Spatial structure transformations in small towns in view of rehabilitation and gentrification processes

Abstract

During the time of centrally controlled economy Polish cities were shaped by processes and structures typical of a socialist state. When changes in the economic, social and political system in Poland begun, Polish cities and towns entered a transformation process. The aim of the paper is to answer the question whether and to what extent spatial transformations of small towns in Poland show symptoms of gentrification. Authors analyse the problems of towns genesis, population changes, changes in the spatial and functional structures of towns as well as the modernization of the central districts of small towns in Małopolska Province. In view of present changes that take place in the structures of small towns in Europe and the widely undertaken actions towards the revitalization of small towns’ centres in Poland, the authors attempted to analyse spatial, economic and social transformations in the light of wider processes of gentrification, however at the present stage of development of small towns it is difficult to speak of gentrification processes itself.