Enclaves of Isolation and Neglect in Rural Areas. Evidence from North-Eastern Poland

Alina Źróbek-Różańska
Additional contact information
Alina Źróbek-Różańska: Department of Socio-Economic Geography, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-720 Olsztyn, Poland

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: This article focuses on the specificity of present enclave structures in rural areas that were created decades ago as a result of decisions to establish housing estates for employees, and which acquired negative features as a result of the liquidation of the monopolistic employer. An attempt has been made to answer if workers' housing complexes can turn into permanent enclaves of isolation and neglect after the liquidation of a monopolistic workplace, especially if they are located in rural areas? The aim of the paper is to picture the process of social exclusion emergence in the rural areas, which results from the still unresolved socio-economic problem of the existence of such enclaves of isolation and neglect in Polish rural areas in the 21st century. Despite almost 30 years passing, the areas with spatially and socially isolated settlements have very high unemployment rates, a low level of technical and social infrastructure and a widespread sense of injustice among the people who live there. The empirical basis for the analysis was four cases. The presented stories took place against the historical background of the Warmińsko-Mazurskie Voivodship and the socio-economic background. Studies were conducted in the selected villages with a free-form interview and photographic documentation was prepared. In the result, a close picture of the enclaves was drawn. The examples presented in this article proved that workers' settlements, located around large economic entities distant from existing settlement networks can develop into enclaves of isolation and neglect.

Keywords: enclaves; rural areas; isolation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/7/215/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/7/215/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:7:p:215-:d:379239

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().