This article summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on identifying the enterprise’s state to evaluate its effectiveness and optimize the

target functions in solving enterprise development problems. The proposed scientific and

methodological approach to modeling the enterprise development management system under decentralization conditions and its practical implementation makes it possible to determine the dominant development parameters of manufacturing enterprises that influence

the United Territorial Community and to timely track the impulses and space of the United Territorial Community state, taking into account the PS state as parameters for its

development. The proposed analysis of the Production System state within the United

Territorial Community framework and evaluating its development dynamics shows the necessity of forming a system of generalized vector-scalar, situationally oriented indicators.

The Hamburg’s policy, as part of the ‘Leap over the Elbe River’ strategy, is an example of the current direction of the city’s renewal, falling beyond classical revitalization. Improvement of quality and refinement of urban structures require an unconventional approach in the problem areas, both in the phase of setting the target standards and at the stage of solution implementation. The districts located in the fork of the Elbe river, Hamburg’s left-bank post-habor areas, were given the IBA (International Building Exhibition) Hamburg status in 2006-13. The area of Wilhelmsburg has become the place of implementing an innovative urban strategy, under the slogan of a renewable city, which has prepared the Island for a modern policy of compact city model development. The conclusions from the analysis of the renewal process that had been carried out within the framework of the IBA Hamburg, described in this article, have been summarized with regard to the Polish conditions represented by the example of the revitalization process in the Nowy Port district in Gdańsk.

In its history, Poland was usually more oriented to land than to the sea. For many centuries we have not been able to see the opportunities and potential created by the coastal location of our country. In the current strategic documents in Poland, there are also no proper references to the maritime security of the state, although we are a member of both NATO and the European Union. The article presents the creation process in 2015–2017 and the content of a unique document devoted to this issue: Poland’s Strategic Concept for Maritime Security, which was born thanks to the efforts of “enthusiasts” of maritime affairs from the Naval Academy, Shipbuilding Council and the Institute of General Józef Haller under the leadership of the National Security Bureau. In the authors opinion, the document is to form the basis for work on the future maritime security strategy of our country, and also become the “engine” of public discussion in Poland on maritime security issues and the effective use of the coastal position of the state for economic development.

The article discusses the spatial development of non-urban areas based on the use of local peat resources. Creating a methodology for the advanced spatial development of non-urban areas has peat resources based on multi- criteria optimisation of production and social infrastructures. The industrial and social infrastructure of the non-urban areas having reserves of peat, associated mineral, and industrial raw materials. Regularities, trends, and features of formation and functioning of the productive and social infrastructure of the natural and man-made complex in the development of peat reserves, associated mineral, and industrial raw materials. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to conduct interdisciplinary research and solve the following specific objectives: (1) the scientific justification of new technological processes and equipment for peat and mineral raw materials processing for obtaining new composite materials for multiple purposes; (2) the feature analysis of the use of local peat resources to provide the development of non-urban areas based on a set of scientific approaches; (3) the development of the methodology for project management of the natural and man-made complex to ensure multi-criteria optimisation of productive and social infrastructure. The example of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug – Yugra development selected results of confronting the existing “big grand” and national challenges through the mechanisms of rational use of local peat resources non-urban areas are illustrated. The results indicated that by 2030 there would be a 3.8-fold increase in mineral extraction and a 5.9-fold increase in processing industries.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are facing barriers to grow due to the lack of structured procedures for upgrading and allocating the limited resources. To overcome these drawbacks and to improve business capabilities, a structured framework to conduct a comprehensive diagnostic and upgrading study is presented in this paper. The proposed framework involves four phases. First, the external and internal strategic factors, which can affect the enterprises’ performance are evaluated using strategic planning and assessment tools. Second, key upgrade performance indicators are developed and evaluated using multi-attribute rating techniques to guide, evaluate, and track progress of upgrading process. Third, a set of upgrade strategies are generated and evaluated using resource allocation model. Finally, a periodic re-evaluation plan is introduced to monitor the implementation progress. The developed framework for performance evaluation and upgrading is suitable to be used as a structured know-how procedure in manufacturing enterprises and can support entrepreneurs in their strategic decisions. To validate the proposed framework, a data set was collected from a local housecore company. As a result, one package of the efficient frontier strategies that represents the best use of resources was proposed for implementation.

The subject of the study are strategies for the development of 9 cities, which are among the strongest centres outside the current capitals of regions (in Polish: voivodeships) in the least-developed Polish regions. These cities can give the chance to activate their surroundings. Good strategies that increase the competitiveness of cities and stimulate development can contribute to this. The aim of the research was to fi nd answers to the questions whether and to what extent the studied strategies: (1) are in line with the definition and methodology of strategic planning; (2) recognize and use specific combinations of developmental factors; (3) can contribute to the development of their surroundings. The research method involved the analysis of the strategic plans in the light of the above questions. The strategies studied are not fully in line with the strategy defi nition. They contain errors and methodological flaws commonly encountered in other strategies. They use the specificity of developmental factors, but without conscious, methodical recognition of their combinations and without exposing them. The author signals methodical problems specific to the strategic planning in territorial units and makes suggestions for planning practice.

The Kelani River is the second largest watershed in Sri Lanka and the main water-supply intake point for the Greater Colombo. The present study focuses to identify the sources of pollutants of the meandering zone of the Kelani River, par-ticularly due to the absence of more recent information. Accordingly, a survey was conducted to obtain information on in-dustrial discharges, anthropological, and social activities within the area of 15 m from left and right banks of the river. The high contaminations (total and faecal coliform – 1100 MPN∙(100 cm3)–1; COD – 10 mg∙dm–3; BOD – 4 mg∙dm–3) of surface and groundwater are corroborated with the results obtained via the demographic and land usage statistics. Industrial pollu-tant sources and harmful anthropological practices were identified as major threats to the river basin. In this survey, agricul-ture and land degradation were identified as issues due to improper land use management. As policy recommendations based on the results of the study, it was identified that the awareness for Kelani River protection should be increased; moni-toring and evaluation of the Kelani River basin under a management plan should be implemented; and stakeholder and pri-vate partnerships contribution to the sustainability of the Kelani River basin should be established.