OPM

Urban functional hierarchy in Poland and its changes from 1990 to 2020

https://doi.org/10.51733/opm.2025.02

Autorzy: A. Sobala-Gwosdz, K. Janas, W. Jarczewski, Piotr Czakon

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Key findings

At the very top of the hierarchy taking into account the functional areas of the cities is Warsaw, a first tier centre, which is the only national metropolis. Despite the significant gap in the tier of development between the capital and the second-tier cities, the latter deserve to be called supra-regional metropolises. There are as many as seven such metropolises in Poland (not counting Warsaw): Krakow, Wrocław, Poznań, the Tricity, Łódź, Szczecin and Katowice (GZM+). The analysis taking into account the metropolitan area highlighted the weakness of Szczecin’s metropolitan functions, emphasising the importance of such functions in the Katowice and Tricity conurbations (Fig. 1). The 3rd tier of the settlement hierarchy includes agglomerations of regional importance, including all provincial centres, and five large agglomerations which, despite not having provincial city status, play an important role. As many as three of them are located in the Śląskie Province: Bielsko-Biała, the Rybnik agglomeration, and Częstochowa. The other two are Radom and Koszalin. Analysis at the functional area level shows the weakness of Gorzów Wielkopolski’s hinterland, while it highlights the significant position of Bielsko-Biała. 4th tier of the hierarchy is made up of sub-regional cities. This level seems to be particularly important for the settlement system in Poland, as it is the key link for maintaining the polycentric settlement network of the country. Each of the 40 4th tier centres concentrates a number of central functions, the quality and accessibility of which largely determines the standard of living of the residents of both these cities and the suburban and rural areas they serve. The network is supplemented by strong supralocal towns (5th tier), while the two lowest levels of the hierarchy (6th – supra-local centres and 7th – local centres) do not have any significant central functions and hence do not distinguish themselves fundamentally from other local municipalities.

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