Changes in Polish Industrial Geography at the Turn of the 21st Century

The 2014 Regional Conference of the International Geographical Union is a good occasion for reflections on changes that took place in Polish industrial geography at the turn of the 21st century. This article discusses several issues which - in the author's opinion - best reflect those changes: (a) problems with defining the substantive scope of the discipline; (b) new methodological trends (e.g. evolutionary, relational, institutional approaches); (c) a new look at the factors of location of an economic activity; and (d) the place of industry in present-day spatial processes (globalisation, transformation, tertiarisation of the economy). The second part of the article offers (1) an analysis of the involvement of Polish industrial geography in systemic transition; (2) a survey of its contemporary most important research problems, and (3) an assessment of the current state of Polish industrial geography, including its strengths and weaknesses. It should be emphasised that this paper does not seek to give a full survey of the latest publications in Polish industrial geography; it is only intended to outline an evolution of research issues against trends in world geography.