Uwarunkowania rozwoju małych gmin

The self-government reform initiated by the elections of district self-government authorities (27th May 1990) marked also the beginning of changes in the field of management in the administrative districts in Poland. The local government chosen through the democratic elections assumed a real control over the area of its responsibility. It is responsible before the voters both for the accomplishment of its statutory tasks (environment protection, satisfaction of public needs of local inhabitants, rational use of local resources, etc.) but also for promotion of socio-economic processes within a given district. The Polish administrative districts are extremely differentiated. Alongside large cities such as, for example, Warsaw or Łódź, there can be found small and very small districts with less than 10,000 population. In this article there are discussed factors determining the restructuring processes in small administrative districts. These factors were identified by means of surveys carried out in over 70 small districts in the administrative provinces of Radom, Łódź and Piotrków. Generally, the biggest constraint for the development of small districts are their insufficient technical infrastructure (roads, telecommunications, water-sewage systems) and lack of financial resources for construction and modernization of technical infrastructure facilities. T he other group of factors determining the development of administrative districts is of organizational character and connected with the management process. T he identification of factors determining the socio-economic development in small districts of Poland may pave the way for reducing or even eliminating various barriers to their development.