The COVID pandemic very quickly became the world’s most serious social and economic problem. This paper’s focus is on the spatial aspect of its spread, with the aims being to point to spatial conditioning underpinning development of the pandemic, and to identify and assess possible socio-economic features exerting an impact on that. Particular attention has been paid to the percentage of positive tests for the presence of the coronavirus, as well as mortality due to the disease it causes. The statistics used relate to 102 countries, with the research for each extending from the time first cases of COVID-19 were reported through to 18 November 2020. The focus of investigation has been the stochastic co-occurrence of both a morbidity index and a mortality index, with intentionally selected socio-economic variables. Results have then been summarized through the classification of countries in relation to the two indices. Highest values relate to Latin America. A significant co-occurrence of morbidity and mortality with GDP per capita has been identified, as values for the indices are found to be lower in wealthier countries. The basic conclusion is that the dependency of the pandemic on environmental and socio-economic conditioning became more complex and ambiguous, while also being displaced gradually as concrete political decisions came to be taken.

Population aging is a key risk for the future of Europe. Th e Old Continent has to face ever-stronger new demographic trends and fi nd eff ective strategies to address them. In this study, we evaluate the progress of population aging in Europe in the period of 2008–2021. Th e broad time span of our considerations concerns the years 1960–2100. We present our new typological approach to the areas of unbalanced age structure. Its classifi cation includes four groups of countries with various distribution of aging measures, i.e., the percentage of people aged 65 and over and the dynamics of its growth. We observe that the largest group is composed of countries exceeding arithmetic means for both above-mentioned aging measures, which are located mainly in Eastern and Southern Europe. According to stages of aging by median age, most of these countries reached the stage of very old population in the 1990s

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the attractiveness of centrally located public spaces (main squares) in select new small towns in Poland. The evaluation was conducted from the spatial order perspective. Spatial order is composed of five elements: architectural and urban planning, functional, aesthetic, social, and “green” orders. The new small towns included in this analysis are settlement units, which in 2020 were populated by up to 20,000 inhabitants and received municipal rights in the 21st century. We used the point bonitation method in our research based on the source material collected during a field study. A total of 286 inventory cards of buildings and nine cards of town squares were compiled. The analysis demonstrated that the main squares in the towns studied are characterised by low or average levels of attractiveness from the spatial order perspective. The architectural–urban planning order in the towns in question was related to the number of inhabitants as well as the period over which a given settlement unit had municipal rights. A larger number of inhabitants had a positive influence on the functional diversification of the central squares and their development, whereas a small number limited both the functional diversification and the number of small architectural elements found at the square. The social order in the given towns was not connected to the number of inhabitants. The elements of social order were assessed favourably, both in larger towns that revitalised their central squares and in smaller settlements. The aesthetic and green orders were strongly related to the revitalisation of public space.

In Poland, small towns constitute the largest group within the overall structure of the urban settlement network. They are distributed evenly across the country and serve numerous essential social and economic functions. These centres thus represent an important link in the system of connections between the countryside and the cities of regional and national significance. According to data for 2017, Poland had 705 such small towns (i.e. towns with less than 20,000 inhabitants). In line with the accessibility of statistical material and the timing of the study (the 2008‑2017 period), the analysis encompassed 670 small towns. The purpose of the work this paper details has been to determine the relationship between the natural increase and the net migration balance in small towns, and to assess their impact on the contemporary population ageing processes in settlement units of this type in Poland. A first phase to the study determined the aforementioned relationship, seeking to avoid the influence of incidental annual changes by averaging indicators for natural increase and net migration balance for the initial and terminal periods of analysis over periods of three consecutive years, i.e. 2008‑2009‑2010 (2008/2010) and 2015‑2016‑2017 (2015/2017). Eight demographic categories of small town were distinguished, with these featuring various directions to the increase/migration balance relationship referred to. In general terms, the first four categories (A, B, C and D) refer to units in which population increased, while the subsequent four categories (E, F, G and H) relate to towns manifesting population declines. A further step then entailed determination of the rate of population ageing in the small towns under study, using the demographic old-age indicator based on percentage-point differences between the shares of the young and old populations (Długosz, 1997). The set of towns analysed was dominated by the centres in which there was significant migratory outflow and/or natural decrease. In the period adopted as the starting point of the study (2008‑2010), the category proving dominant comprised towns whose negative net migration balances were not compensated by positive natural increase (category H). In turn, where data for the final years of the study (2015‑2017) were concerned, the highest proportion of the small towns considered were in category G, as featuring both a high level of migratory outflow and natural decrease. The share of towns representing progressive demographic cateo ies decreased over the entire period considered. The study demonstrated that both the natural and migratory processes ongoing in small towns had assumed predominantly negative directions, leading to weakened population potential, and exerting a direct impact in the form of depopulation. Furthermore, the share of towns in which ageing of the population was observed increased from 65% to more than 80% in the years 2008/2010‑2015/2017. The population-ageing process was thus taking place in almost all of Poland’s small towns, with there remaining just 10 such towns in which the age structure of the resident population was growing younger. The most major changes were those ongoing in the small towns of north-western and east-central Poland. Above all, these were centres experiencing high levels of migratory outflow. The slowest rates of ageing were in turn observed in small centres located in the southern belt of provinces. The results obtained offer confirmation of intensifying population-ageing processes in Poland’s small towns. In future, this will phenomenon s certain to exert a negative influence on the state of the economy in small towns, as well as on their social structures.

The aim of this paper is to determine the expectations of students from selected Polish academic centers toward facilities at agritourist farms, and identifying the socio-demographic characteristics that determined those expectations. A survey method was used in this research. Using the Likert’s five-level scale, respondents rated the significance of elements of agritourist farm facilities. It was found that academic youth expected, above all, facilities for enabling passive leisure and the independent preparation of meals. Provision of facilities for active leisure were of less significance to them. Gender, place of living, field of study and prior experience connected to leisure on the farms analyzed were not factors that differentiated students’ expectations. A weak correlation was found between students’ expectations of facilities at agritourist farms and their economic status. Students’ expectations were very similar to the expectations of the average agritourist. Research results confirmed some of the results known from the literature, stating that socio-demographic characteristics differentiated the expectations of academic youth to a small extent. However, the effects obtained did not correspond to results claiming that age, gender, place of living and income have a significant influence on tourist expectations. Additionally psychographic characteristics should be considered in the following research. A combination of demographic and psychographic characteristics may offer a wider base for analysis and give better end results, allowing market segmentation.

Celem opracowania było określenie znaczenia nowoczesnych technologii stosowanych w wybranych formach działalności rolniczej polskiej wsi. Ukazano przykłady gospodarstw prowadzących działalność gospodarczą w oparciu o warzywnictwo i sadownictwo. Podstawą analizy były informacje uzyskane w 2019 r. podczas bezpośrednich wywiadów terenowych, uzupełnione danymi statystycznymi na temat krajowych upraw i zbiorów. Stosowanie inteligentnych rozwiązań technologicznych w działalności rolniczej ma duże znaczenie, ponieważ podnosi jakość produkcji rolnej. Właściwie dobrane, zrównoważone technologie rolne są jednym z komponentów koncepcji inteligentnej wsi. Jednak takie usprawnienie rolnictwa bez aktywnego włączenia czynnika ludzkiego i stabilnego systemu gospodarczego nie jest efektywne.