Związek między podziałem administracyjnym a miejską siecią osadniczą Polski. Zastosowanie metody k-średnich do badań miejskiej sieci osadniczej

Abstract

The urban system of a country is formed via a centuries-long process and is thus part of its cultural heritage. Naturally, the highly-specific history of Poland, as marked by very frequent border shifts, has exerted a significant influence on the shape of the country’s urban system. This paper analyses similarities and differences between mathematical and administrative divisions of Poland into clusters of urban settlements in 2002 using the k-means method. As of 2002, Poland had 875 towns and cities, and the country was divided into 16 province-regions (voivodships). It proved possible to segregate all of these urban settlements into 16 clusters. The analysis of these allows for the identification of areas of the country in which the urban system is well-established. It can be noted that the polygons representing particular clusters account for 91% of the country’s area and are distributed rather evenly throughout the country.