Wybrane aspekty rozwoju przestrzennego małego miasta w porównaniu do metropolii

At the turn of the century some towns evolved into metropolis, while others remain small towns, away from the hustle and bustle of the big clusters of people. Such development of cities was influenced by many economical and cultural factors. The urban space was also a subject of changes. Regardless of the size of the city, there were new roads, industrial, and housing developments. Of course the scale of those processes taking place in towns was modest relative to the metropolis, but still important. Those processes affected the standard of living and comfort of inhabitants. In the paper the author uses the term ‘small town’. This definition was adopted in accordance with the definition of the Central Statistical Office. ‘Metropolis’, as defined by Jałowiecki, is a city of at least half a million inhabitants. This type of city has excellent services, institutions and infrastructure. In addition, the city has potential for innovation in technical, economic, social, political and cultural life. It has also unique and special places. The goal of the article is to describe urban processes taking place in towns and metropolis. Despite the different nature of the small town and big city, urban processes that take place in both types are the same: the location of industry, development of residential areas, the phenomenon of city sprawl and development of the service sector. All the processes have impact on the urban space of small towns and big cities. Industrial development has contributed to the development of housing estates which, in turn, contribute to the development of services.