The Concept of Sustainable Development in the Functioning of Municipalities Belonging to Special Economic Zones in Poland

Abstract

Special economic zones (SEZs) differ in terms of the scope and principles of functioning, they have the same objective: to attract investments and create jobs and simultaneously generate benefits for municipalities and their residents. However, in order to make the activity of SEZs and their further development possible and acceptable, activities undertaken in these areas should be consistent with the concept of sustainable development. Therefore, in addition to the leading economic benefits in the development of municipalities social and environmental ones should also be expected. The activity of the entities investing in SEZs certainly arouses some doubts as to their involvement in the search for balance between three pillars of sustainable development. The objective of the research was to assess the concept of special economic zones taking into account measurable economic, social and environmental criteria accompanying the idea of sustainable development. The research included the analysis of selected results of the activity of Polish municipalities. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) applied to independent groups indicated that the municipalities functioning in the area of SEZs differ in a positive way from other municipalities in terms of the analyzed scope.

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