In each country, rural areas cover the bulk of available land; however, they generally remain outside the mainstream of innovative development processes. Still, they have potential and are vital for implementing the highly valid concept of persistent and sustainable development. The idea of such growth can be implemented in many ways, and the smart development concept is one of these ways. The aim of this paper is to present the smart village concept as a means to achieve the sustainability and resilience of rural areas, relying on the analysis of basic theories of sustainable and persistent growth. The study examines and evaluates the state of the potential for the smart growth of rural areas in all regions of Poland, as well as presents the results of the empirical research on such potential in three regions of Eastern Poland. The smart growth potential of the regions in question was determined by means of 24 variables representing the following fields: management, life quality, economy, society, natural environment and mobility. It was concluded that the smart village concept can be useful in facilitating sustainable development of rural areas. Further research concerning the problem should in particular focus on strengthening the relations between rural communes with cities and towns in their close vicinity.

Summary: Subject and purpose of work: The subject of the analysis is the concept of rural development in the European Union countries and its connection with the evolution of the common agricultural policy and the transformation of the cohesion policy. The aim of the study is to discover and assess the scale and method of supporting the rural development in the European Union countries through common agricultural policy and to present the underlying theoretical-cognitive and political-practical premises for shaping rural development strategies. Materials and methods: The official documents and subject literature are submitted for critical analysis and evaluation by authors. Results: This paper presents methods of defining and classifying rural areas and rural development through common agricultural policy and cohesion policy. It specifically outlines the concepts of multi-functional and intelligent development linked to the Europe 2020 strategy and the Cork political declarations. The new concept of smart villages and rural-urban partnership is also presented. Conclusion: The processes of rural policy separation and the need for creating national methods of the coordination of community policies and the use of European funds are indicated.

Opracowanie koncentruje się na prezentacji najważniejszych kwestii i kluczowych informacji dotyczących koncepcji wielofunkcyjnego rozwoju obszarów wiejskich. Przedstawiono teoretyczne i praktyczne uwarunkowania, sposoby i efekty wdrażania koncepcji. Autorzy omówili także wybrane powiązania występujące pomiędzy modelem wielofunkcyjnego rozwoju obszarów wiejskich oraz koncepcję zrównoważonego rozwoju obszarów wiejskich

The purpose of the work is to characterize the potential for the smart development of urban-rural communes of the Lublin Province as potential catalysts for the implementation of the smart villages’ concept. In order to determine the potential for the smart development, the zero-unitarization method was used. In specific areas of smart village concept a synthetic index was determined. The study negatively verified the relationship between the level of potential for the smart development of the studied communes and the accessibility of transport and communication of the region’s capital. The study also revealed a positive correlation between the size of the urban centre in the urban-rural commune and the level of the potential of smart development of urban-rural communes.

The phenomenon of place attachment as a community resilience determinant requires a detailed study and, as such, is not sufficiently explored in the literature. This study analyses both resilience determinants and resilience tools in order to provide local communities with optimum courses of action and decision makers with postulates concerning local development policies. Our goal is to determine the effect of place attachment on the activity of the local community in the process of the reconstruction of a local territorial unit following a crisis (COVID-19 pandemic) situation, as well as determine the symptoms of the crisis exemplified by urban–rural communes in Poland. Empirical research was carried out with regard to all 87 urban–rural communes in Poland with their seat in a small city with district rights. The respondents in the survey included individuals in governance positions: mayor/deputy mayor/secretary. Comparative analyses were performed on the entire group by juxtaposing communes located in peripheral regions (19 units) of the Eastern Poland Macroregion and the remaining communes (68). In light of the empirical research, communes located in Eastern Poland’s peripheral regions were more severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis than ones situated elsewhere in Poland. In urban–rural communes located in peripheral regions, actions supporting the “ability to absorb” shocks are taken more frequently than those promoting “positive adaptability in anticipation of, or in response to, shocks”. Less frequent were proactive measures of innovative nature, involving “restoration and use” of the existing local resources, e.g., new methods of the use of natural resources by the households or new activities in the creative industry based on individual creativity, skills and talents. An analysis of all units reveals a generally low level of pro-resilience activities of the local communities in the communes investigated in the study except for the application of modern technologies/forms of remote communication. It was demonstrated that, in local communities with a high level of place attachment, activities aimed at building resilience are more frequent. For local governments, the results constitute proof of the importance of place attachment in building community resilience in local development policies. We should highlight the need for activities integrating urban and rural residents in urban–rural communes in order to create a shared space with which they could identify while strengthening bonds, thus raising the level of social capital. It is also necessary to look for ways to use IT, not only for communication processes, but also for managing crisis situations, in parallel with activities aimed at strengthening social capital.

Celem artykułu było usystematyzowanie dorobku w zakresie podstaw teoretycznych koncepcji inteligentnego rozwoju w odniesieniu do obszarów wiejskich regionu peryferyjnego oraz podjęcie próby pomiaru potencjału inteligentnego rozwoju gmin wiejskich i miejsko-wiejskich. Część empiryczna pracy koncentruje się na wykorzystaniu autorskiej koncepcji pomiaru potencjału inteligentnego rozwoju dla scharakteryzowania zróżnicowania stanu zaawansowania jednostek terytorialnych w regionie lubelskim oraz identyfikacji potencjalnych ośrodków inteligentnego rozwoju, a także ukazania związku między rodzajem struktury funkcjonalnej gmin a poziomem inteligentnego rozwoju. W badaniu przyjęto, że koncepcja inteligentnych wiosek (smart village) może być zoperacjonalizowana w ramach diagnozy sześciu następujących wymiarów: zarządzanie, jakość życia, gospodarka, społeczeństwo, środowisko naturalne oraz mobilność. Budowa zestawu 24 wskaźników diagnostycznych chrakteryzujących wskazane wymiary została oparta na zasobach Banku Danych Lokalnych GUS, danych Urzędu Komunikacji Elektronicznej (UKE) oraz Centralnej Ewidencji Pojazdów i Kierowców (CEPiK). W celu uporządkowania badanych jednostek terytorialnych pod względem potencjału smart village wykorzystano metodę unitaryzacji zerowanej. Efektem badań jest ranking 193 gmin województwa lubelskiego, w tym 167 wiejskich i 26 miejsko-wiejskich. Zrealizowane badania umożliwiły pozytywną weryfikację hipotezy dotyczącej powiązania poziomu potencjału inteligentnego rozwojuze stopniem zaawansowania procesu rozwoju wielofunkcyjnego jednostek terytorialnych. Zauważyć należy, że poza gminami miejsko-wiejskimi dostrzegalne zaawansowanie w potencjale dla inteligentnego rozwoju osiągane było także w gminach wiejskich o zróżnicowanej strukturze funkcjonalnej lokalnych gospodarek. Wyższy potencjał inteligentnego rozwoju wykazywały jednostki o wielofunkcyjnej strukturze gospodarki.