Academic literature on the topic 'Kraków (Poland) – Economic conditions – 21st century'

SummaryChanging socioeconomic conditions over the last century have left their mark on neonatal size and final body size of individuals born in those days. The main aim of this study was to investigate how the historical, political and economic changes occurring from the late 19th century to the 2000s have affected the birth weight of newborns. Additionally, changes in weight and body height in the case of young women (potential mothers) were analysed. Data were from two cities in Poland (Kraków and Poznań) covering 15,884 newborns and 3612 women aged 18 years, derived from 1900 to 2010. Despite short-term fluctuations, the results showed significant increasing trends in all studied features. Changes in birth weight were similar in both cities: in Kraków it increased by 184 g (males) and 206 g (females), and in Poznań by 216 g (males) and 120 g (females). Changes in women’s body size were also significant, but the level was different depending on place of residence. In the last century, women’s body height increased by 8.2 cm in Kraków and by 10.2 cm in Poznań, and their body weight increased by 1 kg and 5 kg respectively. The considered period covered the years of socioeconomic change that occurred as a result of the political system transformation. Crises, periods of prosperity and other factors that determine standard of living and health care have influenced the development of the Polish population’s physical features.

ObjectivesThe aim of this paper is to perform an evaluation of the social and living conditions of professional soldiers and their families in Poland at the beginning of the 21st century and two decades later.MethodsThe research methods used in this study are: literature analysis and review and the method of logical analysis and structure.ResultsThe analysis of the available sources allowed the author to draw the conclusion that the appropriate status level of a professional soldier may realistically contribute to the improvement of the overall state of social security of both the soldiers and their families, as well as of the capacity of the armed forces, provided, however, that the organisational and legal conditions are fully adjusted to their needs both during service and after termination.ConclusionsProfessional soldiers serve in the conditions that result from currently existing organisational, systemic, and legal solutions that secure the process of realisation of the tasks for: the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, the state of Poland, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The social and existential situation of professional soldiers and their families is influenced by numerous, different factors, both external (political or economic) and internal (departmental) ones, as well as those connected to the course of performing professional military service: the structure of the armed forces and the types of tasks performed in the country and abroad.

Migrations of seniors in the 21st century accurately reflect the socio-demographic changes in developed countries. Their intensity increases in various parts of the world. In Europe, pensioners from the north move to the region of the Mediterranean Sea. Seniors from the United States and Canada are attracted to the countries of Central and South America. The goal of this study is to identify the trends in foreign migrations of seniors in selected countries of the world, with special regard to the migration of Polish pensioners. The study shows that contemporary seniors can afford to purchase property abroad and the driving forces for the migration movement include: warm climate, beautiful landscape, and a healthier and slower pace of living at the final destination. However, when it comes to Polish pensioners, the main reason for their migrations is their attempt to improve their economic conditions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) in the twenty-first century is a scientific discipline with one of the greatest development potentials. The article deals with the methodological, political, social, and business (economic) aspects of the development of AI (pl. Sztuczna inteligencja, SI). The multidimensional context of measuring the development of AI overlaps the decisions about monitoring and analysing the development of artificial intelligence. These decisions were taken, inter alia, by the European Commission, the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland and the OECD. The main trends in monitoring and analysing the development of artificial intelligence are global in nature, but preferences specific to local conditions (national, environmental) are also clear. The aim of the article is to identify the conditions for the development of artificial intelligence in Poland in the years 2006–2020 with the use of the applied concepts of measuring its development. The methods of statistics, cybernetics and computer science were used, and the literature (from the last two decades of the 20th century and from the 21st century) and data (from 2006 to 2020) from domestic and foreign sources were used. Aspects of the dynamics of the development of AI resulting from the authors’ experience and strategic analyses for the Polish government are exposed, with particular emphasis on Polish conditions. The article justifies that it is necessary to eliminate barriers to the development of AI in Poland, i.e. stereotypes of decision-makers’ thinking, shortage of AI analysts, low level of AI applications in the economy.

Abstract At the turn of the 21st century Polish agriculture intensively changed as the consequence of: 1) the socio-economic transformation that started in 1989, 2) the general transition from a centrally-planned economy to a market economy and 3) Poland’s accession in 2004 to the European Union. In this paper, we try to describe, in a synthetic way, the spatial heterogeneity of development of agriculture in Poland. For this purpose we identified the types of contemporary Polish agriculture. We applied the measures of global (Moran 1950) and local (LISA) spatial autocorrelation devised by L. Anselin (1995) and used their calculations in classification methods. Our dataset consists of 69 variables and 3,069 spatial units at the LAU2 level. As the result of the analysis we identified 20 types of agriculture in Poland and presented their characteristic features. We have paid particular attention to a spatial distribution of identified types. We concluded that the distribution is not only a result of natural or socio-economic conditions and local spatial relationships, but also to a greater extent is still affected by historical conditions (mainly partitions and changes of borders after the First and Second World Wars).

Abstract The presented text discusses the problems of academic and teacher education under conditions of consumption culture and neoliberal ideology development at the beginning of the 21st century in Poland. The article puts the thesis that neo-liberalism, manifested by economic phenomena, permeates all spheres of social life, enhancing the characteristics of consumption culture. It enters education, including academic education. In this context, there has been shown a part of our research conducted in 2006-2016 (27 interviews in depth with students completing Master’s degree in Pedagogy). The research has taken the form of semantic reconstruction of statements made on studies and pedagogical training, expressed by students during in-depth interviews (IDI). During the research study the leading categories have been defined, which set the main perspectives for thinking about study. Within these perspectives, the student’s goals of study have been identified and more detailed profiles of perceiving pedagogical studies have been defined. The comparative analysis of the IDI narratives of 2006 and 2016 allows us to see phenomena that can be interpreted as indicating that pedagogy students are increasingly taking over the market thinking, acting more explicitly as customers of educational services, presenting a utilitarian attitude to study.

The aim of this study was to describe the functioning of Polish women living in Britain and the USA who have entered into formal or informal relationships with foreigners. The analysis of the literature has shown that research which helps to understand the specifics of how binational relationships work is still scarce, so researchers are encouraged to conduct more studies in this area. The analyses presented here are based on individual semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted among 21 women (N = 21). The research has shown, among other things, that the migration of Polish women is strongly correlated with living conditions and the economic situation in the country. The stories of the women interviewed about leaving Poland clearly show the changes in migration patterns developing in the 21st century.

AbstractThe aim of this paper is an attempt of explanation basic factors of depopulation in case of cities in Poland in the 20st and in the beginning of 21st century. Author takes into consideration only large urban centers with population more than 50 thousands inhabitants. Population changes are described according to historical periods: 1900-1946 (including World War II), postwar period (1946-1989) and period socio-economic and political changes in Poland (1990-2010). A key question is basic thesis that different determinants of depopulation have two sources: internal as well as external ones. Some of them arise only in defined periods and social-economic conditions. The most important have been underlined in this paper. It has been highlighted that is visible different between simply depopulation of cities as consequence of military operations, for example and contemporary urban shrinkage as an effect of compound social-economic background. Paper gives some reflections on different possibilities for defense of cities not only against consequences of the second demographic transition but also functional changes, especially in case of larger post-industrial centers. Important question that have been underlined in paper is problem of urban shrinkage as contemporary dimension of depopulation. Presented information clearly shows that in demographic terms process of contemporary shrinkage is comparable with urban demographic decline of the WW2 period.

The process of urbanisation is one of the most characteristic features of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. All economic and demographic forecasts indicate that the process of urbanisation will continue to develop dynamically. Continuous urbanisation generates a number of problems that are connected with issues such as urban freight transport, i.e., the problem of traffic congestion, noise and air pollution. Therefore, recent years have seen a dynamic growth in programmes intended to alleviate the negative impact of transport on the urban environment. A number of international projects have been implemented or initiated and resulted in the development of interesting solutions that enabled the rationalisation of transport and contributed to the development of sustainable urban logistics, e.g., BESTUFS, CITY PORTS, CityLog, CityMove, C-LIEGE, FREIGHTWISE, GRASS, NOVELOG, SMARTFREIGHT and SUGAR. Especially worthy of note amongst those initiatives are those which are concentrated on the implementation of BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles). The authors of this paper have compared selected vehicles of the same brand and the same manufacturer, with the only difference being their N1 category power source (commercial vehicles with GVW of up to 3.5 tonnes), that are commonly used for the distribution of goods in urban conditions. The main purpose of the analysis was to answer the following question: can an electrical commercial vehicle compete in everyday use with a combustion-powered vehicle in the current market conditions? To this end, the authors developed a formula to calculate the total cost of ownership, in which all key criteria for vehicle use were taken into account, utilizing a scenario method. The utilitarian value of this research arises from the fact that Poland and its problems related to the issues analysed can serve as a source of preliminary analysis for other countries.

Remarks on the problems associated with the inculturation of the Napoleonic Code in the Kingdom of Poland — doubts concerning Article 530A serious problem can arise when a society has to deal with regulations not adapted to its internal relations, regulations that have been imposed on that society. Such a situation occurred in Poland in the early nineteenth century in connection with the introduction of the Napoleonic Code within the territory of the Duchy of Warsaw. This generated a lot of controversy, not only among members of the Council of State, but also among wealthy and lesser nobility as well as Catholic clergy. The state was characterised by numerous remnants of feudalism. The conditions, when it came to both social and economic relations, were different than those in France. Consequently, the provisions of the Code referring to property were not fully applicable in practice. After the fall of the Duchy of Warsaw the Napoleonic Code remained in force in the Kingdom of Poland and the Free City of Kraków. However, it still had many opponents in the Kingdom of Poland. In the end there emerged a concept of reform of property law, with one of its points being a change in the provisions guaranteeing inferior owners a possibility of redeeming their obligations. Such a right was guaranteed by Article 530 of the Code, which could lead to dominium utile or inferior ownership being transformed into dominium plenum or full ownership. A draft amendment was prepared by the Legislative Deputation and then adopted by the parliament on 13 June 1825. The inculturation of the Code in the Kingdom of Poland, a country on a lower level of socio-economic development than France, was doomed to failure. While in the Duchy of Warsaw the Napoleonic Code was fictitiously used in practice, as it were, in the Kingdom of Poland legislative work was undertaken to change civil law and adapt it to the conditions in the country. Bemerkungen zu den Problemen der Inkulturation des Code Napoléon im Königreich Polen — Fragen vor dem Hintergrund des Art. 530Das Aufzwingen der Gesellschaft der Vorschriften, die den dort herrschenden Verhältnissen nicht entsprechen, kann ein wesentliches Problem darstellen. Gerade mit dieser Situation hatte man auf polnischen Gebieten am Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts im Zusammenhang mit der Einführung des Code Napoléon im Warschauer Herzogtum zu tun. Diese Maßnahmen weckten viele Kontroversen nicht nur unter den Mitgliedern des Standesrates, sondern auch des vermögenden und mittleren Adels sowie der katholischen Geistlichkeit. Den Staat charakterisierten zahlreiche feudale Überreste. Es herrschten dort andere als in Frankreich sowohl soziale, wie auch wirtschaftliche Verhältnisse. In der Folge fanden die Vorschriften des Gesetzbuches betreffend das Sachenrecht keine vollständige Anwendung in der Praxis.Nach dem Fall des Warschauer Herzogtums bewahrte das Code Napoléon die Kraft auf den Gebieten des Königreiches Polen und der Freistadt Krakau. Im Königreich Polen hatte es jedoch weiterhin viele Gegner. Letztendlich klärte sich die Konzeption einer Reform des Vermögensrechtes und ein ihrer Punkte war die Änderung der Vorschriften, die die Möglichkeit des Rückkaufs der Obliegenheiten durch die unterliegenden Eigentümer garantierten. Dieses Recht sicherte Art. 530 des Code Napoléon zu, dessen Geltung zur Umwandlung des unterstellten Eigentums in ein volles Eigentum führen könnte. Der Entwurf der Novellierung wurde von der Rechtsgebenden Deputation vorbereitet und dann durch das Parlament am 13. Juni 1825 beschlossen.Der Inkulturationsprozess des Gesetzbuches im Königreich Polen, einem Staat, der auf einer niedrigeren Ebene der sozial-wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung als Frankreich stand, war zu einer Niederlage verurteilt. Obwohl im Warschauer Herzogtum eine Fiktion der Anwendung des Code Napoléon in der Praxis angenommen wurde, so unternahm man im Königreich Polen legislatorische Arbeiten mit dem Ziel der Änderung des Zivilrechtes und seiner Anpassung an die im Lande herrschenden Verhältnisse.

Defense date: 09 February 2010
Examining Board: John Bachtler (Univerity of Strathclyde), László Bruszt (EUI), Jerzy Hausner (Cracow University), Michael Keating (EUI) (Supervisor)
First made available online: 25 August 2021
This PhD thesis is the outcome of a research project that has analysed how EU programmes influence cooperation among local economic development actors in European cities. The focus of the research is particularly on the impact of the Europeanization process on urban policy networks. The study is based on a comparative analysis of two European cities, Krakow and Glasgow. In particular, the thesis looks into the impact of EU funds on local actor relations around economic development by analysing the management of EU programmes, participation in EU projects and international city cooperation. The theoretical framework provided is based on analysing five dimensions of the Europeanization process, categorised as institutional, financial, cognitive, rhetoric and symbolic. The study builds on an extensive literature review and involved a range of sources, including a large number of interviews in both cities. The structure of the thesis is based on six main chapters. The first chapter introduces a research problem, puts forward preliminary hypotheses and sets a research design based on the five dimensions of the Europeanization process. In the second chapter we find a literature review, looking at actor relations around economic development in cities, with an emphasis on urban policy networks, and the conceptualised role of Europeanization stimulating cooperation among actors. Chapter three provides a review of the urban dimension in EU policies with respect to policy objectives, funding and policy measures. This is followed by two empirical chapters on Glasgow and Krakow, reviewing the historical, political and institutional contexts, management of EU programmes, participation in EU projects and engagement in inter-city cooperation. The final chapter links the empirical findings with urban theories and Europeanization literature as well as provides conclusions on the five dimensions set out in the theoretical framework. The dimensions of the Europeanization model set out in this dissertation demonstrate that when exposed to EU programmes, European cities tend to develop similar features of cooperation around EU funded economic development, despite their distinct institutional structures and differences in national, historical, cultural and political backgrounds. Similar institutions in the form of partnerships are created around EU funds (institutional dimension), which attract additional funds, both private and public (financial dimension). Actors involved with EU funded projects exchange knowledge and expertise that contribute to the creation of best practices, which become available to all cities in the European Union (cognitive dimension). Consequently, local actors involved with EU programmes start using the same EU language (rhetoric dimension) and apply the same EU symbols (symbolic dimension).