ROZWÓJ SPOŁECZNO-GOSPODARCZY NAJMNIEJSZYCH ZACHODNIOPOMORSKIM MIAST - RZECZYWISTY CZY POZORNY?

Abstract

The article aimed at determining the state of transformations in the socio-economic development of the smallest towns in the West Pomeranian voivodeship. It was focused on those, which population - between 1995 and 2015 year, did not exceed 2 thousand of inhabitants. These towns, despite diversified assets and own environment, have many features in common as well. They all are peripheral in their location as regards to the city counties or urban agglomeration and their suburbs. Such circumstances lower their potential and cause their marginal importance in region. The purpose of research was to find out whether the changes, which have occurred during last two decades, prove the real development of the mentioned towns and could be measured by different indicators. Or maybe there are no evidences nor signs of impact on people’s lives, besides, for example, the improvement of technical and road infrastructure? Statistical data included in the work came from the polish Central Statistical Office and were followed by local investigation and data collection. They all have been used in order to make in-depth analysis of the local specifics, conditions and socio-economic trends. Comparison of the changes in the level of technical infrastructure and housing conditions, social and economic features, enabled to submit some preliminary conclusions. In addition, each indicator included the estimated average for all small towns in the voivodeship. The statistical-comparative analysis was further enriched with the synthetic indicator (according to the Z. Zioło procedure) calculated for each of the West Pomeranian small towns. Changes of positions of selected towns in the hierarchy for 1995 and 2015 year give the final conclusions. The results show that despite the investment and bottom-up initiatives, there has been no significant development in each of the six smallest towns. Their function is still mainly limited to provide access to basic public services, through the social and administrative infrastructure. These cities are not competitive and attractive to business locations from the perspective of investors and external capital. The indicators of housing, social and economic features, rank the smallest towns generally below the average of other West Pomeranian small towns. Only the state of technical infrastructure in the surveyed places has significantly improved, and a marked decrease in the demographic burden has also been noted. All studied towns, except Tuczno, took remote positions in the hierarchy of synthetic indicators for 1995 and 2015. This proves that they still invariably do not play a greater role in the urban structure and functional network of the voivodeship, remaining under the dominant influence of medium and large cities.