Bukowska Janiszewska Mordw
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Potentials of Poland Introduction to Socio-Economic Geography of Poland for Foreigners Łódź 2012 citation: Rosińska-Bukowska M., Janiszewska A., Mordwa S. (eds), 2012, Potentials of Poland. Introduction to socio-economic geography of Poland for foreigners, Dep. of Spatial Economy and Spatial Planning, ISBN 978-83937758-1-1, doi: 11089/2690. Review Izabela Sołjan Editors Magdalena Rosińska-Bukowska Anna Janiszewska Stanisław Mordwa Managing editor Ewa Klima (If you have any comments to make about this title, please send them to: [email protected]) Text and graphic design by Karolina Dmochowska-Dudek Cover design by Karolina Dmochowska-Dudek Książka dostępna w Repozytorim Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego http://hdl.handle.net/11089/2690 ISBN: 978-83-937758-1-1 © Copyright by Department of Spatial Economy and Spatial Planning, University of Łódź, Łódź 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 9 (Editors) 2. POTENTIAL OF THE POLISH ENVIRONMENT ................................................. 10 (Sławomir Kobojek) 2.1. Location – area – spatial resources .............................................. 10 2.2. Resources of the Polish land – geological composition – minerals12 2.2.1. Geological structures in Poland – tectonic units ................... 12 2.2.2. The Quaternary and the Pleistocene – the Polish ice age ... 18 2.3. Diversity of geomorphological landscape – topographic relief of Poland ........................................................................................... 20 2.3.1. Land relief of Poland ............................................................. 20 2.3.2. History of the relief of southern Poland ................................ 20 2.3.3. Glacial relief of central and northern Poland ........................ 24 2.4. Climate of Poland .......................................................................... 25 2.4.1. Major conditions influencing the climate of Poland .............. 25 2.4.2. Temperateness of the climate of Poland .............................. 26 2.4.3. Characteristic features of the main elements of Poland's climate ................................................................................. 26 2.5. Water a special type of goods – water resources in Poland ......... 29 2.5.1. Underground water in Poland ............................................... 29 2.5.2. Surface water ........................................................................ 31 2.5.3. Water resources management ............................................. 37 2.6. Soil – specific potential of the Polish land ..................................... 38 2.7. Plant life and animal life ................................................................ 40 2.7.1. Polish flora ............................................................................ 40 2.7.2. Polish fauna .......................................................................... 42 2.8. Natural diversity of Poland – geographic landscape ..................... 43 2.8.1. Coastal lowlands ................................................................... 44 2.8.2. Lake Districts ........................................................................ 45 2.8.3. Central Polish Lowlands – The Land of Great Valleys ......... 46 2.8.4. Old mountains, uplands and related foreland basins ........... 48 2.8.5. Young mountains and foreland lowlands .............................. 50 3. THE POLITICAL POTENTIAL OF POLAND ........................................................ 52 (Anna Nowakowska-Dryk) 3.1. Introduction .................................................................................... 52 3.2. The Legislative Power ................................................................... 53 3.3. The Executive Power .................................................................... 56 3.4. The administrative system of Poland ............................................ 59 3.4.1. The central administration .................................................... 59 3.4.2. The local government ........................................................... 60 3.5. The evolution of political system of Poland ................................... 69 3.6. The Party System of Poland ......................................................... 70 3.7. Summary ....................................................................................... 75 4. POPULATION POTENTIAL .................................................................................... 77 (Anna Janiszewska) 4.1. Development of population ........................................................... 77 4.2. Demographic reproduction ............................................................ 86 4.3. Urbanization ................................................................................ 100 4.4. Migration movements .................................................................. 105 4.5. Demographic restructuring .......................................................... 109 5. SOCIAL POTENTIAL ............................................................................................. 111 (Paulina Tobiasz-Lis) 5.1. Introduction .................................................................................. 111 5.2. The human capital as an economic term .................................... 112 5.3. The social potential in Poland in the regional aspect .................. 114 5.4. Social potential’s investments and Poland’s membership in the European Union .......................................................................... 125 5.5. Conclusion ................................................................................... 130 6. POLISH AGRICULTURE’S POTENTIAL ........................................................... 132 (Marcin Wójcik) 6.1. Valorization of agricultural productive space .............................. 133 6.2. Non-natural elements of agricultural development ..................... 134 6.2.1. Agricultural population ........................................................ 134 6.2.2. Land’s proprietary structure ................................................ 137 6.2.3. The size structure of farms in agriculture ........................... 138 6.2.4. The structure of lands’ use ................................................. 140 6.2.5. The level of mechanization and fertilization ........................ 142 6.2.6. The vegetable production ................................................... 144 6.2.7. Animal’s production ............................................................ 147 6.2.8. Polish agriculture’s productive and commercial ................. 148 6.3. Regions of agricultural potential in Poland .................................. 149 6.4. Poland’s agriculture in European Union ...................................... 150 6.4.1. Polish agriculture’s potential in Europe .............................. 151 6.4.2. Types and dimension of European Union’s financial help to Polish agriculture .............................................................. 152 6.5. Forest economy ........................................................................... 157 6.6. Sea and freshwater catches ........................................................ 158 6.7. Recapitulation .............................................................................. 158 7. INFLOW OF FOREIGN CAPITAL TO POLAND – DEPOSITS IN THE FORM OF DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENTS (FDI) .......................................................... 160 (Magdalena Rosińska-Bukowska) 8. POTENTIAL OF POLISH INDUSTRY ................................................................. 172 (Katarzyna Kikosicka, Sylwia Firlej) 8.1. History ......................................................................................... 173 8.2. Mining .......................................................................................... 174 8.3. Manufacturing .............................................................................. 177 8.4. Automotive Industry .................................................................... 177 8.5. Construction Machinery .............................................................. 178 8.6. Chemical Industry........................................................................ 178 8.7. Light Industry ............................................................................... 179 9. THE THIRD SECTOR POTENTIAL ..................................................................... 181 (Agnieszka Rochmińska) 9.1. Introduction .................................................................................. 181 9.2. The interwar era .......................................................................... 182 9.3. Controlled economy period (1945 – 1989) .................................. 186 9.4. Transformation era – after 1989 .................................................. 190 9.5. Education .................................................................................... 198 10. THE POTENTIAL OF TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION ...................... 202 (Stanisław Mordwa) 10.1. Transport .................................................................................... 202 10.1.1. The road transport ............................................................ 206 10.1.2. Railway transport .............................................................. 209 10.1.3. Inland waterways transport ............................................... 212 10.1.4. Maritime transport ............................................................