Trajectories of the Development of Small Towns in Terms of the Urban Resilience Concept — the Demographic Dimension
Trajectories of the Development of Small Towns in Terms of the Urban Resilience Concept — the Demographic Dimension

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to determine the trajectories of the development of small towns in terms of the urban resilience concept in a demographic dimension. It makes it possible to answer the question of how towns adapt to contemporary socio-economic processes. The subject of the research is a set of small towns in Wielkopolskie Voivodship. The period of the study involves the years 2003–2016 which enables us to grasp the changeability of development conditions related to transformation, globalization, and integration processes as well as the economic crisis. The research is conducted with the use of indexes of change dynamics with a fixed basis. Analysis provides for a diversified size structure of small towns, their location and administrative functions performed. In 2003–2016 the trajectories of the resilience of Wielkopolskie small towns were diversified. The basic criterion influencing their course is the size structure of a given center and its location, whereas administrative functions are of minor significance. The smallest towns (of a mixed type — i.e., roller-coster with elements of avant-garde type) seem the most resistant to external disturbances, have a higher degree of resilience and thus adapt better to contemporary socio-economic changes in the demographic dimension. An important external disturbance which clearly modifies the values of the selected indexes of resilience and vulnerability dynamics as well as the course of the trajectories of the development of towns with a diversified size structure was an economic crisis strengthened by globalization and integration processes.

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