Volume 35 (2016): Issue 4 (December 2016)

Migrants are often the carriers of new skills and original abilities. This study focuses on the importance of ‘new urban entrepreneurship’ - in particular, ethnic or migrant business firms - as a major driver of creative and urban dynamics and economic vitality in urban agglomerations. The paper offers a general account of both backgrounds and socio-economic implications of migrant entrepreneurship in large agglomerations and highlights the socio-economic heterogeneity in motivation and performance among different groups of migrant entrepreneurs. This demographic- cultural diversity prompts intriguing questions about differences in business performance among distinct groups of migrant entrepreneurs, even in the same ethnic group. In the paper, a recently developed and amended version of data envelopment analysis (DEA), viz. super-efficiency, is presented and applied to a group of Moroccan entrepreneurs in four large cities in the Netherlands. The main research aim is (i) to identify the best-performing firms (so-called ‘entrepreneurial heroes’) from a broad management and business perspective, while (ii) the background of our findings are more thoroughly analysed. The paper ends with some general concluding remarks on urban business strategies.

In pace with changing social developments, cities undergo regular processes of transformation. Thus, following a temporary preference for suburban living, the inner city has for some years now been enjoying a residential renaissance. A further, as yet little noticed, trend is the urbanisation of former suburbs. Encompassing urbanisation and gentrification processes found in the inner-ring suburbs, this entails a breaking of established dichotomies and the development of hybrid phenomena that can be encapsulated in the acronym URFSURBS: ‘urbanisation of former suburbs’. Focusing on examples from Southern California and Greater Paris, this article places these developments in context and outlines their implications for future research.

This paper seeks to analyse directions in foreign trade in the post-communist countries of Europe over the years 2000-2012 in the context of changes observed in other EU states. It was assumed that changes in the directions of foreign trade in post-communist states would be similar to those noted in Western Europe. On the basis of data derived from the OECD, EUROSTAT and OECD-WTO we show that the trading rules used by the old EU-15 adopted by those countries have brought them measurable benefits. As a result, the post-communist economies have become similar to those of the EU-15. Considering the structure of their trade and links with the EU-15, it is apparent that they have become the main trading and investment partners for the European Union. Hence, their integration with the EU structures made their development faster, but also made them more sensitive to industrial and demand shocks coming from the eurozone. It is predicted that the present model is not going to change, especially in the context of the participation in production networks.

The goal of this article is to determine regularities concerning structural changes in the industrial and service sectors in Poland in the light of trends observable in the development of the world and national economies. The analysis embraces Poland in the years of the socio-economic transformation, but because of access to comparable data it focuses mainly on the years 2000-2014. Use is made of measures commonly applied in economic geography (employment, gross value added) and indicators based on them (mainly the structure and dynamics of change). First, the change in the role of the industrial and service sectors in the Polish economy as compared with other EU states is analysed in the light of the theoretical conceptions presented in the literature. Examined next are changes in the internal structure of the sectors and in the level of their innovativeness. The research showed there to be only slight changes in the role of the two sectors over the study period. Changes in the structure of the industrial sector tend towards its modernisation, which can signal steps taken for re-industrialisation.

It is demonstrated that ‘Eurasianism’ as an interdisciplinary scientific doctrine and an object-focused area of geographical social science is at its root, generally complementary to the methodology of Russian (Soviet) socio-economic (human) geography, and corresponds to its research tradition. The geo-economic, geopolitical and geo-cultural transformation of the post-Soviet ‘Eurasian space’ is analysed. The geo-concept of a multipolar ‘Mega-Eurasia’ is proposed and justified. It is emphasised that the effective participation of Russia as one of the dominants of the Eurasian space is associated with the non-admission of an extremely undesirable, harmful scenario for Russia as well as of its possible marginalisation and limitation to the flimsy framework of the ‘Russian world’. A hypothetically possible commitment to only one of the existing global ‘power centres’ is also considered to be a losing one.

The main focus of the paper is on one of the most significant issues of economic geography nowadays, namely ways of an efficient distribution of facilities on the basis of inter-industry complexity (on the example of the diamond industry). The description of the formation of the complex branch of the diamond industry is carried out in several stages: determining the cause of inter-sectoral cooperation in the diamond industry; investigating territorial features of the complex that belongs to ABA, the most important of which is the difficulty of forming the WPK national (country) level; defining a cluster as the main form of territorial complexity characteristic of ABK (its types and causes of formation, characteristics of each cluster); and drawing conclusions about the appropriate degree of territorial concentration of various activities under the ABA type of market for which they are characterised. Special attention is paid to the identification and examination of territorial complexity types in the diamond complex in Russia.

The existence of marginal regions is closely linked to the socio-spatial polarisation of our society. Although marginality and peripherality can be considered a multidimensional phenomenon, the literature as well as social discourses often address only some of its dimensions, in particular on the basis of objective approaches. Such a research is usually based on the quantification of a wide range of statistical indicators, whether of a social, environmental or economic nature. This study aims to capture another equally important dimension of this phenomenon, namely the perception of marginality and peripherality. Drawing on a series of interviews carried out with experts in the field of Irish rurality, this research points to the various perceptions of this phenomenon in rural Ireland. The results once again confirm the complexity of marginality and peripherality, and highlight many differences but also similarities that exist with regard to this phenomenon in the Irish rural context.

Transport is a very important part of activities in the tourism sector. In addition to the transport of tourists to and within a destination, transport itself can be a tourist attraction. The aim of this paper is to analyse selected problems of railways in Slovakia (a decrease in the importance of railways for passenger transport in Slovakia in the past 20 years, discontinued passenger transport on certain railway tracks and the modernisation of other tracks, and zero-fare public rail transport services for certain categories of passengers), and to present good examples of the use of narrow-gauge railways for the purposes of tourism (the Tatra Electric Railways and the Kysuce-Orava Forest Railway).

The relation between creative activities and the cities in which they are concentrated is that of mutual influence and dependence. This kind of dynamics is well described by the concept of the creative field by Scott (2006, 2008, 2010, 2014). According to this concept, there is a shared relational context among creative actors in a given place, as well as between them and the local socio-economic-institutional context. Consequently, the economic profile and innovation capacity of a city are determined by the main sectors based there. In this paper, I discuss the role of the creative field in developing the relation between the city of Berlin and creative actors of the fashion design sector, as well as elements of the creative field that are considered relevant by fashion designers in their creative work. This perspective allows the underscoring of some relevant drivers that have made Berlin one of the most relevant places for fashion design in Germany and the whole of Europe. This research has been supported by administrative data from the period 1990-2015, along with personal interviews in the fashion design sector. Shown are not only the existing relations between the urban context and the creative activities of designers, but also how the development of the creative field of the city might be influenced. Consequently, the creative work of fashion designers and their location decisions have to be considered in relation to the creative field as a dynamic combination of variable elements that influence, and are influenced by, each other.

The spread of urban policies based on a set of standardised ‘creative city’ strategies has been criticised on a number of counts. In Scott’s (2006: 11) view, focusing just on “creating a high-quality urban environment, rich in cultural amenities and conducive to diversity in local social life” is too limited. He points out that the relationship between the presence of creative people and the development of a city is far more complex. The research undertaken as part of the European ACRE project (Accommodating Creative Knowledge: Competitiveness of Metropolitan Regions within the Enlarged Union) has revealed that access to a diversity of creative-labour-market opportunities is vital to both attract and retain talent in the longer term. Accessible and inclusive networks of creative workers are also vital, but their importance is often overlooked. The functionality of such networks has a huge impact on the possibility of finding a new job, and can be particularly important for lowering entry barriers for newcomers in creative occupations. Here, these issues are explored on the basis of a research conducted among managers of creative firms and international creative-class migrants in Poznań (Poland). This city has recently experienced major economic restructuring and a shift from the manufacturing industry towards a more creative and knowledge-based one.

The entry into force of the Agreement between the Republic of Poland and the Russian Federation on visa- free movement in 2012 caused an increase in border permeability, and hence a sudden increase in border crossings. The border which used to divide the neighbouring states started linking them instead. Crossing the border became part of the everyday life of local communities. Actors on both sides benefited from the commercial services of the other country. For Kaliningrad citizens, border-crossing points became gates to Europe, and for Poles, a resource improving the quality of life via petty trade. The aim of this article is to compare two border cities: Braniewo, a town located in the immediate vicinity of the border-crossing point, and Tri-City, which has become a new border centre after the introduction of small border traffic. Two viewpoints on the effect of local border traffic are presented. The first is the perspective of a typical border city. The other is that of the effect of an increase in border permeability on a major urban centre - Tri-City.

The article seeks to analyse the accessibility of hospital healthcare to inhabitants of Łódź voivodeship in 2015. The analysis comprises all the communes of the Łódź region as well as those of the neighbouring voivodeships from which the theoretical time of reaching hospitals in Łódź voivodeship does not exceed the maximum time assumed in the research. Accessibility was determined in reference to 51 hospitals, assuming that their ‘attractiveness’ was related to the number of permanent beds they offered. The research was conducted using the three-step floating catchment area method (3SFCA).