The scale and the specificity of intra-urban suburbanisation is subject to evaluation in this article, based on a case study of Wrocław city (SW Poland), using data on population changes at an intra-urban scale and on the level of construction activity in the city. Intra-urban suburbanisation is characterised by intensive construction activity and population growth in the peripheral districts of the city, while depopulation takes place in the central part of the city and in large panel block estates from the socialist period. The main factors for the development of intra-urban suburbanisation are a reaction to the unfavourable (from the perspective of the city) suburbanisation processes (outflow of residents and tax revenue, road traffic congestion and the necessity to service populations residing de facto outside the city). The existence of extensive non-urbanised areas within the larger cities of Central and Eastern Europe (identified as potential areas for investment) results from the specific nature of their territorial development in the 20th century, including incorporation processes connected with planned urbanisation.

Residential suburbanization is one of the most spontaneous processes occurring in the surroundings of large cities in Central and Eastern Europe. In the case of Wrocław, the first phase of suburbanization began as early as the second half of the 19th century. Its spatial scope changed with the expansion of the administrative borders of the city between 1924-28 and 1950-73, when dozens of suburban villages were incorporated into the city. In addition, during the socialism period, the intensity of suburbanization decreased significantly, which was related to the development of the city within the conditions of planned urbanization and industrialization of the country. The second phase of suburbanization began with the system transformation in the 1990s, and its scale and intensity increased in the 21st century. New construction in the hinterlands of the city has contributed to significant changes in the morphology of suburban villages, especially as the growing share of new buildings is multi-family housing. The aim of this article was to identify the most common trends in the morphological changes that affect villages located in the suburban area of Wrocław under the influence of residential suburbanization. Using the analysis of cartographic materials, field research and graph methods, a typology of morphological transformations of villages located in the suburban area was proposed.

This paper examines the topic of changes in central parts of large cities in Poland that have occurred in the post-war period, which can be divided into two stages with different factors shaping urban space. The rebuilding of cities in Poland following destruction brought by WWII was one of the elements of building the socialist city. This process was frequently planned, often steered, unlike the dynamic processes initiated along with the political and socio-economic transformation of the 1990s, which took place already under market economy conditions. Three categories of city centres were distinguished according to the scope of rebuilding and the direction of post-war morphological changes: cities where changes were slight (Łódź, Kraków), partly reconstructed cities (Wrocław, Poznań), rebuilt and completely reconstructed cities (Gdańsk, Szczecin, Warszawa). In the post-war period, the city centres in question were characterized by diverse forms and scope of rebuilding of war damage, scale of expansion of the transport network, decline of the industrial function, development of large commercial complexes in the direct neighbourhood of the old centre, expansion of the office function and buildings and revitalization and revalorization of historical fabric.

The paper analyses the morphological changes in the spatial structure of the southern district of Wrocław city (Lower Silesia, Poland). The district developed from the former villages of vegetable-growers, which in the Middle Ages bordered directly with the city as set out in the charter. In the second half of the 19^th century, the villages were incorporated into the city, and after a while, they started their metamorphosis. Rectangular urban blocks were formed on the basis of medieval axes in the villages. At the end of the 19^th century and the beginning of the 20^th century, the blocks were successively filled with typical tenement buildings. As a result of World War II, existing buildings were totally destroyed. In the 1960s, they started re-construction of the district, which led to its second metamorphosis. The new constructions resembled typical, socialist apartment projects in other Polish cities. The prestige the district enjoyed before World War II was lost together with its style and character.