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

Paweł Churski, Tomasz Herodowicz, Barbara Konecka-Szydłowska and Robert Perdał
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Paweł Churski: Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Department of Regional and Local Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-680 Poznań, Poland
Tomasz Herodowicz: Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Department of Regional and Local Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-680 Poznań, Poland
Barbara Konecka-Szydłowska: Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Department of Regional and Local Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-680 Poznań, Poland
Robert Perdał: Faculty of Human Geography and Planning, Department of Regional and Local Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, 61-680 Poznań, Poland

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 11, 1-20

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.

Keywords: socio-economic growth; spatial differentiation; historical conditioning; comprehensive and partial analysis; cities–rural areas; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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