Title: Paths of shrinkage in the Katowice Conurbation : case studies of Bytom and Sosnowiec cities Author: Robert Krzysztofik, Jerzy Runge, Iwona Kantor-Pietraga Citation style: Krzysztofik Robert, Runge Jerzy, Kantor-Pietraga Iwona. (2011). Paths of shrinkage in the Katowice Conurbation : case studies of Bytom and Sosnowiec cities. Sosnowiec : Wydział Nauk o Ziemi. Uniwersytet Śląski. Robert Krzysztofik Jerzy Runge Iwona Kantor-Pietraga Paths of Shrinkage in the Katowice Conurbation. Case Studies of Bytom and Sosnowiec Cities Sosnowiec 2011 Redaktor Prac Wydziału Nauk o Ziemi Uniwersytetu Śląskiego Prof. dr hab. Andrzej T. Jankowski Editor of The Dissertations of Earth Science Faculty, Silesian University Prof. dr Andrzej T. Jankowski Prace Wydziału Nauk o Ziemi Uniwersytetu Śląskiego nr 69 The Dissertations of Earth Science Faculty, Silesian University, no. 69 Recenzent: Review by: Prof. UJ dr hab. Andrzej Zborowski Prof. dr Andrzej Zborowski Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie The Jagiellonian University, Krakow Wydawca: Publish by: Wydział Nauk o Ziemi Faculty of Earth Science Uniwersytet Śląski University of Silesia Ul. Będzińska 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec 60, Będzińska Street, 41-200 Sosnowiec ISSN 1895-6777 ISBN 978-83-61644-21-7 Druk: Pracownia Komputerowa Jacka Skalmierskiego, Gliwice. Printing: The Jacek Skalmierski Computer Laboratory, Gliwice. Książka sfinansowana z budżetu projektu unijnego: Shrink Smart. Governance of Shrinkage within a European Context, nr 225193 This book has been published with the support of the EU Project: Shrink Smart. Governance of Shrinkage within a European Context, no. 225193 Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................ 5 1. The Katowice Conurbation. Patterns of Urban Shrinkage............................ 7 1.1. Reasons and Premises .................................................................................. 7 Introduction .................................................................................................... 7 Demographics (population development and migration) ............................... 9 Economic Development ............................................................................... 15 Settlement System ........................................................................................ 18 Other Factors ................................................................................................ 21 1.2. Trajectories of Urban Shrinkage ................................................................ 22 Spatial-Temporal Patterns ............................................................................ 22 Dynamics ...................................................................................................... 33 2. Impacts and consequences of urban shrinkage ............................................. 37 2.1. Patterns of segregation and social cohesion ............................................... 37 2.2. Business and employment .......................................................................... 42 2.3. Social structure and education .................................................................... 47 2.4. Technical Infrastructure ............................................................................. 50 2.5. Land Use and Environmental Quality ........................................................ 53 Examples of brownfields in Bytom .............................................................. 56 Examples of brownfields in Sosnowiec ........................................................ 59 2.5. Housing ...................................................................................................... 61 2.6. Municipal budgets ...................................................................................... 65 Summary ............................................................................................................... 69 References ............................................................................................................. 71 3 Annex..................................................................................................................... 75 DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIAL QUESTIONS ............................................. 75 SOCIO-ECONOMIC QUESTIONS ................................................................. 86 ECONOMIC QUESTIONS .............................................................................. 89 HOUSING AND INFRASTRUCTURE QUESTIONS .................................. 101 MUNICIPAL BUDGETS QUESTIONS ........................................................ 105 Index of Tables ................................................................................................... 113 Index of Figures .................................................................................................. 117 4 Introduction The Katowice Conurbation is the largest metropolitan region in Poland. In the core zone there are 16 cities, followed by another 17 in the peripheral region. It is important to underline that the Katowice Conurbation makes up the largest shrinking region in Central and Eastern Europe. The depopulation of the region has marked itself strongly in the 17% decrease of population, from 2 million 311.5 thousand in 1990 to 1 million 978.5 thousand in 2007. The fall was noticed in all cities of the Katowice Conurbation, including Katowice the capital of the region, as well as the examined cities of Bytom and Sosnowiec. The shrinking cities of the Katowice Conurbation present the most spectacular example of socio-economic problems existing in the post- industrial area of the urban region. Both above mentioned cities Bytom and Sosnowiec have been analysed in the report as partially different types of urban centres in the view of city shrinkage. Medieval Bytom, with its urban space similar to H. Hoyt's sector model of urban land use, differs slightly when compared to Sosnowiec, which was established in the beginning of the 20th century, with its urban space explained by C. Harris and E. Ullman in multiple nuclei theory of urban structure. Different political history, as well as, partially different economic functions of the cities, were consolidated after World War II into a visible spatial monolith. Destruction of the monolith from the socio-economic point of view took place at the end of the 1980s. However, some symptoms of the upcoming demographic crisis surfaced in the 1980s and even in the 1970s. Both cities entered new paths of development after 1990, but the paths differed in the case of Sosnowiec, it was a reactional and simultaneously positive one, and in the case of Bytom unfortunately, it was reactional, but at the same time a negative path. Both cities, however, belong to the group of cities with a majority population outflow rather than inflow, and also belong to the group of urban centres with a negative image. It is significant to mention that in the research of BAV Consulting, as well as KB Pretendent Agency (www.bav.com), Bytom was 5 qualified as the most repulsive city in Poland in 2009. Unfortunately, Sosnowiec ranked high too. The effects of city shrinkage are visible in both cities in the context of social and demographic models, economic processes or spatial changes. As far as demographic problems are concerned, issues such as the decreasing number of persons in the average flat or household, or a lower index of the number of children in the average family, shall be brought to attention. A decreasing unemployment rate has been a very positive element in recent years (around 12-16% in 2007), and is presently similar to the Polish average. The problem of demographic decrease has been brought about mainly by the economic transformation and changes in the regional economic base. In the course of the last two decades, the model of an industrial city has been transformed into a model of a service city or a service and industrial city. The inflow of new investments is concentrated on, and directed to, only several cities. Sosnowiec constitutes a good example. Bytom, on the other hand, is unfortunately outside this network. A positive element of the transformation is the fact that the technical infrastructure is in much better condition than it was 10-20 years ago, but there is still room for improvement, especially in the field of transport. A similar problem is posed in the case of housing. The problem results from the fact that the shrinking number of citizens increasingly use both kinds of infrastructure. The fact is, the growing number of houses and flats are occupied by a plummeting number of inhabitants. It is significant to mention that the society is growing older and earn relatively less. The municipal budget may be of limited help. An additional problem, in the case of Bytom, is caused by mining damages, with reference to both housing and infrastructure. Bytom and Sosnowiec constitute two representative cities located in the post- industrial conurbation and they strongly experience all the problems determined by the shrinkage process. Both cities present similar examples of different methods of urban space improvement as well as the elimination of limits of frequently ambitious aims. 6 1. The Katowice Conurbation. Patterns of Urban Shrinkage 1.1. Reasons and Premises Introduction The Katowice Conurbation is the largest urban region in Poland and one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe. The population of the conurbation is about 3 million and