Spatial Differentiation of the Socio-Economic Development of Poland–“Invisible” Historical Heritage

Abstract

The analysis aims to identify spatial variations of socio-economic development in Poland at the local level and to determine their correlation with conditions resulting from the historical political divisions of today’s areas of the country. The research procedure helps to verify the hypothesis that spatial differentiation of socio-economic development in Poland is permanent and does not show significant changes during periods of economic growth and crisis. We can emphasize at the same time the persisting differences between cities and their functional areas on the one hand and rural areas on the other. The study applied an innovative procedure of determining the synthetic index. The procedure of classifying local units presented in the text was based on the original random forest method. The outcomes confirm that contemporary spatial diversification at the level of socio-economic development in Poland is still strongly conditioned by history, especially by the socio-economic consequences of the partition of Poland between the three superpowers (Russia, Prussia and Austria). This is evident in the synthetic presentation of the level of socio-economic development. However, in the case of certain socio-economic phenomena, the values of indicators describing them no longer directly relate in their diversity to historical borders, particularly the former partition borders.

Regional Disparities as a Result of Differences in Human Capital and Innovativeness on the Example of Poland

“…Historical factors and economic geography have translated into Poland's modern development dualism, centered around its East-West axis. This state is similar to the overall European divide with more developed Western European countries and less developed Eastern European countries (former Eastern Bloc members) (Churski et al, 2021;Grosfeld & Zhuravskaya, 2015). in the development of regions, for example, those of historical or geopolitical nature, should be considered in strategic plans for national development.…”

“…Until now, traces of this division can be seen in the spatial differentiation of socio-economic development or education performance (Bukowski, 2019;Churski et al, 2021;Grosfeld & Zhuravskaya, 2015). Furthermore, warfare during World War II, and forced migration during or after the war, was particularly prominent in Poland.…”

Is the grass elsewhere really greener? A study on the place marketing activity of Polish self-governments

“…Similarities in marketing activity and its maturity within the same level of administration (and absolute population size and ranking by population size) 2. The effect of spatial distance on behavioural patterns in marketing activities, in line with (Russia, Prussia and Austria) in the 19th century (Kowalski et al, 2018;Kowalski, Matera and Sokołowicz, 2020;Churski et al, 2021), the specific problems of certain regions (Śleszyński et al, 2017), the dominance of a few particular urban centres, e.g., the level of their migration attractiveness in the long term (Śleszyński, 2020), or the level of spatial landscape differentiation observed in the analysis of satellite photos (Śleszyński & Solon, 2017).…”

Political Divisions and Socio-Economic Disparities in Poland: A Geographical Approach

“…However, first of all we should strive to strengthen the capacities of local stakeholders to shape the future growth of a given area, regardless of its current level of development [49]. Importantly, this does not require increasing the scope of intervention as much as improving its quality, which is mostly determined by institutional factors [50].…”