Economic suburbanisation in the Wrocław agglomeration

Sikorski, Dominik; Ilnicki, Dariusz

doi:0016-7282 (print)

Download

Title: Economic suburbanisation in the Wrocław agglomeration

Abstract:

The aim of this article is to empirically identify and measure economic suburbanisation in the Wrocław agglomeration area between 2008 and 2024. The analysis, based on REGON data, captured the physical relocation of business headquarters from the city of Wrocław to the suburban zone and examined the scale and structure of this migration. During the study period, 24.1% of the increase in the number of firms in the suburban zone resulted from migration from the city, with a total of 4096 such cases identified (11.4% of all entities in the zone). The process primarily involved micro-enterprises (94.9%) owned by private individuals, with a predominance of the service sector (90.0%), particularly professional, scientific and technical activities, trade, and construction. The study confirms that economic suburbanisation constitutes a significant component of the contemporary spatial and economic transformation of Central and Eastern European metropolitan areas, exemplified by Wrocław and its suburban zone.

References:

Brezdeń, P., & Szmytkie, R. (2019). Current changes in the location of industry in the suburban zone of a post-socialist city. Case Study of Wrocław (Poland). Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 110(2), 102-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12339
Castells, M. (2010). The rise of the network society. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444319514
Celińska-Janowicz, D. (2016). Rejestry podmiotów jako źródła danych w analizach lokalizacji działalności gospodarczej w mikroskali. Wiadomości Statystyczne, 1, 27-43. https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0014.0888
Cervero, R., & Kockelman, K. (1997). Travel demand and the 3Ds: Density, diversity, and design.Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 2(3), 199-219. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1361-9209(97)00009-6
Champion, T. (2001). Urbanization, suburbanization, counterurbanization and reurbanization. In R. Paddison (Ed.), Handbook of Urban Studies (pp. 143-161). Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781848608375.n9
Champion, T., & Hugo, G. (2004). New forms of urbanization: Beyond the urban-rural dichotomy. Ashgate. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315248073
Cocheci, R. M. (2023). Suburbanization in Romanian Agglomeration Areas: A spatial planning perspective. Bucharest: "Ion Mincu" University Publishing House. https://doi.org/10.54508/978-606-638-304-2
Dej, M., Jarczewski, W., & Chlebicki, M. (2018). Skala i charakterystyka procesów relokacji przedsiębiorstw w polskich obszarach metropolitalnych - wstępne wyniki badań. Studia Regionalne i Lokalne, 2(72), 78-98. https://doi.org/10.7366/1509499527205
Dunham-Jones, E., & Williamson, J. (2011). Retrofitting suburbia: Urban design solutions for redesigning suburbs. John Wiley & Sons.
Hall, P. (2002). Cities of tomorrow: An intellectual history of urban planning and design in the twentieth century. Blackwell.
Hall, P., & Pfeiffer, U. (2000). Urban Future 21: A global agenda for twenty-first century cities. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315011523
Hirt, S. (2012). Iron curtains: Gates, suburbs and privatization of space in the post-socialist city. Wiley-Blackwell.
Kaczmarek, T., & Mikuła, Ł. (2007). Ustroje terytorialno-administracyjne obszarów metropolitalnych w Europie. Poznań: Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe.
Kalm, K., Špačková, P., Sýkora, J., & Špaček, O. (2023). Housing estates' trajectories in post-socialist countries: Similarities and differences of Estonian and Czech cities. Cities, 135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2023.104209
Kanó, I., Szakálné, Z., Vas, I., Lengyel, M., Sávai, M., & Vida, G. (2025). Spatial disparities in economic structural change in Central and Eastern Europe during integration. Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, 60(2), 126-134. https://doi.org/10.2478/ie-2025-0024
Kłosowski, F. (2017). Problemy z wykorzystaniem pracujących jako miernika rozwoju usług (przykład województwa śląskiego). Space-Society-Economy, 13, 269-280. https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-3180.13.14
Kryczka, P., Sikorski, D., Figlus, T., Lisowska-Kierepka, A., Musiaka, Ł., … & Szmytkie, R. (2025). Defining suburbanization in Central and Eastern Europe: A systematic literature review. Cities, 158, 105626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105626
Książek, S., & Suszczewicz, M. (2017). City profile: Wrocław. Cities, 65, 51-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.03.001
Kubeš, J. (2015). Analysis of regulation of residential suburbanisation in hinterland of post-socialist 'one hundred thousands' city of České Budějovice. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 27, 109-131. https://doi.org/10.1515/bog-2015-0008
Kuciński, K. (2018). Academic identity of researchers investigating the location of business entities. Studies of the Industrial Geography Commission of the Polish Geographical Society, 32(4), 6-21. https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.324.1
Kulak, T. (2001). Historia Wrocławia. Tom II: Od twierdzy fryderycjańskiej do twierdzy hitlerowskiej. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie.
Kunc, J., Sikorski, D., Novotná, M., Brezdeń, P., Ilnicki, D., Tonev, P., & Marek, A. (2023). Industrial legacy towards modern urban environment: A comparative study of Wroclaw and Brno. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 61, 71-92. https://doi.org/10.12775/bgss-2023-0026
Lang, R., Knox, P. L. (2009). The new metropolis: Rethinking megalopolis. Regional Studies, 43(6), 789-802. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343400701654251
Ondoš, S., Korec, P. (2008). The rediscovered city: A case study of post-socialist Bratislava. Geografický časopis, 60, 199-213.
Phelps, N. A., Parsons, N., Ballas, D., & Dowling, A. (2006). Post-Suburban Europe: Planning and politics at the margins of Europe's capital cities. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625389
Rossi, F., & Dej, M. (2020). Where do firms relocate? Location optimisation within and between Polish metropolitan areas. The Annals of Regional Science, 64, 615-640. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-019-00948-5
Săgeată, R., Mitrică, B., Cercleux, A.-L., Grigorescu, I., & Hardi, T. (2023). Deindustrialization, tertiarization and suburbanization in Central and Eastern Europe. Lessons learned from Bucharest City, Romania. Land, 12, 1731. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12091731
Sikorski, D. (2019). Wybrane kierunki i aspekty przemian funkcjonalnych terenów przemysłowych we Wrocławiu w latach 1989-2016, Prace Komisji Geografii Przemysłu PTG, 33(4), 227-240. https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.334.14
Sikorski, D., & Kryczka, P. (2023). Deconcentration of industrial activity as a constituent of sustainable urban development in a post-socialist city: A case study of Wrocław, Poland. Sustainability, 15, 14980. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152014980
Sikorski, D., & Szmytkie, R. (2021). Changes in the distribution of economic activity in Wrocław and its suburban area, 2008-2016. Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, 54, 33-48. https://doi.org/10.2478/bog-2021-0031
Slenczek, M. (1994). Rozwój i przemiany przemysłu na Dolnym Śląsku. In J. Łoboda (Ed.), Przemiany ludnościowo-osadnicze i społeczno-gospodarcze na Dolnym Śląsku po II wojnie światowej, Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis. Studia Geograficzne, 61, 99-131.
Slenczek, M. (1996). Miasto Wrocław jako ośrodek przemysłowy. Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis. Prace Instytutu Geograficznego. Seria B - Geografia Społeczna i Ekonomiczna, 14, 85-91.
Słodczyk, J. (2001). Przestrzeń miasta i jej przeobrażenia. Opole: Uniwersytet Opolski.
Smętkowski, M. (2022). Rewaloryzacja centrum miasta: tendencje lokalizacyjne przedsiębiorstw technologicznych w skali mikro na przykładzie Warszawy. Przegląd Geograficzny, 94(3), 351-371. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2022.3.4
Smętkowski, M., Celińska-Janowicz, D., & Wojnar, K. (2021). Location patterns of advanced producer service firms in Warsaw: A tale of agglomeration in the era of creativity. Cities, 108, 102937. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2020.102937
Stanilov, K. (2007). Urban development policies in Central and Eastern Europe during the transition period and their impact on urban form. In K. Stanilov (Ed.), The post-socialist city: Urban form and space transformations in Central and Eastern Europe after socialism (pp. 347-360), Springer. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/978-1-4020-6053-3_17
Stanilov, K., & Sýkora, L. (2014). Postsocialist Suburbanization Patterns and Dynamics: A Comparative Perspective. In K. Stanilov & L. Sýkora (Eds.), Confronting Suburbanization: Urban Decentralization in Postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe (pp. 256-295). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118295861.ch9
Statistics Poland. (2008, 2016, 2024). Business entities registered in the REGON database in the Wrocław agglomeration area by location and type of activity [custom data ordered for research purposes]. Warsaw: Statistics Poland.
Straszewicz, L. (1985). Strefa podmiejska. Pojęcia i definicje. Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Geographica, 5, 7-16
Sýkora, L., & Bouzarovski, S. (2012). Multiple transformations: Conceptualising the post-communist urban transition. Urban Studies, 49(1), 43-60. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098010397402
Sýkora, L., & Ouředníček, M. (2007). Sprawling post-communist metropolis: Commercial and residential suburbanization in Prague and Brno, the Czech Republic. In E. Razin, M. Dijst, & C. Vázquez (Eds.), Employment deconcentration in European agglomeration areas (pp. 209-233). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5762-5_8
Szczyrba, Z., Smolová, I., Jurek, M., & Fiedor, D. (2022). The university as the creative hub: The case of the city of Olomouc after 1989. In J. Kunc & W. Cudny (Eds.), Growth and Change in Post-socialist Cities of Central Europe (pp. 30-47). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003039792-3
Szmytkie, R. (2020). The impact of residential suburbanization on changes in the morphology of villages in the suburban area of Wrocław, Poland. Environmental & Socio-economic Studies, 8(4), 24-43. https://doi.org/10.2478/environ-2020-0021
Szmytkie, R. (2021). Suburbanisation processes within and outside the city: The development of intra-urban suburbs in Wrocław, Poland. Moravian Geographical Reports, 29, 149-165. https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2021-0012
Śleszyński, P. (2007). Gospodarcze funkcje kontrolne w przestrzeni polskiej. Prace Geograficzne, 213. Warszawa: Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN
Śleszyński, P. (2008). Duże przedsiębiorstwa w strukturze przestrzennej największych polskich miast. Prace Geograficzne, 217. Warszawa: Instytut Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN.
Śleszyński, P. (2015). Problemy delimitacji miejskich obszarów funkcjonalnych w Polsce. Rozwój Regionalny i Polityka Regionalna, 29, 37-53. https://doi.org/10.14746/rrpr.2015.29.04
Śleszyński, P. (2018). Research topics of geography of enterprise and decision-control functions in Poland against global trends. Prace Komisji Geografii Przemysłu Polskiego Towarzystwa Geograficznego, 32(4), 22-47. https://doi.org/10.24917/20801653.324.2
Trembošová, N., Dubcová, A., & Nagyová, L. (2022). Suburbanization process of regional cities in Slovakia. Transport & Logistics, 22(53).