Population Transformations in Traditional Economic Regions of Central Europe. Structural Approach

The subject of the Author's interest are traditional social-economic regions of Central Europe, i.e. the Katowice and Rybnik conurbations in Poland, and the Ostrava-Karvina agglomeration in the Czech Republic. Despite their similar origin - connected mainly with the exploitation of mineral resources, coal in particular - the directions of transformations in these regions have hitherto run differently in different time periods. The aim of this paper is an attempt to show differences in spatial development of population, mainly in relation: centre of a settlement system and its surroundings. The use of archival statistical materials made it possible to study these transformations from the beginning of the 19th century until now.