Jacek Barski

Abstract

In the post-industrial, free-market economy, the ability of spatial planning to truly influence the location choices of business owners is limited, while the vast majority of means of production are in non-public hands. On top of that, coordinating spatial policies and decisions between administrative entities is a major challenge in numerous places in Europe. The aim of the paper is to assess the case of a medium-sized European city (Wroclaw, Poland) and its spatial management complication which has observable consequences for the spatial structure and economic functioning of the city. The paper examines the situation through the lens of production and manufacturing activities (with a cautious approach to the term ‘industry’). The case is analysed in two inseparable ways: spatial and economic; in parallel, the discussion is developed on the issue of the interconnection of policy-making in the metropolitan area (the city “vs.” its surrounding rural communes). The paper reviews the changes in employment in the subsequent sectors of the metropolitan area in within 25 years since the political transformation of Poland while keeping an eye on the physical and spatial changes of the aforementioned metropolitan area. The secondary output of the paper is outlining the suburbanisation processes of large Polish cities, however as seen not from the most frequently presented perspectives (such as housing or transportation) but from a more economy- and spatial responsibility-focused one.

Keywords: industry, suburbanisation, spatial distribution of activities

Citation

APA: Barski, J., & Barski, J. (2016). 25 years after transformation: changes in spatial distribution of production activities in the case study of Wroclaw. Europa XXI, 31, 5-14. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2016.31.1
MLA: Barski, Jan, and Barski, Jacek. "25 years after transformation: changes in spatial distribution of production activities in the case study of Wroclaw". Europa XXI, vol. 31, 2016, pp. 5-14. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2016.31.1
Chicago: Barski, Jan, and Barski, Jacek. "25 years after transformation: changes in spatial distribution of production activities in the case study of Wroclaw". Europa XXI 31 (2016): 5-14. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2016.31.1
Harvard: Barski, J., & Barski, J. 2016. "25 years after transformation: changes in spatial distribution of production activities in the case study of Wroclaw". Europa XXI, vol. 31, pp. 5-14. https://doi.org/10.7163/Eu21.2016.31.1