Nowa delimitacja miejskich obszarów funkcjonalnych w Polsce i jej zastosowanie w praktyce zintegrowanego podejścia terytorialnego (place based approach) = A new delimitation of Functional Urban Areas in Poland and its application in the practice of the place-based approach

Abstract

There is now a renaissance of interest in Poland’s urban regions, including the Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) and this can be considered due to a change from the administrative and sectoral approach dominating planning for regional development in the direction of a functional one. This paper presents an overview of the concepts related to FUAs and related issues, as well as methods referred to in the Polish literature when it comes to the delimitation of urban-related areas. It then goes on to propose a new delimitation of urban functional areas extending to the entire territory of the country. FUAs were delimited as nodal regions on the basis of a criterion of functional linkage – commuting and migration exchange (population check-in and check-out), using the additional criterion of maximum temporal distance. The results of the prepared means of drawing distinctions showed how the daily life of Poland's population is organised in relation to a relatively large number of diverse "micro-regions." The number of classified FUAs (413) is similar to the number of county-level administrative units known as poviats (380), while these units are characterised by different sizes and spatial extents. The work is in line with the demand for those engaging in spatial and strategic planning to think in terms of functional areas.