Abstract
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The issue of depopulation is a major, long-term threat to the sustainability of local governments (Czibere et al. 2021; Lima et al. 2020) The research question concerns whether the issue of depopulation is recognized as an important problem in these local governments by their authorities and how do local governments plan to address this problem?
This question allowed the construction of three research hypotheses:
H1. Do the leaders set long-term goals or, according to the agenda-setting theory, the topics are somehow imposed and the local government - focusing mainly on providing services - implements those long-term goals (civilization challenges) that are currently popular in the media?
H2. The local government focuses on the implementation of current tasks, strategic goals come down mainly to infrastructural investments - easy to demonstrate to voters as successes.
H3. Leaders in local governments perceive the problem of depopulation as civilizational, independent of their actions and unaddressable at the level of local government.
As part of the project "Leadership in cities affected by defunctionalisation”, we conducted research in the group of 64 cites, indicated in the literature as the most seriously threatened by the consequences of depopulation (Śleszyński 2016). For those cities, we conducted a review of strategies of development, to asses both the level of recognition and proposed solutions for the depopulation problem and its consequences. Among those cities, we conducted qualitative research. A total number of 22 interviews were conducted. The results of both types of research allow us to answer the research question.
Based on the research on the loss of functions by municipalities affected by the phenomenon of depopulation (Śleszyński 2016), out of 122 medium-sized cities losing their socio-economic functions, 64 local governments were selected for analysis, indicated as medium-sized cities losing their functions. For this group, the above-mentioned strategic documents of these units were collected and analyzed. The group of analyzed documents included: development strategies, revitalization programs, reports on the condition of the commune, local development strategies, strategies for solving social problems and other, such as the strategy for functional areas, local action plans.
Qualitative research was conducted in 10 local governments chosen from the previously selected group of 64 cities. Based on the conclusions from the analysis of strategic documents, an interview scenario was developed - structured interviews were conducted with leaders (municipal executive body - mayor or president), secretaries of commune offices and other high officials. A total of 22 interviews were conducted. Both pieces of research combined allow us to answer the research question. MaxQDA software was used in the study.
Lima, M. Francisca, Catharine Ward Thompson, Peter Aspinall, and Simon Bell. 2020. ‘Communities Facing Urban Depopulation: Exploring People’s Environmental Preferences. A Case Study of Lisbon, Portugal’. Cities & Health: 1–21.
Śleszyński, Przemysław. 2016. Delimitacja Miast Średnich Tracących Funkcje Społeczno-Gospodarcze. Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut geografii i przestrzennego zagospodarowania im. S. Leszczyckiego.
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