Janusz Słodczyk the Role of the Industrial Function

JANUSZ SŁODCZYK THE ROLE OF THE INDUSTRIAL FUNCTION IN TOWNS AT A TIME OF TRANSFORMATION (AS EXEMPLIFIED BY OPOLE REGION) Introduction New conditions in the economy and new rules for urban management have ushered in a process of major change in the functional structures of urban areas. The transformations taking place in the economy were inevitably to influence the economic base of many towns and cities. Over a longer peri od of time, the most evident changes would seem to have concerned the role of the manufacturing functions in the economy of many centres. The functional structure of Polish towns and cities in the post-war period was established under the influence of the economic model being put into place at that time. Dynamie yet extensive industrial development, combined with fast growth in employment, was a significant element in this model. Newly built plants and industrial complexes were a target for rural migration and the flow of rural migrants to towns and cities made the development of housing and growth in employment in this sector necessary. Underdevelopment of the non- basic sector was a significant phenomenon at this stage which especially con- cemed such branches as trade and services. These disparities were smaller where culture, education and healthcare were concerned. The phenomena men- tioned above had a tremendous influence on the structure of employment in towns. One of the results to be expected from the intensive processes in an economy in transition would be gradual changes in the employment struc ture in urban areas. A movement of workers from the production sector to the service sector takes place. For many towns this means the service func tions becoming more important for the economy, while the function of industry becomes limited. The adaption of the urban economy to the new conditions is not an easy process. Towns with traditional industries, underdeveloped services Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-02 440 Janusz Slodczyk and a lack of adequate technical infrastructure have found themselves in an enormously difficult situation.1 These phenomena are not confined to Poland but are rather elements of processes of a global naturę. Discussing the problems of the globalization of the economy, R. Domański2 points to the existence, alongside towns working their way up the global hierarchy, of others that are becoming less and less important. This is especially true of a large group of industrial towns and cities in which a collapse of the basie function has occurred. In the present Polish situation we can formulate a thesis that the transition from production to services is very much equivalent to a transfer from the big industrial complexes (declining or limiting employment) to smali and medium-sized commercial or service enterprises. In some, as yet hard to define part, there is a limitation of the basic-sector functions to the benefit of those of the non-basic sector. Manufacturing functions have been the main element to the economic base of towns in Opole region (Opole Silesia) for many years. J. Kroszel3, analyzing the functional structure of towns in this region in the 1960s, claimed that the region's high level of industrialization was reflected in a dominant position for manufacturing in the life of the region's towns and cities. The rate of employment in industry was growing very dynamically at that time. The typology of towns and cities in Opole region in the 1960s, on the basis of the then employment structure allowed for the discernment of 12 towns with specialized industrial functions (Brzeg, Kietrz, Otmuchów, Wołczyn, Kędzierzyn, Krapkowice, Głuchołazy, Nysa, Paczków, Ozimek, Prudnik, Zawadzkie), 1 town with specialized industrial-transport functions and seven towns with combined but predominantly industrial functions (Lewin Brzeski, Głubczyce, Zdzieszowice,Biała Prudnicka, Głogówek, Strzelce Opolskie). Among the 37 towns and cities studied, industry was the dominant employment factor in 23 cases. The described employment structure proved quite stable, surviving with minimal changes until the end of the 1980s. 1 A. Harańczyk, Polish towns in the process of economy globalization, PWN, Warszawa 1998. 2 R. Domański, Spatial transformation of economy, PWN, Warszawa 1997. 3 ]. Kroszel, Functional structure of towns in Opole region, in: Structures and settlement processes (common work edited by S. Gołachowski), Silesian Institut in Opole 1971. Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-02 The role of the industrial function in toums. 441 The dynamics of employment in towns of Opole region Representations of the changes taking place in the 1990s include: mod- ifications in the number of employees in the region's towns. In line with expectation, the generał trends in the economy at large were reflected in the towns of Opole region. The interesting element here is rather concerned with differences among the towns and cities of the grouping under study. In the six years between 1988 and 1996, the numbers employed in the towns of Opole region declined considerably. Overall, the thirty towns in the region had nearly 67 000 fewer people employed in 1996 than in 1988, equating to a 26% decrease. Industrial employees accounted for half of the number. Over the six years, the region's manufacturing sector lost one third of its employees. However, the phenomenon described took different forms in the different cities and towns. Paczków is an example of a town in which the decline in employment was very marked, being of 56%. Considerable declines in the number of employees were also observed in Biała (48%), Kietrz (46%) and Lewin Brzeski (44%). There is a further large group of towns with declines in employment of about one third. Included here are: Ozimek (39%), Krapkowice (37%), Głubczyce (35%), Wołczyn (34%), Głuchołazy (32%), Kluczbork (32%) and Prudnik 32%). Bearing in mind these results, the first years of transformation can be considered linked to a major decline in the number of places of employment in towns. To be observed at the same time was a stabilization or limitation of growth in migrational movements, in other words a lack of important changes as far as place of residence is concerned. With a view to carrying out a functional analysis of towns in respect to their role as places of residence and employment, we can assume that a large group - especially in the western part of Opole region - have witnessed a limitation of the function as a place of employment and an associated rela- tive increase in the residential functions. Detailed research in the various urban areas would seem to support this assumption. Employment in industry in the Opole region in the years 1988-1997 Materiał concerned with the change in the number of people employed in industry in the largest urban areas of the region (those with more than Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-02 442 Janusz Słodczyk 20 000 inhabitants) shows that the most marked decrease took place in the first years of the transformation (Fig.l). In the foliowing years the numbers employed in industry in different towns stabilized at a defined level. It is worth mentioning that all seven towns in the analyzed group showed an increase in employment in industry between 1994 and 1997. 18000 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 2000 0 Opole Kędzierzyn- Nysa Brzeg Kluczbork Prudnik Strzelce Krapkowice Koźle Opolskie Fig. 1. Changes in the number of employees in industry in the biggest centers of Opole region The dynamics of this phenomenon varied across the group of towns with between 10 000 and 20 000 inhabitants (Fig. 2). In such towns as Ozimek, Zdzieszowice and Głuchołazy the number of people employed in industry continues to decline continually. These are industrial centres, and Ozimek in particular has been particularly dominated by this function. The opposite tendency is to be met with in Namysłów, where a very consistent policy of town management connected with a search for new investors has resulted in continuous growth in the numbers employed in idustry after 1994. In smaller centres, a decrease in the numbers employed in industry was generally observed until 1996, after which four towns in the group enjoyed a resurgence (Fig. 3). In generał it would seem that many large manufacturing centres shed the greater part of their employment surplus from the previous period. The cessation of the decreases in employment in industry, or even slow increases, are a positive phenomenon which can no w be observed. The greatest dangers connected with limitations on the numbers working in manufacturing relate to typically industrial towns with one large Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-02 The role of the industrial function in towns. 443 6000 61988! 5000 JH1994L □1996 4000 -|gi997j. 3000 2000 1000 Namysłów Głuchołazy Głubczyce Zdzieszowice Ozimek Fig. 2. Changes in the number of employees in industry in towns of the Opole region with 10 to 20 tnousand inhabitants 4500 4000 ■ 1988 3500 ■ 1994 3000 i ! 1996 □ 1997 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Fig. 3. Changes in the number of employees in industry in towns of the Opole region with 5 to 10 thousand inhabitants establishment providing their economic base (for example Ozimek or Zawadzkie). The hard-to-avoid rationalization of employment in these estab- lishments (steel plants) has brought major problems for the economies of the towns concerned. Pobrano z https://repo.uni.opole.pl / Downloaded from Repository of Opole University 2021-10-02 444 Janusz Słodczyk The industrial function of the studied towns in relation to the employment structure When taking account of analysis of the functional structure of towns, it may be interesting to define the way in which the changing numbers employed in industry have influenced the percentage share of industrial workers in the employment structures of towns in Opole region.

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