| dc.description.abstract | The conviction that metropolitan areas are of vital importance for the socio-economic
development is one of the major paradigms of social development in the era of
globalization. Among numerous problems associated with spatial metropolization there
is the recognition of certain social and economic processes together with their spatial
conditions. On the one hand, these conditions lead to the integration of metropolitan
areas, but on the other, they may cause some diversification.
According to the results of a few selected studies conducted on Łódź Metropolitan
Area (Łódzki Obszar Metropolitalny), there has been a significant change in the role of
an agglomeration and its location in the settlement system. Metropolitan integration
takes place at the functional-spatial level, however, it is much more complex than it used
to be before 1990. Disintegration, on the other hand, results from the autonomization of
the settlement sub-systems of agglomerations, which occurs mainly due to the
functioning of the local self-government and the renaissance of localism (the restoration
of local identity). Local communities exhibit great commitment to their local
communities, and as regards Łódź, this city is perceived, in terms of functional
(practical) criteria, much more as a place where services are offered rather than a labor
market. Furthermore, there is also a discrepancy between the image of Łódź as
a metropolitan center (constructed primarily from the perspective of the center) and the
public understanding of the concept of a metropolis and metropolization, including the
management and administration of the region. | pl_PL |
