The legal model for metropolis management in Poland - comments on the regulation of metropolitan union in the Silesian voivodship

• Author: Wioleta Baranowska Zajac
• Position: Department of the Law of Local Self Government Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Szczecin, Poland
• Pages: 515-529

The legal model for metropolis management in Poland - comments

on the regulation of metropolitan union in the Silesian voivodship

Assistant professor Wioleta BARANOWSKA-ZAJĄC1

Abstract

Political changes that followed after 1989 led to the creation of local self-

government in Poland. As a result, a municipality, a county and a voivodship self-

government were established. In the course of these reforms, however, the problem of the

system of metropolitan areas, and thus their management, has not been resolved. Making

metropolisation in Poland, understood as creating special solutions for metropolitan areas

in the form of large urban agglomerations, that are facilities of various networks

(transport, scientific, economic) and development centers, is not satisfactory. Initiatives to

ensure management of metropolitan areas have been undertaken for a long time, but still

without achieving sufficient results. In 2015, the Act on metropolitan unions was adopted,

whose provisions constituted the basis for creating metropolitan unions regardless of the

country's area. On the basis of its provisions, however, no metropolitan union was

established. In return, there was undertaken the work on the subsequent act in analyzed

area - this time concerning only the area of the Silesian voivodship. The purpose of the

article is to analyze provisions of the act on metropolitan union in the Silesian voivodship,

aiming at determination of effectiveness and sufficient nature of these provisions in the

area of metropolitan areas management in Poland. The regulations regarding only one,

though undoubtedly the largest urban agglomeration in Upper Silesia, which is currently

the case, seems insufficient to assume that the problem of providing a special system and

rules for management of metropolitan areas has been solved.

Keywords: metropolis management, metropolisation, metropolitan unions,

metropolitan union in the Silesian voivodship.

JEL Classification: K23

1. Introduction

In the modern world, large metropolises are beginning to play an

increasingly important role. This also applies to many Polish cities.

Metropolisation is a process that takes place on two levels. On the one hand, it

develops thanks to globalization, and therefore big cities become centers that

manage the flow of capital, information and human resources. On the other hand,

such cities are growing in the physical aspect - in space - increasingly affecting the

surroundings.

As a result of political changes that took place after 1989, the local self-

government was established in Poland. As a result of successive reforms, in 1990 a

1 Wioleta Baranowska-Zając - Depar tment of the Law of Local Self-Government, Faculty of Law and

Administration, University of Szczecin, Poland, wioleta.baranowska-zajac@usz.edu.pl.