Urban Centers as a Factor in the Development of Problematic Areas in the Region of Eastern Poland

Abstract

Actions increasing territorial connectedness on regional and country-wide scale are tied with building functional connections with urban centers and their surroundings. It is mandatory to eliminate marginalization of the least developed areas and to reduce development disproportions between particular voivodships. Important research problem is marking whether in the time of social and economic changes a process of development of urban centers in Eastern Poland region is afoot. The main aim of the following paper is to assess the direction and speed of demographical and economical potential in urban centers of a region that was involved in financial support of the Operational Programme Development of Eastern Poland 2007–2013. The analysis was based on the state of human resources and entrepreneurship in urban centers in years 2004–2014. Human resources research point at slow and varied changes in demographic potential of studied cities of the region on the ground of migration processes and general decrease of urban population in the country and the region. Weak development of economic activity in urban centers requires more stimuli to activate entrepreneurship to enable local growth agents to support regional growth factors and enforce innovational processes.