<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Knowledge and human capital are gaining importance as determinants of urban and regional development on a global scale. We can observe a simultaneous increase in the mobility of human capital, the availability of knowledge, and an increase in the importance of location. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as glocalisation. Mobile and highly valuable human capital are being territorialised. From the city’s point of view, is this an opportunity or a threat? The question can be asked whether the territorialisation of human capital has an impact on the durability of urban development. It is not obvious whether it helps to develop competitive potential and competitive advantages of an area only temporarily or in the long term. An analysis using elements of the path dependency theory can provide answers to these questions. It considers both the complexity of the research subject and the evolutionary nature of development processes. Therefore, the fundamental question of this article is whether the territorialisation of human capital affects the durability of urban development. The main findings of the study show that both the size of a city and the rate of demographic growth affect the choice of the type of development path. Cities with high demographic growth rates and complex development strategies enter reactive paths. This type of path guarantees the durability of development processes.</p>
</abstract>

Knowledge and human capital are gaining importance as determinants of urban and regional development on a global scale. We can observe a simultaneous increase in the mobility of human capital, the availability of knowledge, and an increase in the importance of location. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as glocalisation. Mobile and highly valuable human capital are being territorialised. From the city’s point of view, is this an opportunity or a threat? The question can be asked whether the territorialisation of human capital has an impact on the durability of urban development. It is not obvious whether it helps to develop competitive potential and competitive advantages of an area only temporarily or in the long term. An analysis using elements of the path dependency theory can provide answers to these questions. It considers both the complexity of the research subject and the evolutionary nature of development processes. Therefore, the fundamental question of this article is whether the territorialisation of human capital affects the durability of urban development. The main findings of the study show that both the size of a city and the rate of demographic growth affect the choice of the type of development path. Cities with high demographic growth rates and complex development strategies enter reactive paths. This type of path guarantees the durability of development processes.

The Territorial Nature and Power of Human Capital in Urban Development Processes from the Perspective of the Path Dependence Concept

Quaestiones Geographicae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Knowledge and human capital are gaining importance as determinants of urban and regional development on a global scale. We can observe a simultaneous increase...

Year	Type of demographic growth
	Positive				Negative
	A +BR ≥ MB	B +BR > + MB	C +BR < + MB	D -BR < + MB	E -BR > + MB	F -BR ≥ MB	G -BR ≤ MB	H +BR ≤ MB
1975	5	4	21	–	–	–	2	5
1989	5	6	15	5	1	–	1	5
2020*	3	1	–	4	2	9	13	10

Period of time	Complexity of development path			Type of development path
Period of time	simple	compound	multiple compound	self-reinforcing	reactive
1946-1989	38	5	0	15	28
1990-2020	17	13	13	5	38

The Territorial Nature and Power of Human Capital in Urban Development Processes from the Perspective of the Path Dependence Concept

Publié en ligne: 21 juin 2024

Pages: 81 - 98

Reçu: 21 sept. 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2024-0021

© 2024 Zbigniew Przygodzki et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Types of demographic growth in cities and towns of the Łódź region according to Webb’s typology in the period 1975–2020.

Types and complexity of development paths in the examined towns and cities of the Łódź region.