Regionalism in theory and practice

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of regionalism in theoretical and practical contexts. The notions of the region and the ways of its delimitation and regionalism in the historical, ideological and political aspects have been defined. The paper presents three perspectives of regionalism, subjective and objective approach to regionalism, four dimensions of the idea of regionalism, classification of the concept of regionalism, as well as the concept of regionalist attitude. Attention was paid to the aspects of the functioning of regionalism in the information society and the areas of using the Internet for the development of regional movements. In the empirical part, an example from the original surveys carried out in the population of Rzeszów was analysed. The choice of this city is connected with the activity of Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Rzeszowa [Friends of Rzeszów Association], as one of the oldest and dynamically operating regional movements in Podkarpacie. The paper presents the results of the research on the motivation and origin of immigrants to the provincial city, the assessment of the development directions of Rzeszów against the background of other cities and the ranking of new investments. Achievements of the city’s development in the economic, cultural, social and ecological aspects are presented in a form of a list of awards and laurels won by the city authorities in competitions and rankings on a global, European, national and regional scale.