A spatial comparison of semi-urban and rural gminas in Poland in terms of their level of socio-economic development using Hellwig's method
Authors
Keywords
local development, infrastructure, society, economy, Poland
Abstract
The concept of local development remains a crucial one, especially in the context of European Union membership and its support funds. The multidimensional character of local development makes it a subject of interest not only to economists, but also geographers, sociologists and statisticians. The aim of the paper is to present differences in the level of socio-economic development of semi-urban and rural gminas in Poland and to find clusters of gminas with a similar level of development. Hellwig's method was used to compare 2,174 gminas, which showed large development disparities. There is a clear boundary between Eastern Poland with Mazowieckie Voivodship, where the country's capital, Warsaw, is located, and Western Poland. gminas with a high level of development were observed usually on Poland's Baltic coast and suburban areas of Warsaw, Szczecin, Poznań, Wroc³aw and Kraków. Low level gminas were mostly situated in the peripheries of the eastern voivodships.
Pages:
103-117
DOI:
10.1515/bog-2016-0028