this goal. Resources from the Village Fund may be used for, e.g. spatial planning, which is one of a commune’s own tasks. The activities related to the Village Fund have triggered studies focused on the units which run such funds and, on the amounts, earmarked for goals pertaining to spatial planning. On top of that, the spatial distribution of communes delivering such tasks has also been assessed. The analyses covered statistics as well as budget queries in communes which allocated funds for activities connected with spatial planning.

DETERMINANTS OF DEBT IN RURAL MUNICIPALITIES ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE WARMIŃSKO-MAZURSKIE VOIVODESHIP

One of the major consequences of the economic crisis with which the local governments had to deal was growing debt, the implications of which could endanger the continuity of public services. It appears that the largest cities in Poland were especially exposed to the negative effects of the indebtedness, yet the problem affected the village communes as well. Therefore, the main aim of the article was to assess the level of indebtedness of rural communes against other communes as well as to identify the determinants of the debt. As an example for the analysis communes of the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodeship were selected, as the region is characterized by a high share of rural areas as well as a rather unfavourable economic situation. The general indebtedness of the selected rural communes remained at a relatively low level in comparison to the urban and urban-rural communes. Findings also suggest that the level of debt was influenced primarily by such factors as the number of inhabitants in the studied area, the number of primary schools, as well as the share of the post-working age population in the population total.

The Oldest Notarial Documents of Vicenza District from the Collection of N.P. Likhachev, 1380S – 1465S, with the Regestae of the Documents

The collection of the Western European manuscripts gathered by N.P. Likhachev (1862–1936) and currently stored in the Scientific and Historical archive of the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences contains, among other documents, the vast majority of this array comes from Italy (about five thousand documents), of which about a third are original notarial deeds. There are over ten thousand storage units related to the history of Italy in the collection of the West-European section of the archive of St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The collection is divided into fonds, and the focus of this research will be on the sixth collection that was named «Venice and its possessions», where you can find notarial deeds analyzed by a team of scholars within the framework of our project. The manuscripts studied by our team provide information about economic and social aspects of life in the rural communes of the Val d’Astico located in the Northern Vicentino. Here we describe the geographical and historical peculiarities of the region in order to place the documents in the particular context and to proceed with its better understanding. All of these documents are instrumenta rather than imbreviaturae, and at least when it comes to the deeds drawn by Pietro di Zennaro we can treat this set as a certain unity. Within this study, one of our main objectives of the team work was preparation of these documents for critical publication. The source material studied here still has to be contextualized and researched in more profound manner; however, we can clearly see now that the investigation of the deeds stored in the Western European section of the Scientific and Historical archive of the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences is more than promising.

Agricultural tax as a source of income for rural communes

The revenues from the agricultural tax only to a small extent contribute to the budgets of communes, and they often constitute the basic source of tax revenues in rural communes. This is the main reason for the worse income situation of rural communes in Poland. Rural communes in Poland are the least independent units and such situation requires the search for effective sources of income for local government units. For many years, there has also been a discussion on the possibility of real taxation of income from agricultural activities. Considering the above, the purpose of this study was to analyze the income equipment of rural communes in the field of agricultural tax in 2011–2017. The analysis of the income structure confirms that in rural communes, the share of agricultural tax in total income is twice as high as the average in Polish communes. However, this is not a factor that makes it possible to increase the financial independence of rural communes.

EVALUATION OF RURAL COMMUNES IN THE CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The aim of the study is to determine whether the development of selected communes entirely located in rural areas is progressing towards achieving integrated order in line with the concept of sustainable development. Detailed research covered typically rural communes located in the Lower Silesian Voivodship. Research was carried out according to 5 functional regions of rural areas of the voivodship. The research period covered the years 2011-2017. The research takes into account three orders: social, economic and environmental. Sustainable development indicators and the linear normalization method in the form of zeroed unitarization were used. In the analyzed rural communes of the Lower Silesian Voivodship, the indicator of striving for environmental order (E) ranged from 0.403 to 0.571, the indicator of striving for economic order (G) from 0.403 to 0.571, and the indicator of striving for social order (S) from 0.320 to 0.459. Finally, a synthetic indicator (SI) was calculated to determine the level of integrated order, which ranged between 0.370-0.452 (the lowest values were recorded for the 2nd functional region, and the highest for the 4th functional region of Lower Silesia). The synthetic indicator of the pursuit of integrated order grew, with the exception of the 5th region. Changes should be assessed as positive.

Landuse/landcover change process in a tropi¬cal semi-arid zone: case of two rural com¬munes (Chadakori and Saé-Saboua) in Maradi region, Republic of Niger

The study aimed to analyze the process of Landuse/Landcover change of two rural communes (SaéSaboua and Chadakori) of Maradi region (Republic of Niger) over the past 28 years (1986 – 2014),through landscape structure analysis by diachronic cartographic approach and landscape indices. Mixedclassification of temporal series of Landsat images led to identifying six Landuse/Landcover (LULC)classes, namely ”cultivated land under shrubs and trees”, ”cultivated land under trees”, “continuouscropland”, ”fallow/pasture land”, ”forest reserve”, and ”settlement”. The composition and structure ofthe studied landscapes have greatly changed from 1986 to 2014. The class ”cultivated land under trees”was the landscape matrix in 1986 with 38.65% of landscape total area but in 2001 and 2014 the class”continuous cropland” became the landscape matrix. The changes also affected the ”forest reserve”which was transformed to smallholder agricultural land from 1986 to 2014. The area occupied byclasses ”cultivated land under trees” changed from 38.65% in 1986 to 8.78% in 2014; and from 1986to 2014, the area occupied by ”fallow/pasture land” has decreased of about 16%. The decrease in theseclasses was in favor of ¨continuous crop land¨, ¨settlement¨ and “cultivated land under shrubs and trees”which respectively gained 38%, 0.3% and 8.15% of their areas in 1986. The results of this study reflectthe problem of access to land and even land saturation in semi-arid region, a consequence of strongpopulation growth. They also contribute to a better rethinking of agricultural practices in order to initiateadaptation and resilience strategies for the population facing food insecurity and poverty.

The Land Transfer from the State Treasury to Local Government Units as a Factor of Social Development of Rural Areas in Poland

Sustainable rural development (with the development of social functions) is currently one of the basic objectives of the rural areas policy in Poland. The main purpose of this article is to determine the level of social development of rural areas and to examine whether the National Support Center for Agriculture (NSCA) activities (in the form of transferring land to communes for the implementation of social goals) have an impact on that development, and to what extent. In this article, an assessment of the social development level of rural areas using the Hellwig method was carried out. The research covered the years 2005 and 2018, on the districts of the Warmian-Masurian voivodship located in the northeastern part of Poland. The detailed analysis also covered the rural and rural-urban communes of Lidzbark, Kętrzyn, and Bartoszyce districts. The obtained results were compared with the area of land transferred by the NSCA Regional Office Olsztyn to local government units in 2004–2017, for the implementation of social goals. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used for a comparison. The results are presented in tabular form and visualized using GIS software in the form of carto-diagrams (diagram maps). Results show a positive influence of NSCA on social development of rural areas.

POPULATION MOVEMENT RELATED TO EMPLOYMENT ON THE EXAMPLE OF RURAL COMMUNES OF THE ŁÓDŹ VOIVODSHIP

The aim of the study was to identify directions of functional and spatial connections based on employment-related population movement. Two basic accessibility variables were adopted as the basis for analysis, namely distance and travel time. The spatial scope of the study was limited to selected rural communes of the Łódź voivodship, which were characterised by a low rate of population movement to work, illustrating the ratio of the number of people coming to a given commune to work, to the number of people leaving the given commune to work in other territorial units. The indicator was calculated based on data from the Central Statistical Office regarding population movement. Distance and travel time were also analysed based on the statistical data of the Central Statistical Office in the scope of estimated distance and travel time from the commune being the place of residence to the commune of the workplace. Analysis showed that both the distance and time of commuting to work practically does not deviate from accepted values. In some cases, rural residents are willing to travel longer distances, and thus spend more time commuting to work. Decisions about daily commuting to work to the city are linked to the possibilities of taking up employment, although a short distance is not a sufficient and only criterion here. Underdeveloped cities are not thereby less attractive in terms of employment, however the interest of potential employees in them is much weaker than in the case of cities allowing for a proper matching of labour demand and supply.

Plant-parasitic nematodes parasitizing saffron in Morocco: Structuring drivers and biological risk identification

Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN) are the most destructive of all plant pathogens. They are an economically important group of soil pathogens, causing significant annual damages of up to 25% of world crop production. Morocco is considered to be a highly productive country for the colorant/medicinal/spice saffron (Crocus sativus L.). Taliouine and Taznakht regions are the most productive areas of this valuable neutraceutical. Due to its metabolic profile, and growth forms, saffron is susceptible to many plant diseases, including plant-parasitic nematodes (PPN). This work aims to assess the diversity of PPN communities in soils of Taliouine and Taznakht regions to facilitate understanding of links between their assemblages with biotic and abiotic parameters. Herein, nematode communities were characterized in 163 soil samples collected from 11 rural communes characterized by altitudinal gradients in Taliouine and Taznakht regions. Fifteen PPN genera belonging to 12 families were identified, among which the four genera Ditylenchus, Aphelenchoides, Pratylenchus and Helicotylenchus, potentiate serious limiting factors in saffron production. Their frequencies are respectively 92, 49, 48 and 36% in the area of Taliouine, while in Taznakht they represent 95, 69, 33, and 28% respectively. Regarding the assessment of diversity at different sites, the genus richness (R) index ranges from 2 to 10 distinct genera, whereas the Shannon diversity (H’) index varies from 0.9 to 1.5 and the Evenness (E) index tends to 1. The Co-inertia analyses revealed a substantial relationship between nematode communities and soil types. Soil texture is the major factor influencing the presence and the abundance of a considerable portion of genera. Multivariate analyses (MBPLS) indicated links between humidity, rainfall, minimum temperature and PPN taxa, though maximum temperature did not have an impact. Ditylenchus, Helicotylenchus, Pratylenchus and Paratylenchus were related to the humidity and silt soil that developed in Taliouine. Aphelenchoides, Tylenchus, Tylenchorynchus and Dorylaimus were more prevalent in rainy locations and clay soils of Taznakht. Suitable nematode controlling approaches may be applied and preventative measures should be considered at nursery and field level.

THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF RURAL COMMUNES AND THE LEVEL OF THEIR INCOME IN THE ŚWIĘTOKRZYSKIE VOIVODSHIP

The commune’s process of development (its development) takes place in a space that is completely filled by the natural and economic environment with their individual characteristics. Income and expenditure instruments, which are the basis for the operation of local government units and a condition for carrying out the tasks imposed on them, determine the scope and effectiveness of the impact of local government on local and regional development. The aim of the article is to analyse the spatial disproportions of the financial situation in relation to their income using a synthetic measure. The analysis was made in the system of 69 rural communes of the Świętokrzyskie province. As source material, data from the Regional Accounting Chamber and Local Database of the Central Statistical Office for 2007, 2014, and 2017 were used. Local government can carry out its tasks when it is equipped with stable and efficient sources of own income. Therefore, finance is the basis for the implementation of public tasks and determines the conditions for local economic development. The indicated areas are characterized primarily by traditional agricultural functions. In 2007, the financial standing measure (TOPSIS) ranged from 0.31 to 0.47, in 2017 from 0.30 to 0.51. In 2007, the financial standing (OE) measure ranged from 0.64 to 0.80, in 2017 from 0.56 to 0.80. Areas with a high level of financial standing were located mainly in the central area of the region (Sitkówka-Nowiny, Masłów, Strawczyn, Zagnańsk, Solec-Zdrój). The factors determining group membership were favourable location rent, a very good financial situation, and good infrastructure. Group entities are characterized by the highest average share of own revenues, as well as local taxes and fees in total revenues. At the other extreme of the distribution were areas with a low level of financial standing, which can be described as peripheral (Klimontów, Pawłów, Radoszyce, Bieliny, Dwikozy, Iwaniska, Bliżyn). This peripherality has a geographical dimension, expressed by its location relative to the centre of the region, as well as an economic and well-developed agricultural function.

STEM education in non-formal learning institutions in ethnic monority and mountainous areas: a look from Ha Giang city’s community learning centre

Community Learning Centre (CLC) is an non-formal learning institution working at grassroots level of the society. It derives from the initiative of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) launched in 1988, as part of the Education for All Target Program in the Asia-Pacific region. The idea of building a lifelong learning society to promote the economy and appeal to participation of all social groups through education and the role of the CLC as a special autonomous community is the spirit and reason of CLCs’ existence [7]. In Vietnam, As of 2015 there have been more than 11,900 CLCs established in 10,600 communes and wards nationwide [4], working as informal and non-formal educational institutions in the commune level. STEM education has been a new trending method of teaching and learning in the last decades originated from US under the demands of educating and training new labour generations with expertise in practical knowledge and skills. STEM education can be in forms of formal and informal learning, in schools and in lifelong learning institutions. STEM education has been imported to Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam in the last recent years and become a trending word in educational discourse. In Vietnam, STEM education has been piloted in a few public schools of big cities of designed in international schools and private institutions of the nation. Yet it is a luxury educational product and strange in remote areas of Vietnam where most people are poor and live under disadvantaged conditions. While, CLCs as part of continuing educational institutions of the country have exited in all provinces, but struggling with the crisis of operation. In this context, there has been a model of CLC choosing STEM education as its main operating component and working with mostly children in informal ways such as supporting STEM clubs in local schools, running mobile STEM in villages and connecting STEM experts with local teachers. This is a groundbreaking pilot model in the ethnic and mountainous context, with close link between science - education - research and private sector participation with local government budget and government-led activities: Ha Giang City’s Community Learning Centre (HCLC) in Vietnam. It can probably be considered as a good example for other places to learn. The STEM education program of the HCLC is designed with the purpose of promoting formal and informal STEM education for ethnic minority students within the city. The three main aspects for changes after operating this STEM element are (1) improvement of learning environments and accessing to hands-on learning materials for children through a formal and informal science-integrated education system; (2) teachers’ and education managers’ professional development, and the enhancement of their provision of teaching learning material and through capacity building programs; And (3) opportunity of accessing better quality education for community, especially poor and ethnic minority children within remote suburbs of the city through free of charge enrollment for the community STEM program. In line with the content of the workshop, the following analysis focuses on the third aspec the STEM program that has been contributing to the improvement of better quality education for poor ethnic minority children in the 3 rural communes of Ha Giang city. This presentation will also provide some suggestions to the operation of STEM integrated education in CLCs or other community-based learning institutions in ethnic minority areas.

Social and economic urbanization processes in communes in a metropolitan area

The article discusses selected social and economic changes taking place in the communes of a metropolitan area following a political transformation period in Poland, Central and Eastern Europe. Dynamic urbanization of communes of Polish metropolitan areas was one of the numerous results of socio-economic transformation of the country after 1989. The process played an important part in shaping both functional-spatial systems and awareness of self-governmental authorities and local communities in terms of the values of development of integrated systems of the technical infrastructure. Rapid changes taking place during the first years of the social and economic transformation caused a few negative functional-spatial phenomena in the communes bordering the central city. The analysis covered processes taking place in the communes that constitute a considerable part of the Poznań Metropolitan Area. Monitoring processes which promote increased electricity demand (of both social and economic nature, including migration and increase in the number of economic operators in years 2000-2018) taking place in areas of the communes within the impact area of the central city may enable selfgovernments to implement sustainable development rules and facilitate both controlled urbanization of communes of Polish metropolitan areas and correct sustainable development of the technical infrastructure. The example of the analysed selected economic and social issues concerning transformations of communes within the impact zone of the central city shows that the transformation process in the metropolitan areas in Poland after the political change occurs at different levels and to varying degrees. As a result, the new situation rendered it necessary to connect developing economic functions, urban in character, with the traditional functions of agricultural production space. However, expansion of the central city caused a lot of rural communes to lose their primary agricultural character. Combination of housing and economic functions along with traces of agricultural functions, development of technical infrastructure, and transportation network for cars and passengers caused qualitative and quantitative changes in areas of communes adjacent to the central city. The functional-spatial changes and socioeconomic transformation in Poland began a dynamic urbanization process of areas of rural communes bordering the central city. All the processes facilitated synergy in the transformation of communes. A variable pace and scale of the ongoing ecological, economic and social phenomena require constant monitoring both by architects and urban planners, both in practice and theory to examine synergistic processes occurring in contemporary urbanization in the rural areas. Self-governments and local communities, who share responsibility for functional-spatial planning and management of the communes in a metropolitan area, should modify tendencies of sustainable functional-spatial and socio-economic development. The need to design and realize new buildings with the diverse functions in rural communes activates their further development. Finally, this need stimulates synergistic processes occurring in functional-spatial and socioeconomic development in communes of a metropolitan area.

Imbalance in local revenues from property taxes in Poland versus local infrastructure expenditures

The imbalance in the public finance sphere is equated with the budget deficit, when the inflows to the local budgets do not cover the expenses. In the article, the imbalance is understood in two ways: as the deficit of property tax revenues, in relation to the public expenditures for purposes directly related to the infrastructure that increase the value of a property or change its purpose; and as a spatial imbalance in the amount of revenues in the individual territorial self-government units. The second approach will examine the disproportion of tax and per capita spending broken down into urban, rural and urban-rural communes, as well as the search for the causes of disproportions in the level of tax revenues. The aim of the study is to indicate a permanent budget deficit within the meaning of earmarked expenditure (income from property tax - expenses on real estate infrastructure) in the surveyed units, and a strong differentiation of this deficit in the three groups of local government units examined. The study will use the data from public statistics and methods of multidimensional analysis. The obtained results may be another argument in favor of introducing ad valore tax in Poland, as well as implementing the concept of activity-based budgets, and prescribing generic inflows to expenditures on related purposes.

“We no longer fear brides from afar”: Marriage markets and gendered mobilities in rural Vietnam

Since the late 1990s, Vietnamese women’s participation in international marriage migration has garnered academic and media attention. In contrast, internal marriage migration, a key driver of overall internal migration flows, has received scant consideration. In this paper, we examine marriage and migration dynamics in four rural communes that have “lost” significant numbers of their single women to international marriage and gained brides through internal migration. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2012 and 2013 in four villages and analysis of local marriage registration data and census data, this article examines internal and international marriage migration. We probed marriage migration vis-a-vis marriage markets, internal labor migration and gendered mobility patterns. The increased diversification of marriage with respect to spousal places of origin indicates a reconfiguration of marital norms and practices and changing social constructions of a desirable wife and daughter-in-law. Results underscore the role of labor migration and interprovincial networks in expanding mate-seeking circles among rural youth and in altering marital norms. Female international marriage migration is one piece of a larger puzzle whereby various forms of mobility are intertwined with changes in the realms of gender, family and marriage.

The Effectiveness of Administrative Consolidation Processes in Urban Functional Areas. Case Studies from Poland and the USA

Urban functional areas usually extend beyond the city's administrative boundaries. As a result, there is a problem of coordinating effective public service provision between the city and its suburbs. A review of world experience shows that two institutional solutions are usually applied here – intercommunal cooperation or adaptation of administrative borders to the scope of the functional zone. However, the studies so far have not provided an answer as to which method is more effective. The objective of the paper is to compare the processes of adapting administrative borders to urban functional areas. The hypothesis was formulated that uniform management of the entire functional area favors effectiveness and institutional sustainability of public service provision. Princeton in the USA and Lubin in Poland were selected as case studies. Princeton is an example of successful administrative consolidation of the city with the surrounding rural commune, while in Lubin, unfortunately, such a project was not implemented. In the conclusion was found that inter-communal cooperation does not provide sustainable solutions and is exposed to cadenza changes of decision-makers. The most effective seems to be the consolidation of individuals, but its success depends on a very well prepared and transparent procedure.

Coastal zone as a space of foreign arrival tourism in 2000-2017

This study addresses the development of foreign incoming tourism in the coastal tourist zone of the Baltic coast. Quantitative and spatial analysis of foreign incoming tourism in coastal communes of the Baltic coast in the period 2005-2017 was carried out. The GUS Local Data Bank data on the number of foreign tourists using the accommodation base of the number of overnight stays for foreign tourists in all 38 coastal communes in the Baltic Sea Coast were used as source material for the implementation of the research problem. The material was analyzed statistically and cartographically in the form of cartograms.The analysis of the spatial distribution of foreign tourists and overnight stays in individual coastal municipalities indicates their strong concentration in the spa communes (Kołobrzeg, Świnoujście, Międzyzdroje, Sopot), in Gdańsk and in communes with well-developed accommodation infrastructure and accompanying services (Rewal, Darłowo, Dziwnów). The least visited are rural communes, located on the outskirts of the region, with poorly developed tourist infrastructure, with a dominant function of socio-economic development, different from the tourist one.