Magdalena Górczyńska

• PhD
• Researcher at Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research/ Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization PAS

The issue of land and its ownership remains under-explored in relation to the housing affordability crisis. We argue that the concentrated ownership of residential land affects housing production in Luxembourg through the interplay of landowner and developer wealth accumulation strategies. Drawing on expert interviews, we first show that the countr...

The paper raises the problem of the impact of unregulated property and ownership rights on the development of the city centre. It applies to Warsaw as a post-socialist city that has recorded fast economic growth since the country’s communist regime collapsed in 1989. We follow the course of changes in the city centre of Warsaw, in particular, those...

Taking a production-side approach, the article discusses how property restitution and privatisation have created rent and value gaps, and influenced social change in the inner city of Warsaw (Poland). Specifically, a rent gap (resulting from restitution) and a value gap (created by low-cost privatisation) are hypothesised to have produced different...

This article explores changes in residential patterns of middle- and upper-class professionals in Warsaw (considered as potential gentrifiers) during the post-socialist transition and discusses the delimitation of areas where gentrification-type social evolution has taken place. It addresses three research questions: Could the social upgrading seen...

The paper explores the role of small towns in the Mazovia region in Poland which is both characterized by rural areas and the suburban zone of Warsaw. The analysis of changes in the local labour markets reveals that microregions formed by small peripheral towns were more resistant to changes than those located in the suburban area of Warsaw. The la...

This paper sheds light on the relationship between the social and tenure mix in Paris between 1990 and 2010. Using two quantitative methods (cluster analysis and entropy indices) it explores the relationship between the social and tenure mix at the microscale. Although no statistical correlation was found, other relationships were discovered. First...

This paper aimed to provide an understanding of the segment of pre-war buildings in Warsaw (Poland) and its position within the housing stock in the light of restitution of private properties. Although the majority of the buildings were destroyed during the Second World War, enclaves of the pre-war buildings still exist in the central districts of...

W artykule opisano powstanie Metropolii Wielkiego Paryża (Métropole du Grand Paris, MGP), ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem zmian i wyzwań wynikających z realizacji polityki mieszkaniowej na szczeblu metropolitalnym. MGP jest strukturą współpracy międzygminnej z własnym budżetem o szczególnym statusie i obejmuje Paryż, 123 gminy położone w sąsiednich d...

Intermediate social housing in France constitutes a segment of housing with regulated rents with income eligibility limits that are higher than in standard social housing, giving access to wider group of households. It is at aiding middle income households retain accessibility to housing, especially in cases of tight real estate markets, or to infu...

This paper centers on the smallest towns (with populations below 10 000 inhabitants) in Mazovia region, Poland. What is mainly involved in the paper is an indicating of differences or regularities characterising the functional structures of small towns, and the roles they play in respect of the surrounding areas - in relation to their geographical...

Growing social polarisation is one of the key features of global cities (e.g. Friedmann, 1986; Sassen, 1991; Soja, 2000; Abrahamson, 2004) and metropolitan areas (in Poland, studies on metropolitan classes by B. Jałowiecki et al. 2003, 2005, 2007). In the latter, a dualisation of social structure is often the result (Marcuse, 1989; and in Polish sc...

The reintroduction of the concept of private property and the establishment of a real estate market in Poland since 1989, have permanently changed the housing sector. The homeownership was restored; however, its implementation has not been simple and resulted in the creation of complex forms of ownership. This paper aims at explaining in detail how...

The aim of this paper is to discuss urban renewal policy implemented in France over the 20th and the 21st century. Referring to selected examples from the agglomeration of Paris, special attention is paid to the social dimension of urban renewal. The diversified tools in the field of urbanism and contract policy led to vertical and horizontal coope...

This paper aims at providing new knowledge about the processes and dynamics of socio- spatial changes in post-socialist cities through the example of Warsaw. As reference cities for comparison we use two other post-socialist capital cities, Budapest and Prague. Dynamics in urban space are investigated through (1) the socio-spatial differentiation o...

The aim of the ESPON Programme is to produce and disseminate scientific information concerning the European space in terms of economy, society, environment, and governance, which is practical for policy and decision makers at the European, national and regional levels. Under the Detecting Territorial Potentials and Challenges project (ESPON DeTeC)...

The article investigates the phenomenon of gated and guarded neighbourhoods in the Bielany district (Warsaw) after the demise of the socialist regime in 1989 in Poland. The number of secured housing estates grows respectively among newly built neighbourhoods and older housing stock, the latter often being fenced and therefore also detached from the...

As part of research done within the framework of the Project entitled RESTATE (i.e. Restructuring Large Housing Estates in European Cities: Good Practices and New Visions for Sustainable Neighbourhoods and Cities), the author analyzed two issues of fundamental importance where perception and evaluation are concerned. Attitude towards place of resid...