Układ lokalizacyjny miast typu system - sieci na obszarze Polski

Abstract

The problem of town development, in view of an increasing significance of the urbanization process, constitutes one of the most important issues in geographical sciences. It also concerns a geographical history within the subject-matter of the book in question. The issue raised in the very work refers to the explanation of the urbanization process in most of the parts of Poland, in the context of a locational pattern of a network system type. The network system model was created in the1980s as one of the reactions to commonness, and, at the same time, a certain problematicity of using the conception of central places. It was defined by the American researchers (P. Hohenberg and L.H. Lees in The Making of Urban Europe 1000 1950, the first edition of which appeared in 1985). The authors, using different examples, define the network system model in the early modern Europe, proving that the town development for this particular period of time should be interpreted with the use of their conception. Many attributes of town development appear in P. Hohenberg and L.H. Lees s model. These include town functions, town connections, social specificity, geographical conditions which differentiate it significantly from the conception of central places. The authors, in reference to the conception under discussion, point to such features of many early modern towns as networkness, heterogeneity, mercenary functions, unspecified economic base, irregularity of socio-economic connections or departure from town hierarchy. The features of town and network development described in this conception define them as the attributes of locational patterns of a mixed type, that is, the ones with the elements typical of both the central and specialized places at the same time. The conception of a locational pattern of towns of a network system type is a relatively new research proposal so it does not have many references in the form of the empirical studies yet. The book in question is an attempt to refer to the model hinted at above, paying attention to the specificity of town development in the area of Poland. The locational pattern of towns of a network system type included in the title was defined as a formation developing from the half of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century in the basin of the Vistula. It was discussed only with reference to the areas within the borderlines of Poland today. A geographical-historical aspect of the studies determined the need to present it both from the structural and dynamic perspective. What was dealt with included: - the author's typology of town constituting the system in question, emphasizing different functional types and connection systems, as well as their significance and role, - dynamics of development in which the urbanization progress was taken into account, both in a structural and functional perspective, which constituted one of the most important references to the network system conception, - a structure of network within the frame of two basic research areas which P. Hohenberg and L.H. Lees proposed to name foreland and hinterland. The work under discussion is actually the first Polish attempt to use the network system model where the theoretical output and the criticism of town geography was used on the one hand, as well as information available in publications and source materials within the scope of town history on the other. An important element of the book constitutes an index of towns which was created within the system in question or was "absorbed" into the sphere of its influence. The index ordered the towns according to such features as a historical genesis, location in geographical-historical regions, functional typology and location within the system. Apart from the index at the end of the textual part of the work, the book contains tables and figures approximating information on town development according to the network system conception included in the title.