Piotr Korcelli

On interrelations between internal and international migration.

International migration represents just one type of spatial population mobility along with inter-regional rural-urban or intra-urban migration. The possible connections among various forms of migration are however only rarely traced in the professional literature on the political and social determinants as well as consequences of international migration. Against this background an attempt is made in the present paper to identify possible associations between internal and international migration in the case of Poland. (EXCERPT)

International migrations in Europe: Polish perspectives for the 1990s.

This article presents estimates of the size of emigration from Poland during the 1980s as well as projections concerning the migration patterns in the 1990s. The author anticipates a contraction of the volume of population outflow by some 50 percent: from about 100,000 to about 50,000 per year, on the average. These projections are based upon the examination of the role of a number of incentives and barriers to migration, including economic, demographic and political factors. In the final section, prospects concerning immigration to Poland are briefly discussed.

Migration from Poland: Recent Trends and their Evaluation

The flow of migrants and transformation of agriculture are the two main issues on which Polands accession negotiations with the European Union have focused. The former question which relates to one of the basic principles of the functioning of the Union, may in fact constitute the most difficult problem. In the 1980s Poland become an origin of large migration streams directed towards Western Europe and North America. Although this movement has considerably decreased during the 1990s, the decline pertains mostly to the so-called permanent migration, i.e. migration for the purpose of settlement, whereas temporal labour migration from Poland has persisted, or even increased in magnitude. Since a considerable part, perhaps a majority of these moves are irregular in character, while aiming at employment outside the formal sector, they give rise to widely different estimations as to their magnitude, the typical duration of stay, or the socio-economic characteristics of migrants. Hence, forecasts and prognoses concerning the scale and composition of migration from Poland, following its accession to the European Union are also subject of diverging evaluations. Yet these forecasts represent a crucial factor on which concrete negotiation positions relating to the accession process are to be formulated. The interest, in together with a certain anxiety surrounding the question of present and future migration from Poland (to a much lesser extent from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Estonia whose outmigration potential has proven to be quite limited over the past decade) concentrates in two of the EU countries, namely in Germany and Austria. Though Polish migrant workers (and sometimes also small entrepreneurs) are visible in all other EU countries (as well as in non-member countries, Island included), their presence on the local labour and housing markets does not seem to be regarded as an issue, especially as they usually constitute a small fraction among much more numerous, and more vocal immigrant groups from the less developed countries. Conversely, the Federal Republic of Germany is by far the most important destination for migrants from Poland, both those who come to work, and those (in large proportion the Aussiedler) who come to settle there. Austria, on the other hand, which borders with four countries aspiring to EU membership, feels particularly vulnerable to population inflow from, among others, the densely inhabited regions of southern Poland, where, owing to their incorporation in the Austrian Hungarian Monarchy during 1772-1918, some cultural links with Austria are still discernible. In fact, the 1990s have witnessed negative changes in the attitudes of West European societies towards foreign migrants (N. Keyfitz, 1992), as a consequence of the growing migration pressure and the rising tide of refugees and asylum seekers at the beginning of the decade. In spite of the fact that the visions of uncontrolled, mass East-West migration in Europe, as formulated by many experts in 1989-1990 have not materialised, the more

Warsaw: Spatial Growth with Limited Control

In this chapter the case of the Warsaw Metropolitan Area (WMA) is presented as an example of how systemic political and economic change resulting from decentralization and democratization influence urban development processes. The shift from the system of central planning and rigid control to a decentralised system promoting local autonomy and to market-based rules of development, as well as a re-birth of local democracy and the empowerment of local government has created strong incentives for economic development over the last 20 or so years. However, dynamic development processes also often assume a spontaneous character which may lead to conflicts, impede development processes and make efficient use of the development potential of a region impossible.

Land Use Change and Externalities in Poland’s Metropolitan Areas

Interdependence between spatial interactions and land use change generates various external effects. These, economic, social, cultural and environmental externalities may in turn have an impact on land use dynamics. The perception of such phenomena is related to the level of their acceptance which can be measured in psychological categories of comfort and discomfort. In this paper an attempt is made to compare the dynamics of land use with changes in the intensity of spatial interactions, using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) – especially map algebra (MA), cellular automata (CA), and the population potential model. According to the main hypothesis, interrelations between the observed land use change and the intensity of spatial interactions assume alternative forms, these giving rise to specific kinds of externalities.

Population Potential as a Modulator of Land use Changes in Poland’S Metropolitan Areas

Abstract Land use is defined as a spatial distribution of individual forms of land cover patches, utilised or not utilised by humans within the framework of mutual and spatial relationships. It refers to the functional character of a given terrain, and is also identified with a socio-economic description of the land surface. Changes in land use can be interpreted as a complex and, to some extent, a random process. These assumptions serve as a point of departure in an attempt to evaluate spatial and temporal differences in land use changes in the metropolitan areas of Poland, using the entropy formula. The analysis focuses on population development as a factor that impacts upon land use change. The approach proposed here allows us to study land use dynamics in detail, with the help of cartographic visualisation.