<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The article presents an attempt to analyse population changes and to measure the strength of the impact of factors causing these changes in former voivodeship (province) cities in Poland. In view of the ongoing processes of suburbanisation, the discussion also concerns the areas surrounding the city, i.e. those creating urban systems together with the city. These zones were delineated, calling them demographic influence zones, because only demographic factors were involved in defining them. The research was conducted in the period between1999–2015, and took into account the administrative reform of the country that degraded 31 cities from voivodeship (NUTS-2) capitals to poviat (LAU-1) cities. The main aim of the study was to find an answer to the question: do the directions and the strength of population changes confirm a hypothesis of the destructive impact of the loss of administrative function on settlement units. The results of the study only partially confirmed this hypothesis. Although a decrease in the population is overwhelmingly predominant in the city core, in the case of the demographic influence zone, it has already increased. Counting both parts together, it was found that in half of the cases there was a decline and in the other half a growth of the population.</p></abstract>

The article presents an attempt to analyse population changes and to measure the strength of the impact of factors causing these changes in former voivodeship (province) cities in Poland. In view of the ongoing processes of suburbanisation, the discussion also concerns the areas surrounding the city, i.e. those creating urban systems together with the city. These zones were delineated, calling them demographic influence zones, because only demographic factors were involved in defining them. The research was conducted in the period between1999–2015, and took into account the administrative reform of the country that degraded 31 cities from voivodeship (NUTS-2) capitals to poviat (LAU-1) cities. The main aim of the study was to find an answer to the question: do the directions and the strength of population changes confirm a hypothesis of the destructive impact of the loss of administrative function on settlement units. The results of the study only partially confirmed this hypothesis. Although a decrease in the population is overwhelmingly predominant in the city core, in the case of the demographic influence zone, it has already increased. Counting both parts together, it was found that in half of the cases there was a decline and in the other half a growth of the population.

Population changes in former voivodeship cities in Poland in the context of suburbanization processes and loss of the administrative function

Institute of Geography and Regional Studies, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences

Department of Regional Development Geography, Faculty of Oceanography and Geography

Environmental & Socio-economic Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The article presents an attempt to analyse population changes and to measure the strength of the impact of factors causing these changes in former voivodeship...

Population changes in former voivodeship cities in Poland in the context of suburbanization processes and loss of the administrative function

Published Online: Aug 30, 2019

Page range: 66 - 78

Received: May 10, 2019

Accepted: Aug 13, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/environ-2019-0018

Keywords
demography, city, suburbanisation, administrative function, Poland

© 2019 Wioletta Szymańska et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Population changes in former voivodeship cities in Poland in the context of suburbanization processes and loss of the administrative function

Published Online: Aug 30, 2019

Page range: 66 - 78

Received: May 10, 2019

Accepted: Aug 13, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/environ-2019-0018

Keywordsdemography, city, suburbanisation, administrative function, Poland

© 2019 Wioletta Szymańska et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
demography, city, suburbanisation, administrative function, Poland