The changing role of migration and natural increase in suburban population growth: The case of a non-capital post-socialist city (The Krakow Metropolitan Area, Poland)

The evolution of population distributions in the Krakow Metropolitan Area (KMA) in Poland is subject to analysis in this contribution. Changes and recent reversals in the relationships between the main components of total population growth (natural increase and net migration) are examined in order to determine the level of development of suburbanisation processes in zones of the KMA, with the use of the Webb typology. Research was carried out in four time points: 1988, 1995, 2002 and 2012, covering the year just before the collapse of the socialist regime, the first decade of political and socio-economic transition, and the period before and after accession to the EU. The analysis of differentials in natural increase and net migration is conducted within the context of residential suburbanisation in the KMA, using as a background context recent population developments in Poland and Polish cities. Implications for urban policy arising from changes in the spatial concentration of the population in the metropolitan area are discussed.