Current issue

Abstract

Rural areas in Europe are undergoing significant transformations due to the emergence of a service-based society and a knowledge-based economy. Consequently, much of the countryside is experiencing a phenomenon known as rural decline. The concept of smart development has been proposed to address this issue, with the emphasis placed on the increasing importance of knowledge and the pivotal role of digital technologies in development processes. The objective of this article is to identify the key features of spatial differentiation in Internet quality in Poland, and to elucidate the determinants of this phenomenon. Internet quality, encompassing both fixed and mobile Internet access, was assessed by reference to data on Internet speed data at the municipality level, within the context of smart rural development. The study employed the method of principal components and correlation coefficient analysis.

Spatial variations in the two components related to Internet quality reveal distinct spatial arrangements, with an evident urban-rural divide. However, this does not imply a general weakness of rural areas, but rather highlights their diversity. On the one hand, certain rural areas close to major cities exhibit excellent Internet quality for both fixed and mobile services. On the other hand, other rural areas, including those located at the peripheries of regions and in the vicinity of major cities, present disparate Internet quality.

Furthermore, correlation analysis identified interdependence between Internet quality and fundamental characteristics describing the level of socio-economic development in the studied areas. Infrastructural and economic characteristics exhibited the strongest relationships, while the weakest were found for variables such as migration balance, dwellings given over for use, CIT per capita, and the value of contracts under the Digital Poland Operational Programme. These variables depend largely on the local situation, leading to varying spatial patterns.

It can be concluded from the research results presented that the regularities known from other spatial dimensions (countries, regions) gain confirmation in the case of Internet quality at the local scale in Poland. Notably, this can be associated with features describing important spheres of local-community functioning. However, these correlations are not always of a strength pointing to easily interpretable patterns of spatial differentiation, with the result that the formulation of categorical conclusions regarding universal rules affecting Internet quality in local systems is precluded. This underscores the relevance of local conditions, often found to vary greatly from one municipality to another, albeit in line with the principles of smart rural development.

Regarding more practical issues related to the possibility of foundations for smart growth being laid, it can be argued that the analyses presented, especially in terms of spatial variation alone, point to areas with poorer access to high-speed Internet – in which appropriate investment decisions need to be made. An important problem with such inference is that users do not necessarily choose the best available link parameter that ISPs offer. Hence, in part, results from studies based on crowdsourcing data do not reflect the quality of the services offered. Nevertheless, the importance of small, local ISPs, highlighted in the study, is an important argument that, in the case of Internet quality, it is possible to act in such a way that even in rural areas (including those located in peripheral areas), Internet of very good parameters can still be provided.

Keywords: Internet quality, smart rural development, Poland

Krzysztof Janc [krzysztof.janc@uwr.edu.pl], Uniwersytet Wrocławski, Instytut Geografii i Rozwoju Regionalnego

Citation

APA: Janc, K. (2024). Jakość Internetu w Polsce na poziomie lokalnym w kontekście inteligentnego rozwoju wsi. Przegląd Geograficzny, 96(1), 27-47. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.2
MLA: Janc, Krzysztof. "Jakość Internetu w Polsce na poziomie lokalnym w kontekście inteligentnego rozwoju wsi". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, 2024, pp. 27-47. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.2
Chicago: Janc, Krzysztof. "Jakość Internetu w Polsce na poziomie lokalnym w kontekście inteligentnego rozwoju wsi". Przegląd Geograficzny 96, no. 1 (2024): 27-47. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.2
Harvard: Janc, K. 2024. "Jakość Internetu w Polsce na poziomie lokalnym w kontekście inteligentnego rozwoju wsi". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 27-47. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.2

Abstract

The work detailed here sought to test out the methods underpinning three different classifications of small urban centres in Poland, as well as to offer a preliminary interpretation of the outcomes obtained. For the purposes of this study, the smaller urban centres being worked on are the settlement units that do enjoy town rights, but also have 20,000 inhabitants or fewer. As of 2022, Poland had 739 such localities, though real-life accessibility of statistical data in practice reduced the number researched to 722 (meeting the above criteria as of 2019).

A morphologically-based classification making reference to the country’s “Database of Topographic Objects” as regards land cover within the administrative boundaries of towns and cities was carried out, and it proved possible to distinguish the categories of “housing-estate”, industrial and R&R towns, as well as towns characterised by dichotomy. The classification applied two criteria that draw upon four variables: the cover of urbanised areas, the cover of areas of greenspace, the cover of residential areas, and the cover of industrial areas (see Fig. 1). Equally, a functional/morphological approach taken with the same database allowed for the identification – via an alternative method – of three main categories of small urban centre (i.e. the monofunctional, multifunctional or oligofunctional). The analysis here was subordinated to the land-use structure in regard to function served. The main functions identified in this way were: residential, industrial, service-related, agricultural, forest-related and other. The aim of the further part of the analysis of land-use structure by function served was to indicate those categories in a given town that were of markedly above-average significance.

A third, multi-criterion classification made simultaneous reference to conditioning of a structural, a location-related, and an administrative hierarchy-related nature. In analysing the role of particular components to the enterprise-branch structure in small urban centres, it was possible to arrive at a division into two core groups: of towns characterized by a specialised structure in which one element dominates (as with industrial or tourist centres, etc.), or of towns of multi-branch structure. Where locations of the centres were concerned, it was possible to draw a distinction between two key groups: of those with good access to centres further up the hierarchy (sub-regional, regional or central), or those located peripherally, and thus characterised by limited access to the more major centres in question. A third component of the multi-criterion classification concerned the relations pertaining between small urban centres and their surroundings, with these capable of being either local or supra-local. The outcome from the multi-criterion classification is the assignment of each small urban centre analysed to one of 8 three-element categories.

Irrespective of the approach adopted, work on the systematics of small urban centres in Poland always leads to certain “rules” of distribution being identified. This reflects the way in which their development is very much conditioned by a particular location and its history. It is reasonable to assume that, in the case of those centres linked more closely with their immediate surroundings than with global networks of interdependence, it is endogenous conditioning and the way this links up with a location as defined precisely that plays a particularly key role. Depending on the specifics of the given subject matter or dimension characterising a given classification, a leading role might still be played by various different kinds of conditioning, and we could be dealing with various spatial “regularities”.

This study’s deployment of three core methods of classifying small urban centres allowed for wide-ranging analysis regarding the regularities by which such localities in Poland are distributed. It is also made easier to interpret the distribution that can be noted. A further research step might involve the cross-analysis of this paper’s three different attempts at classification – with this likely to offer new conclusions from regional analysis of the differentiation present among the studied towns.

Keywords: small towns, classification, spatial differentiation, socio-economic functions, Poland

Jerzy Bański [jbanski@twarda.pan.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania im. S. Leszczyckiego PAN; Uniwersytet Jana Kochanowskiego, Instytut Geografii i Nauk o Środowisku
Marcin Mazur [m.mazur@twarda.pan.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania im. S. Leszczyckiego PAN
Damian Mazurek [d.mazurek@twarda.pan.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania im. S. Leszczyckiego PAN

Citation

APA: Bański, J., Mazur, M., & Mazurek, D. (2024). Klasyfikacje małych miast w Polsce – ujęcia metodologiczne i ich rezultaty. Przegląd Geograficzny, 96(1), 49-71. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.3
MLA: Bański, Jerzy, et al. "Klasyfikacje małych miast w Polsce – ujęcia metodologiczne i ich rezultaty". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, 2024, pp. 49-71. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.3
Chicago: Bański, Jerzy, Mazur, Marcin, and Mazurek, Damian. "Klasyfikacje małych miast w Polsce – ujęcia metodologiczne i ich rezultaty". Przegląd Geograficzny 96, no. 1 (2024): 49-71. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.3
Harvard: Bański, J., Mazur, M., & Mazurek, D. 2024. "Klasyfikacje małych miast w Polsce – ujęcia metodologiczne i ich rezultaty". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 49-71. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.3

Abstract

The term regionalism has many definitions, most of which concern grassroots manifestations of community's identification with an inhabited fragment of space, including the search for one's own territorial identity (mainly local and regional). This term, was introduced by a French historian L. de Berluc Pérussis in the second half of the nineteenth century (Damrosz, 1987) much earlier than the adaptation of the phenomenon of identity in the social and geographical sciences, which dates only to the second half of the twentieth century (vide Erikson, 1959; Tajfel et al., 1971). This demonstrates the relevance of a region as a relatively objectively existing social entity and justifies the interest of researchers. It was in France, the cradle of regionalist movements, that the first association of this type - the Union of Breton Regionalists (Union régionaliste bretonne) - was founded in 1898 (Matykowski, 2017). Regionalism is identified with a spontaneous social movement aimed at protecting, preserving and transmitting valuable qualities of local and regional culture (Kwaśniewski, 1986). It can also be understood in the dimension of social consciousness operating among the inhabitants of a given territory. The manifestation of regionalism in this case is identification with the place of residence, defining a given piece of space as one's own, recognizing its peculiarities and differences from other territories and the communities living there. Regionalism also manifests itself in respecting cultural values, norms and behavioral patterns typical of the area of residence (region).

The Kashubians, unlike national minorities residing on Poland's territory (i.e., Germans, Ukrainians or Lithuanians) finding some support in the neighboring countries' organisms or ethnic minorities unanimously recognized around the world (e.g., the Roma community, the Tatars) were treated for years as an ethnographic group. The reason for this perception of the Kashubians was the alleged difficulty of defining their cultural or ethnic distinctiveness, and only the specificity of their material culture was emphasized (Synak, 1998). The political transformation in Poland taking place after 1989 gave the Kashubians a long-awaited opportunity to pursue similar rights as other minorities in Poland and a related change in the status of the community. The resurgence of Kashubian cultural consciousness in the early 1990s was marked by long-standing discrimination against the group.

The study presents the results of research conducted within the framework of the IMAJINE Project "Integrative Mechanisms for Addressing Spatial Justice and Territorial Inequalities in Europe" carried out within the scope of Horizon 2020, in the part devoted to the issues of autonomy movements in the context of territorial, economic and social cohesion (Work Package 7 "Autonomy movements and territorial, economic and social cohesion"). The analysis included comparative research in 12 regions of Europe: Scotland, Wales, Catalonia, Galicia (Spain), Friesland (the Netherlands), Bavaria, Seclerland, Lombardy, Aosta Valley, Sardinia, Corsica and Kashubia. The analysis consisted of three sub-studies. The first focused on the history and current state of the selected regional communities and the regional movements representing them. The second consisted of a qualitative content analysis of the documents of political and social organizations working for regional autonomy in the period 1991-2018. In the third, in-depth expert interviews were conducted with leading representatives of the surveyed organizations.

This paper focuses on discussing the results of research on one of Poland's regional movements, obtained through the work of a team from the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, a member of the project research consortium. The selection of the research subject of the analysis was relatively self-evident. As a result of the territorial changes and population resettlements that were the consequences of World War II, Poland became a very eminently ethnically homogeneous country. Three regional communities in particular stand out in terms of their numbers, compactness of settlement and cultural distinctiveness: the Orthodox Podlachians (about 100-150 thousand), the Upper Silesians (about 1 million) and the Kashubians (300-500 thousand). The latter were selected for this analysis for being the most integrated, well-organized community, distinguished by unquestionable ethno-linguistic distinctiveness and forming a coherent settlement area in northern Poland. The aim of the study was to identify the foundations, objectives of aspirations and manifestations of the activities of Kashubian regionalists after 1989.

Analysis of the documents showed that most of the demands were directed toward the state (71.5%), and only secondarily toward the region (25.2%). Given the circumstances, this seems understandable. The demands of the Kashubian organizations were to correct the administrative division, to give more power to the voivodship governments (decentralization), to give the Kashubian language the status of a regional language (auxiliary in offices and taught in schools). Recently, the Kashubian Community's (WK) demand for recognition of Kashubians as an ethnic minority was also added. Implementation of these demands was, or still is, the responsibility of the state authorities. In 1999, as a result of the territorial administration reform, self-governing regions (large voivodships) began to function, equipped with much greater powers than the previous administrative units of the same order (small voivodships). For this reason, regional (provincial) authorities became the second level capable of implementing some Kashubian demands.

The analysis of documents prepared by Kashubian organizations showed that most (64.4%) of the territorial demands appearing in them would refer to activities of a political nature. However, it turns out that only one document, announced in 2002 by the Gdynia branch of the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association (ZKP), is responsible for this. This document deals with the demand to change the name of the voivodship from Pomeranian to Kashubian-Pomeranian, and contains arguments in support of this demand.After the collapse of the communist system, Kashubians hoped that in free Poland, they would be able to claim their rights as a separate regional community. The revived Kashubian-Pomeranian Association (ZKP) and Kashubian activists within the nationwide liberal and center-right political parties became the bearers of these demands. The limited nature of Kashubian demands meant that they were able to implement them within the mainstream of Polish politics. Also due to the small size of the Kashubian community, this proved to be an effective tactic. Well-organized Kashubian activists were able to achieve much more by appearing as influential national party activists than merely as activists in the Kashubian movement, which could count on only about 1% of the electorate nationwide.

The moderate nature of the mainstream Kashubian movement is reflected in the analyzed documents and opinions of Kashubian activists. The main demands of the Kashubian community were to unite all the area of Kashubian settlement in one province, to give such a region a broad self-government (on a par with other voivodships) and to take into account the cultural and linguistic distinctiveness of the Kashubian community. For this reason, the few territorial demands were for stronger regionalization, changes in administrative boundaries and greater self-government, which would promote the preservation and strengthening of the cultural identity of the Kashubians, and strengthen their impact on regional policy-making. They ceased to be raised after 1998, i.e. after the creation of the self-governing Pomeranian voivodship, covering all Kashubian lands, and after 2005, i.e. following the recognition of Kashubian as a regional language and Kashubs as a linguistic minority. After this breakthrough, the demands of the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association concerned only the full realization of the rights obtained. The exception was the proposal, which appeared from time to time, that the Pomeranian voivodship should be called Kashubian-Pomeranian, which would symbolically emphasize the special importance of the Kashubians as the hosts of the region.

The moderate nature of ZKP's activities after 2000 resulted in a split in the Kashubian movement and the separation of activists gathered around a new organization, Kashubian Community (WK; established in 2011). In their view, the solutions introduced only to some extent met the expectations of the Kashubian community. According to them, the Kashubs are a separate nation, and should be recognized as an ethnic minority under Polish legislation. They also emphasize much more strongly various shortcomings related to the activities of regional self-government, and the interference of the nationwide center in the life of the region, which is too strong in their opinion. This attitude is reflected in the analyzed documents. However, it should be remembered that the Kashubian Community grows out of a minority stream of Kashubian society (a few percent of supporters) and has so far failed to broaden its social base.

Keywords: regionalism, Kashubia, Kashubian organizations, Pomeranian voivodship

Mariusz Kowalski [mar.kow@twarda.pan.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania im. S. Leszczyckiego PAN
Michał Konopski [konopski@twarda.pan.pl], Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania im. S. Leszczyckiego PAN

Citation

APA: Kowalski, M., & Konopski, M. (2024). Główne cechy i postulaty kaszubskiego ruchu regionalnego po 1989 r.. Przegląd Geograficzny, 96(1), 72-98. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.4
MLA: Kowalski, Mariusz, and Konopski, Michał. "Główne cechy i postulaty kaszubskiego ruchu regionalnego po 1989 r.". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, 2024, pp. 72-98. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.4
Chicago: Kowalski, Mariusz, and Konopski, Michał. "Główne cechy i postulaty kaszubskiego ruchu regionalnego po 1989 r.". Przegląd Geograficzny 96, no. 1 (2024): 72-98. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.4
Harvard: Kowalski, M., & Konopski, M. 2024. "Główne cechy i postulaty kaszubskiego ruchu regionalnego po 1989 r.". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 72-98. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.4

Abstract

The ongoing academic debate shows that urban community gardening has diverse governance models with differing roles for governmental organizations, NGOs and local communities. However,  the perspective of community gardens governed by the involvement of cultural institutions is rarely explored in academic research. This paper use a two-case study approach to explore the relations between community gardens and cultural institutions. We first identify initial governance models for selected case studies. Next, we try to identify any changes in these governance structures, depending on the different stages of garden development and determine the reasons behind them. Finally, we pose a somewhat provocative question: Should cultural institutions be part of community gardens governance structures at all? The results show these gardens are characterized by a changing governance model, shifting towards top-down model, in which community members have no influence on strategic decisions. The involvement of cultural institutions in running community gardens is not assessed in a solely positive light. Although it facilitates their longevity, at the same time  may disempower their viability.

Keywords: urban community gardens, governance, cultural institutions, Poland

Barbara Maćkiewicz [barbara.mackiewicz@amu.edu.pl], Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu, Wydział Geografii Społeczno-Ekonomicznej i Gospodarki Przestrzennej
Paulina Jeziorek [paulina.jeziorek@umk.pl], Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu, Kopernikański Ośrodek Integracji

Citation

APA: Maćkiewicz, B., & Jeziorek, P. (2024). Exploring relations between community gardens and cultural institutions in terms of diverse governance models: A case study of Warsaw and Poznań, Poland. Przegląd Geograficzny, 96(1), 99-122. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.5
MLA: Maćkiewicz, Barbara, and Jeziorek, Paulina. "Exploring relations between community gardens and cultural institutions in terms of diverse governance models: A case study of Warsaw and Poznań, Poland". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, 2024, pp. 99-122. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.5
Chicago: Maćkiewicz, Barbara, and Jeziorek, Paulina. "Exploring relations between community gardens and cultural institutions in terms of diverse governance models: A case study of Warsaw and Poznań, Poland". Przegląd Geograficzny 96, no. 1 (2024): 99-122. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.5
Harvard: Maćkiewicz, B., & Jeziorek, P. 2024. "Exploring relations between community gardens and cultural institutions in terms of diverse governance models: A case study of Warsaw and Poznań, Poland". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 99-122. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2024.1.5