Special economic zones and their development towards the implementation of sustainable processes – a retrospective approach

Abstract

In Poland, over the years, growth and development processes were shaped based on the polarization- diffusion concept (model). This was achieved by investing funds and legal solutions in the so-called growth poles (narrowed to leading cities). In the face of such conditions, concepts based on sustainability processes have become a challenge and an opportunity to minimize the negative effects of inequalities realized in the real sphere. The key objective of this article is to indicate the potential of special economic zones and their importance in implementing sustainable processes in the real sphere. This article assumes that the possibilities of using special economic zones to implement sustainability processes are conditioned by criteria. The current system of supporting new investments is an opportunity to implement sustainable processes in the real sphere in territorial terms. The formulated purpose and hypothesis were subordinated to considerations, namely in the individual points of the article the following were discussed: basic categories related to the subject of the article; special economic zones and the amount of public aid in the period from 1995 to 2017; the Polish Investment Zone was assessed as a solution from the point of view of ensuring governance and sustainable processes. The analysis carried out in the article allows one to state that the current legal solutions, together with the binding quality requirements, increase the importance of special economic zones in shaping the growth and development processes from a set of criteria based on sustainability attributes. Both the instrument, meaning the special economic zones, and the concept of their functioning contribute to shaping sustainable processes in the real sphere.