Changes in population potential among people under 30 in Poland in 2013 and 2023 in the context of the suburbanization process

Abstract

Suburbanization is a relatively well-recognized process that affects many cities around the world and is pointed out as one of the key challenges to their development, as well as to increasingly sprawling suburban zones. The literature extensively discusses the causes and consequences of this process, emphasizing, depending on the profile of the study, social, economic, environmental, spatial, communication, and many other themes. Socio-spatial changes occurring as a result of the suburbanization process are also causing the very definition of suburbs to evolve, as they have begun to elude previous definitions. Such a situation is a good opportunity for critical reflection on approaches to considering this phenomenon, which seem to marginalize the perspective of young people. Given the above, this article has two objectives. First, to show suburbanization in the context of young people using demographic data, and second, to draw attention to young people, who have often overlooked actors in this process. Based on data obtained from the CSO’s LDB, municipalities with the largest and smallest shares of the total population in 2023 were identified. Also recognized were the municipalities and, more broadly, the areas in Poland with the largest and smallest changes in this regard between 2013 and 2023. Particular attention was paid to provincial cities around which the process of suburbanization can be observed on the largest scale, and a number of calculations were made to verify the relationship between the size of municipalities and cities expressed in the number of their residents and the share of young people in the total population.