Wybrane warunki rozwoju funkcji turystycznej miast Karpat Polskich

Contemporary determinants of urban socio-economic development are often attributed to several factors, which include: urban policy as specified by local governments, local entrepreneurship and legal regulations. These factors may have different effects upon urban development. This development hinges on the various resources available in a region: its environmental, cultural, economic and social elements. The Carpathians are one of the most important tourist regions in Poland, so broadly defined tourism plays a crucial role in the socio-economic development of many mountainous towns. The major aim of this research is to identify the links between towns' spatial structure (topographic elements) and potential tourist development. Also, the author attempts to determine the role of tourism in the Carpathian towns through the lenses of local government policies. This attempt, although based on tourist functions, does not include all the factors local development depends on, nor all t he indicators necessary to fully understand this issue. Only a few selected characteristics of the town development are taken into consideration. Accordingly, this research is also a new approach to the considered topic as viewed from the methodological perspective; many factors derived from settlement analyses were classified and then put together as a whole. In accordance with such an approach it was determined that: 1) towns located in the Polish Carpathians have good prospects to increase their tourist potential; 2) unlike for other towns, the land relief is not a barrier of tourist development here, but rather an asset; 3) local governments are generally aware of the role played by tourist potential in the socio-economic development of their area. Additionally, a very important issue is to plan and implement such actions, which are in line with sustainable development. A need to preserve both natural and cultural resources in the Polish Carpathians is inevitable, if these resources are still to be the main advantage accelerating socio-economic development.