Prioritization of Land Consolidation Interventions in the Villages of Central Poland

Re-structuring of rural spaces is essential for continued sustainable development of these areas. The space-management tool of land consolidation can be used to obtain desirable structural changes, but only if it is systematically implemented and becomes a permanent element of long-term rural management policies of provincial self-governments. Land consolidation and exchange measures should be introduced comprehensively and should be coupled with post-consolidation development of land. Only then can they contribute to the multifunctional development of rural areas. In our previous studies, in order to identify the areas with the greatest defects in the spatial structure which needed land consolidation and exchange most urgently, we carried out the investigations which allowed us to select appropriate factors for identifying such groups of villages. The ranking was established using Hellwig’s synthetic index of development and the zero unitarisation method. This article presents the results of the research carried out in 36 villages of the Opoczno commune, occupying a total area of 16,590.51 ha, divided into 41,990 cadastral plots.