Characteristic Features of Urbanization in the Area of Silesian Province (Poland) at the Beginning of 21st Century

Abstract

The article discusses the specific problems of urbanization development in the area of the Silesia Province in Poland. The specifics of historical and economic development, as well as the characteristic arrangement of towns, determine the shaping of many specific phenomena and processes relating to urbanization. These processes are unusual for Poland, and also not often encountered in other European metropolises. The article describes the phenomenon of transformation of the Katowice Conurbation, the functioning of the so called “non-metropolitan” agglomerations, or the collapse of the hitherto prevailing administrative structures, due to the separation of some of their districts. A characteristic phenomenon is also city shrinkage and the specific trajectories of the suburbanization process. Some of these phenomena, such as shrinking cities in the opinion of the authors are particularly worrisome. Constant depopulation in most large and medium size cities in the Katowice Conurbation and The Rybnik Agglomeration depreciates these forms on the settlement map of Poland. Aphenomenon which has no equivalent in any other place in Poland is the 'internal' suburbanisation, which develops in areas located between cities of the core of the Katowice conurbation.