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1250 | | Regional centers vs. regional cohesion in Central and Eastern European Countries | Krystian Heffner (1); Brygida Klemens (2)

Territorially oriented cohesion policy of the European Union (EU), emphasizing the competitiveness of the regions, their sustainable development and improvement of the quality of life, is put to the test as it faces socio-cultural changes (increasing external migration, aging and processes of depopulation). Regional cohesion policy, implemented in Poland and other Central and Eastern European Countries by the region self-governments within the limits of their powers, closely follows the findings of EU and national strategic documents. However, to be effective, administrative regions should reflect the scope of the impact of functional center and the strength of its relationships with municipalities as much as possible. The authors formulate the thesis that large regions – usually metropolitan – are not covered comprehensively by the influence and cooperation with their centers and wide zones having periphery character are formed in them. The aim of the session is to find and determine how far the centers of Polish and Central and Eastern European regions are linked with the own regional and territorial structures. Important is also an attempt to identify the municipalities (local governments) in the territorial units, which „do not feel” the impact of regional centers and they could be considered as regional peripheries requiring special development policy. The session is envisaged as a presentation of several (up to a maximum of 8 contributions). It is expected that presentations will be prepared in English.

Krystian Heffner (1); Brygida Klemens (2)
(1) University of Economics in Katowice , (2) Opole University of Technology

 
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