Quaestiones Geographicae vol. 35 (2), 2016

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    Editorial
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Stryjakiewicz, Tadeusz; Kaczmarek, Tomasz; Buček, Jan
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    Urban development policy challenges in East-Central Europe: Governance, city regions and financialisation
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Buček, Jan
    This paper responds primarily to current innovations that have emerged in urban development policy during the last decades also in East-Central Europe. Prior to the change of the social regime, we notice more traditional approaches in the urban development policy – public consumption, economic development and environmental issues. Among current urban development challenges in this region we may focus on governance, city regions, and financialisation. Besides an outline of a general framework, their application is studied in the case of Bratislava. We argue that especially economic development and environmental issues were neglected in the urban development policy during the socialist period. More elementary development issues obtained priority as policy positions during the early transition period. Taking up more current challenges was delayed compared with western cities, and they have specific features. Nevertheless, it seems that cities in this region recognised the importance of the mutually multiplying effects of governance, city regionalism and financialisation in an urban development policy.
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    The process of shrinkage as a challenge to urban governance
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Stryjakiewicz, Tadeusz; Jaroszewska, Emilia
    For many decades most researchers, planners and local authorities have been focusing almost exclusively on urban growth and its socio-economic and spatial consequences. However, in the current debate concerning the future of cities and regions in Europe the process of their shrinkage starts to attract more attention. In the conditions of a de- clining population, urban governance is an important challenge for local authorities, being usually much more difficult than during the periods of population growth. The experience of cities affected by shrinkage shows that there is no simple method of counteracting negative consequences of this process. Regeneration strategies vary a lot, depending mostly on the way the problem is perceived by both central and local governments. The strategies can either choose an adaptive approach (the acceptance of shrinkage and adjustment to it), or attempt to renew growth (shrinkage is treated as just a temporary phenomenon). Quite often the problem is ignored and no action is taken at all. In the paper the authors discuss the conditions and consequences of different approaches towards the process of shrinkage and present examples of regeneration strategies (together with their assessment). They conclude with recommendations for future urban policies.
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    Spatiality of local governments in European intermediate urban regions: A methodological approach
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Breuer, Christophe; Halleux, Jean-Marie
    Local authorities are central actors in the governance of European intermediate urban regions. In this paper, we propose a methodology to analyse the fragmentation of local authorities within 119 urban regions. We tested several European databases to create indicators of fragmentation and to develop a typology of fragmentation within cities. Our results show that the Eurostat Cities programme gives a consistent spatial definition of urban regions and that their fragmentation is mainly influenced by national contexts. The developed methodology is a contribution to the debate on territorial reforms and urban governance transformations.
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    Cooperation and mutual relationships of cities and their hinterlands with regard to the operation of EU integrated development instruments
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Binek, Jan; Opravil, Zdeněk; Chmelař, Roman; Svobodova, Hana
    This paper deals with the institutional and factual readiness of cities and villages in the Czech Republic to use Integrated Territorial Investments (ITI). On the basis of a questionnaire survey carried out in May 2014 among representatives of 69 municipalities around the core cities of Brno, Jihlava, Olomouc and Hradec Králové – Pardubice as well as a comparison of several model agglomerations, it identifies the main problems and proposes solutions to them. The main theme of this paper is to evaluate the formation of partnerships of municipalities and the process of creating integrated strategies for metropolitan areas. The paper also deals with the relationships and functional links between cities and villages and their hinterland, the common development issues and the existing structures of cooperation and communication. In the conclusion possible recommendations are given to improve the ITI functioning in the Czech Republic on the basis of both, the assessment of the situation in the Republic itself and the reflection on developments in other EU countries.
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    Participation in social consultations on physical planning documents. The case of Poznań City
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Kaczmarek, Tomasz; Wójcicki, Michał
    This article seeks to present the development od public participation in local spatial planning in Poland. An assessment was made of the procedure of preparing planning documents and forms of their consultation with residents. To achieve this goal, use was made of the results of a survey research conducted among participants of public consultations in Poznań in the years 2012–2014. It is stressed that it is necessary to improve the decision-making process in urban spatial planning by accommodating not only traditional but also new forms and instruments of public participation.
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    Inter-municipal cooperation in the development of industrial parks and tax redistribution: The road to hell is paved with good intentions
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Razin, Eran
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    Inter-municipal cooperation in waste management: The case of Poland
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Kołsut, Bartłomiej
    This article seeks to present the scale of inter-municipal cooperation in waste management in Poland in the light of the role of three key factors of cooperation. The first shows spatial regularities in the distribution of inter-municipal bodies involved in waste management in Poland, both in the system of voivodeships and historical-cultural regions. The second is institutional conditions confirming the scale of the Europeanisation of public policies taking place in Poland. It embraces the implementation of the EU legal framework in the Polish legal system and the cooperative behaviour of municipalities as a result of those changes. The third is a negative verification of the assumptions of the economic theory upholding the role of financial motivation in establishing cooperation (looking for savings and economies of scale to reduce unit cost); the presented results do not corroborate this type of motivation.
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    Organisation and diversification of the educational market in Poland: The case of the Poznań agglomeration
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Walaszek, Marzena; Bąkowska, Edyta
    The political changes in Poland after 1989 affected the formation of a self-reliant society. One of the results was the decentralisation of public tasks in the field of education, with the relevant competences transmitted to local governments. Since then, communes have been responsible for ensuring equal access to public education, but at the same time a non-public education market has been developing. Important for changes in the Polish educational system was also a reform started in 1999 which led to the transformation of the two-level system of education existing since 1968 into a three-level structure. The first non-public schools began to form as an alternative to public ones. Currently, non-public schools are mainly run by non-governmental organisations, religious institutions or social associations. In the general opinion, the quality of education in non-public schools is higher than in public ones (smaller classes, better contact between student and teacher, an individual approach to each student). In the face of education-model changes it is important to create a wide range of learning opportunities for everyone. It is also not about competition, but cooperation among all institutions involved in education provision. In this article, the progressive diversification of the educational market is presented on the example of the Poznań agglomeration. A diversified educational system, its commercialisation, and the creation of new educational opportunities for children and young people beyond the basic programme of education are undoubtedly benefits for the Polish society. The growing competition among the wide range of educational institutions (also taking into account institutions organising extra-curricular classes), from a theoretical point of view, should help to improve the quality of education in the entire market of educational services. As a consequence, these trends, together with demographic changes, may invite the question about the prospects of public schools in their present form in the future.
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    Factors of local e-government development in Poland: The case of the Poznań agglomeration
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Perdał, Robert
    This paper seeks to analyse factors of e-government development at the local government level in Poland. The analysis proceeded in three stages. In the first, a survey of the literature on the subject was made and a model of factors of e-government development was constructed. In the second, the factors distinguished were operationalised: indicators representing them were constructed. The third stage involved an empirical verification of the model using partial correlation and multiple regression methods; significant factors of e-government development were distinguished at the local government level. The analysis was conducted for a group of 18 communes making up the Poznań agglomeration. It was demonstrated that significant factors of local e-government development in Poland included the level of socio-economic development, inhabitants’ access to ICT, their attitudes and skills, the size of administrative units, attitudes of local authorities and leaders, a vision and a strategy of e-government development, human resources in offices, and the financial situation of a commune.
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    Historical determinants of regional divisions of Georgia and their implications for territorial governance
    (Wydział Nauk Geograficznych i Geologicznych Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza, 2016) Mądry, Cezary; Kaczmarek-Khubnaia, Julia
    Georgia can be characterised by its turbulent history, centuries-old traditions, and a great ethnic diversity. This makes it necessary to include historical determinants, in addition to geopolitical and economic factors, when making a regional analysis of its territory and contemporary governance issues. Five stages of the development of the present territorial division of Georgia are distinguished. They have been identified by means of an analysis of key events (critical junctures) of significance in the formation of its historical regions. Additionally, their influence at each of the three levels of the current territorial division of independent Georgia is discussed, in particular in the context of territorial governance.