How are suburbanization and peri-urbanization not the same? Key differences in urban regions in Central and Eastern European countries: the case of cities in southern Poland

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to discuss differences between suburbanization and peri-urbanization using the Kraków, Tarnów, and Nowy Sącz urban regions in the Province of Małopolska as a case study. The paper highlights the lack of distinction in the use of these terms in Central and Eastern European countries and in the Polish research literature, where these two unique urban decentralization processes (suburbanization and peri-urbanization) are described using the same term: suburbanization. In spite of the terminological ambiguities discussed in the paper and lack of agreement on ways to distinguish the two concepts as well as significant difficulties in their operationalization the analysis presented in the current study demonstrates that there does exist a case for a distinction in the treatment of suburbanization and peri-urbanization in many post-socialist urban regions.