The paper indicates the signifi cance of the development policy territorialization for an enhancing competitiveness of cities and regions. The characteristics of such a policy allow revealing of the nature of territorial instruments. The authors, referring to their consulting practice and the research work done for the Ministry of Development, frame their recommendations. Those recommendations constitute the guidelines for amendment of territorial instruments in the context of National Regional Development Strategy actualization.

Presented paper consists of two parts: (1) experiences of spatial policy formulation on EU level and (2) preparation of new EU Territorial Agenda until 2030. In first part were elaborated milestones of previous activities on spatial policy in EU: European Spatial Development Perspective from 1999 and Territorial Agenda approved by member states in Godollo in 2011. Important element of paper was also description of changing background of spatial policy, primarily related to Lisbon Treaty introducing territorial cohesion. In XXI century crucial role was played by three generations of ESPON programme, embracing spatial pattern of European space, but also forecasting future of European territory until 2050. Catalysing role was played by the World Bank and OECD activities. In second part evidence concerning new Territorial Agenda was presented. Issue of spatial patterns of mega-trends implies priorities of new Territorial Agenda. Using territorial potentials and overcoming territorial barriers gives additional impetus to EU development. Problems which should be tackled are: risk of fragmentation, growing interdependencies between places and functional mismatch. For Poland involvement in activities leading to next Territorial Agenda of EU is of key importance.

The paper analyzes various types of international socio-economic relations of Polish voivodeships. They were assessed in terms of: a) the current impact on the territorial brand of Polish regions; b) unused potential in this respect. The study covered the following types of relations: a) migration (territorial brand as a derivative of outmigration from a given area); b) trade relationships (economic relations as the basis for brand promotion); c) tourist relations (territorial brand as a derivative of tourist visits in a given area); d) transport relations as an element defining the region (as poorly or easily accessible in terms of international transport). In summary, the tables presents the impact of individual types of connections on the territorial brand and recommendations resulting from these connections. An initial typology of Polish regions was made in terms of their international position measured by selected indicators and in terms of the objectives of the promotional policy.

Modern cities are increasingly promoting their own individual brands to gain a competitive advantage. 28 Polish cities, after joining the Cittaslow international network of cities, can additionally use their native brand in their activities. The aim of the author was to answer the question: should cities only use an individual brand, or maybe they can support these activities with a common brand strategy. The growth of interest in individual brands of 28 cities belonging to the Cittaslow network has been evaluated, also their popularity, popularity of the native brand on the Facebook, and the use of the Cittaslow brand by cities on their websites were analysed. It was noticed that not all cities use the Cittaslow logo. But most cities in Cittaslow publish a link to the network and brand information on their websites. The native brand Cittaslow is in Poland at the positioning stage but probably its popularity will grow as the benefits from using it begin to be noticed.

Local service centre, defined as multi-functional public space providing access to everyday services, promoting social integration and building local identity, is an essential hub in the urban service sector. From the public policy perspective appropriate location and furnishing of local service centres is a basic condition for shaping territorial cohesion. This paper synthesises the to-date knowledge on mechanisms determining the development of service sector in cities, including new phenomena such as decentralisation of urban functions, urban shrinkage, remote services provision or commercialisation of lifestyle. Critical literature review enables the confrontation of various research perspectives and leads to distinguishing key factors affecting the development of urban local service centres in the first half of 21st century and defining the current challenges for public policy.

The article reviews the integrated territorial investments carried out in the Opolskie Voivodeship in the financial perspective 2014-2020. The object of the analysis was the Opole Agglomeration as the only of five functional areas of the Opolskie Voivodeship, where beneficiaries of funds from European Funds are located within this investment policy development policy.

Today’s cities tend to “pour out” beyond their administrative boundaries. This phenomenon is related to the settlement of people “from the city” in neighboring municipalities, or taking up jobs in cities by people living in neighboring municipalities. This has been recognized in the European Union, which has introduced appropriate legal instruments for cohesion policy. Integrated Territorial Investments were introduced to the EU cohesion policy for the fi rst time in the 2014-2020 fi nancial perspective. Their goal was to intensify cooperation between cities and their functional areas. Unfortunately, the emerging information about diffi culties in implementing ITIs often become the basis for considering this idea ineff ective. The purpose of the work is qualitative and quantitative verifi cation of the operation of ITU based on selected data, so that it is possible to answer the question about the validity of the existence of this instrument.

The value of the integrated indicator of the united territorial communities land use is determined. An assessment of the integral indicator was carried out and directions for the development of methodological recommendations to improve the efficiency of land use of the united territorial communities were identified. A feature of the use of GIS for analysis and visualization of integrated indicators of land use of the united territorial communities is the development of a geoinformation analysis scheme. The developed scheme of geoinformation systems using for modelling, evaluation, and analysis of integrated indicators of the united territorial communities land use gives the opportunity to form information and analytical support of monitoring based on geospatial information and to create the basis for increasing the united territorial communities land use. The sequence obtained in the article ensures the monitoring of changes in the spatial characteristics of the lands of the united territorial communities in the region. The results of determining the integral indicators of land use of the united territorial communities obtained in the article make it possible to carry out geoinformation analysis and build a GIS map of the land use. The developed GIS map allows the formation of information and analytical monitoring support based on the values of integrated indicators of land use. Also, the data of the presented map allow to predict the directions of land use of the united territorial communities, to compare them by territorial features and features depending on changes of system spatial, urban, investment and ecological factors.

The author defends the thesis that language is an attribute of a nation and as such it is offi cially protected by the international legal system irrespective of the number of its speakers; thus, there is no such phenomenon as a “little language”. Linguistic minorities speak their mother languages or some dialectal variants of those languages

The article discusses selected issues concerning both the activities and the contents of Strategy Cracow 2030 – An Ambitious Plan of the City Where Life Can Be Enjoyed. The author analyses how selected concepts well known in the local and regional development policy literature and practice such as territorial capital, second-tier city, integrated territorial planning and metropolisation are refl ected in the key development planning document of the second-largest Polish city. The strategy was adopted by the City Council in February 2018. The article focuses in particular on the applied work method, based on an advanced partnership and cooperation of key stakeholders, assumptions adopted in the strategy and axiology, identified challenges and development resources, and metropolitan city aspirations. The author also discusses selected issues regarding implementation system of the strategy.

The purpose of the author was to indicate the deficiency of development management instruments currently used to the territorialization of policies in stimulating intra- and intersectoral partnership cooperation. Her reflections were based on the results of research commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Development and Investment by a team in which the author participated. These studies have revealed that the weakest impacts of the so-called territorial instruments include the ability to mobilize various stakeholder groups to take action and to create partnership cooperation. Against this background, the author has undertaken the analysis of the potential impact of territorial tools on the partnerships development and has attempted to present recommendations for practice and further research in this area.

The paper shows the impact of despatialization on processes of territorial development. The essence of despatialization is the decreasing importance of the spatial factor in the information society, as a result of the use of information and computer technologies, and in particular – the Internet. It creates new challenges for spatial management. Real contact between people and organizations is often replaced with links and information flows, the quality of which is growing and which in many cases eliminate the resistance that spatial distance makes. The multiple effects of this phenomenon modify social relations, at the same time being challenges, but also opportunities to create new tools for managing development policy.

The topic of the article is a description of European urbonyms which fulfilled both political and commemorative roles in the past. The city names are presented in chronological order starting from ancient times to the 20th century. The ancient toponyms are related to the expansion of the Roman Empire, and the names of Roman emperors are used as a foundation for these toponyms. Such urbonyms created on the outskirts of the Roman Empire made reference to their new political allegiance and confirmed it. These naming practices therefore played an important role in the process of territorial expansion and the consolidation of political control. This naming model was also present in Byzantium, and became popular on the outskirts of medieval Ruthenia under the influence of the Byzantine Empire. The tradition of commemorating political rulers through toponyms stayed constant in the Eastern Slavic regions, and was continued by the Russian monarchy as well as the USSR. Such naming practices were initially used as a tool for the structural organisation of Kievan Rus’, and later to erase foreign names from these regions of Tsarist Russia. In Communist times, this tradition reaffirmed the new political reality through the use of surnames of political figures in toponyms. In the 20th century there was an increase in surnames featured in urbanonyms (the names of streets, squares, housing estates). This increase was meant to preserve the memory of remarkable individuals in society.

Housing resources as an element of material infrastructure determine socio-economic development on a local, regional and national scale. Their economic and physical accessibility affects the development of human, social and relational capital, determines the competitiveness of the territory and can be seen as a generator of income both in the individual sense and in relation to the whole society. The article has a theoretical character and its aim is to identify the relationship between satisfying the housing needs of local communities and the development of territorial capital. The article also analyzes factors that allow the qualification of housing resources as a strategic resource for the development of a territory.

In order to ensure the territorial development of land use in the region, there is a need to change the trajectory of spatial and urban planning factors. The ways for implementation of the proposed system measures are defined in the article. For investment and environmental indicators, the integrated indicator of territorial development of land use in the region, depending on their change, is predicted. The article presents the results of forecasting the integrated indicator of land use territorial development in the region based on the growth of systemic investment factors and the results of forecasting the integrated indicator of land use territorial development based on the growth of systemic environmental factors. Practical scientific-based recommendations for ensuring the territorial development of land use in the region by applying the results of its integrated assessment and modeling are proposed. Developed recommendations made it possible to form directions and build the basis for ensuring the territorial development of land use in the region. The development of methodological recommendations for ensuring the territorial development of land use in the region is based on the results of the study of the influence of systematic spatial, urban, investment, and environmental factors on the integrated indicator of land use territorial development.

In this paper experiences and manifestations of territorialisation of European cohesion policy, with special concentration on Poland, who is the biggest benefi ciary of that EU policy, were presented. Regional level is having strongest impact on success of territorialisation of public policies, but general conditions are shaped by central level, and also local level role is increasing, including cities and urban policy. Later an analysis of possibilities and conditions of EU cohesion policy territorialisation was elaborated, evaluating favourable and unfavourable factors. Conclusions are rather pessimistic, because there are many restrictions and preliminary preconditions of effi cient and eff ective decentralisation of EU structural intervention.