Spatial Development of Former Voivodeship Capitals in Poland. Case Study of Krosno, Przemyśl and Tarnobrzeg

Abstract

The decentralisation of the country’s territorial system had an immense impact on the development of cities at the turn of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. This particularly concerns former capitals of voivodeships “degraded” to the function of poviat cities, facing a number of socio-economic challenges, reflected in among others their spatial development. The objective of the paper is the identification of their conditions, common features, and differences, as well as determination of directions of changes in the process of spatial development of former voivodeship capitals in Poland. The paper discusses the following issues: 1) effect of expansion of administrative boundaries on changes in the functional-spatial structure; 2) stimulants and destimulants of spatial development; 3) shaping the spatial structure in reference to the historical development of cities and provisions of strategic-planning documents; 4) functional urban areas; 5) directions of spatial development of the analysed cities in the future. They correspond with the detailed objectives. The contribution of this paper is twofold. In the implementation aspect, it presents the effect of the political transformation, administrative-territorial reforms, and conducted spatial policy on the development of cities constituting voivodeship capitals until 1998, i.e. Krosno, Przemyśl, and Tarnobrzeg, currently located in the Carpathian Voivodeship. In the cognitive aspect, it presents models of spatial development of these cities.