Demographic conditions and selected social consequences of the shrinking of cities in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

Abstract

The issue of the demographic shrinking of cities appeared in Polish literature at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries and has become an extremely important research problem, since the process of shrinking cities affects social, economic and spatial transformations along with the environmental protection offered by cities. The aim of this study is to present demographic conditions and indicate, using selected examples, the social consequences of the shrinking of cities in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, with particular emphasis on demographic aging, care for the elderly, challenges for the education system and housing issues. To collect factual material, the desk research method was used, and applied to statistical data. The statistical material came from official public statistics databases, i.e. the Local Data Bank and the Dermographia database, as well as the Family and Social
Welfare Branch of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship Office. Non-reactive methods were also used to analyze documents and reports, while, based on a library query, a literature review was carried out in the context of the research.

The research clearly shows that the growing social problems in the cities of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship have demographic conditions. The decline in the urban population is the result of a natural decline in population and the growing negative migration rate. As a consequence, the vast majority of cities represent a regressive type of population, with a downward trend of inhabitants continuing until 2050. The causes behind the depopulation of cities in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship can be traced to changes in the lifestyle of young people and, above all, conservative reproductive attitudes, as well as the growing outflow of people from cities to suburban areas and foreign economic migration.

The demographic shrinking of cities was reflected in the area of social consequences. The depopulation of cities leads to the demographic aging of residents, which is associated with the need to provide care for the elderly. As the research shows, there is an increasing interest in the institutionalized forms of activity, as evidenced by the growing number of social welfare homes and the number of elderly people covered by care services. Another important consequence of the demographic shrinking of the regional cities is the problem of education in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. The decreasing number of children and young people is becoming a challenge for local authorities, which, due to the rising costs of maintaining schools, must decide to limit the number of educational institutions. Having your own apartment is extremely important from a social point of view, but unfortunately, even in the demographically shrinking West Pomeranian cities, there is still a housing deficit, even though the number of newly completed buildings and apartments shows upward trends and the number of uninhabited apartments is increasing. 

To sum up, contemporary demographic changes in West Pomeranian cities indicate the processes of demographic shrinkage of cities, which will certainly contribute to the accumulation of social consequences. Cities, in the face of contemporary reality, face the challenge of preparing new strategic and planning documents with a new vision of city development.