The aim of the paper is to present the metropolis of Wroclaw with special emphasis laid upon its socio-economic development. Starting with a concise presentation of the history of the city after the political and economic transition, we subsequently carry out a descriptive analysis of the economic development of Wroclaw and its specifics. It provides us with a grounding to highlight what a development narrative of the metropolis has been up to now and how it should be shaped in the future. Further on, we present the main challenges for the development path of Wroclaw. With obtained outcomes we clearly show that the Wroclaw metropolitan area distinguishes itself against the background of Krakow, Poznan and Szczecin in terms of its development. However, the current development narrative seems to be coming to an end which implies a comprehensive policy feedback.

Various theories have been put forward on the demographic and health effects and consequences of socioeconomic development. In this study, we used the theoretical findings of the epidemiologic transition as a starting point to examine the 2020 values of the three main cancer indicators (incidence, mortality, prevalence). These values were compared with socioeconomic development variables for 170 countries. The countries were grouped using hierarchical clustering, and linear discriminant analysis was used to evaluate how appropriate the clustering was. Principal component analysis was used to examine, by group, which parameters are significant in each principal component and what background factors underlie the data. The results seem to confirm the association between cancer and socioeconomic background.

Ukraine’s commitments under the international framework agreements to reduce CO ₂ emissions and the Global Climate Change Initiative provide the basis for the implementation of bioeconomy mechanisms in the country’s Energy Development Strategy until 2035. One of the goals of this strategy is to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and switch to alternative fuels. The agriculture of Ukraine is assigned the leading role in ensuring the replacement of fossil fuels with biomass of plant origin. The bioenergy potential of the agro-industrial sector of the economy requires extensive research in order to determine and integrate it into the country’s energy sector. The essential characteristics of energy efficiency in the context of the cluster model of organizing the activities of enterprises for the production of biofuel as stable interactions of geographically concentrated economic entities are investigated in this article. Peculiarities of introduction of bioenergy clusters as stable interactions of geographically concentrated business entities (enterprises, suppliers and organizations, including scientific institutions, etc.) have been determined according to a pre-defined and agreed development strategy for all participants without exception at the stage of formation of which the competitive environment is supported taking into account the energy, ecological and socio-economic parameters of the sustainable development of territories. A model of a territorial bioenergy cluster for the production of biofuels from crops and waste was formed and the advantages of creating bioenergy clusters were analyzed. Furthermore, a matrix of a PEST analysis of the formation of bioenergy clusters in Ukraine was formed.

The problem of regional diversity is the subject of a broad scientific discourse. The dynamics of territory development is connected with many factors. Among them, the so-called spaces for development opportunities of individual units and resiliance issues for external factors of regions. The author discusses the diversity of individuals from the point of view of these two factors. It indicates future directions of regional research, which will show why regions at the start with potentially the same structure are developing completely differently and why in most cases resistance is associated with innovation and in the case of Polish regions it is not.

Building climate-resilient cities and public consultations are among the most important elements of today’s spatial planning.

The main goal of the research is to develop a set of guidelines for the development of business within the framework of the green industry, in compliance with all current environmental regulations, as applied to the realities of the current economic situation in China. The methodology basis is a combination of system analysis of the key principles of business development within the framework of environmental strategy in China with a comprehensive analysis of green industry concept as a factor limiting the activities of enterprises to avoid environmental pollution. The results obtained in the research indicate the presence of significant results in the interaction of government and business in the framework of mutually beneficial collaboration for the growth of the green industry. Chinese business structures invest in the development of “green” industrial and manufacturing technologies while ensuring the necessary level of environmental protection.

The Arctic region is under considerable pressure from the rapidly growing global tourism industry. The goal of this article is to present the current state of tourism in Spitsbergen, including the results of empirical research about the type of tourists and their preferences in organizing a trip, i.e. motivation, choice of attractions, etc. The survey in Longyearbyen town was conducted in 2018 and 2019 during two summer and two winter trips. As a result, a total of n=214 questionnaires were collected, presenting interesting insights into tourists’ profiles and their motivation in coming to the island. Based on the results, the Arctic tourism sector is characterized by seasonality, which significantly affects the distribution of tourist arrivals throughout the year. During the last 15 years, Spitsbergen island noticed the greatest boom in tourism linked to the development of transport infrastructure (new ports and airports) and accommodation (hotels). From one side, the tourism industry contributes significantly to employment in Longyearbyen, still from the other side, it burdens the local community and challenges their lives due to increased pollution of air, water and ground. The increased tourism also poses serious threats to the natural environment, which is already under pressure due to global warming resulting in melting Arctic glaciers and increased sea level. Therefore, it is crucial to implement new regulations to control and manage the development of tourism while protecting nature and its residents.

Contemporary changes of socio-economic development factors. The aim of the work is to determine the scope of contemporary changes of socio-economic development factors, paying attention to the consequences for their interpretation and mechanism of impact relating to the regional and local level. The main goal is specified by formulating the following research questions: (1) What major megatrends shape contemporary developmental transformations? (2) What is the direction and scope of changes in socio-economic development factors? (3) How are the conditions of development processes changing as a result of these changes and how they differentiate the processes of development in space? The article is a synthesis of the results of two research projects of the National Science Center: NN 306 79 19 40: Socio-economic development and the development of areas of growth and areas of economic stagnation (2011–2014) and OPUS 10 – 2015/19/B/HS5/00012: New challenges of regional policy in shaping the factors of socio-economic development of less developed regions (2016–2019) and the results of own authors’ research – employees of the Regional Analysis Department at the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.

Socio-economic development as well as factors and determinants of development. The scientific language, as well as everyday and literary language, is in constant development. The effect of this development is the multiplication of flavored notions and concepts leading to many misunderstandings and ambiguities, which should not happen in the scientific language. The presented texts should be written in a language that is clear, simple, logical, unambiguous and understandable, and their interpretation should not cause problems. This article presents remarks concerning the interpretation of such basic notions of socio-economic sciences as socio-economic development, economic growth and factors and conditions of development, quite freely used in scientific texts. It also contains the correct interpretation of these notions, especially in reference to the language of socio-economic geography, regional economics and socio-economic and spatial development and planning. Only an unambiguously interpreted text can be a platform for mutual understanding, basis for scientific discussion and the way to the the real development of science.

The subject of research was urban and urban-rural communes in the peripheral areas of voivodships, that is outside the functional areas of their capitals and outside the Silesian agglomerations. The aim of the research was to: (1) recognize the most economically developed entities in the studied areas, (2) recognize how development factors and their combinations that can create territorial capital are perceived and used in municipal strategies. The methods included: (1) analysis of indicators (2) analysis of texts of 10 strategies of entities with a high level of development. It was found, that there was deficiency of specific factors of development and recognition of their combination as well as the lack of using them to create a competitive advantage.