Samorząd terytorialny – 30 lat doświadczeń samorządu (gminnego) w Polsce

The article is an attempt to summarise the achievements of local government in Poland reactivated in 1990, and the topics discussed in the article focus on development and functioning since 1808 Prussian urban reform, which is the organisational model for contemporary local government units in Europe. Much of the article is also devoted to the functioning of Polish local governments in the 1990s and early 2000s, preceding Poland’s accession to the European Union. The issue of the use of pre-accession funds and funds available after 2004 by local governments, which had a significant impact on infrastructure investments in Polish communes, districts and voivodship, was discussed in detail. On the basis of available reports, the article also presents an assessment of the achievements of local government in Poland over thirty years, with its successes and failures. The author also refers to the possibility of using this legacy by local governments of neighbouring countries aspiring to EU membership, mainly Ukraine.

Introduction

Victorian Visions of Suburban Utopia: Abandoning Babylon offers a prehistory of the suburban dream—or, in other words, a history of the nineteenth-century desires that fueled the suburban revolution of the twentieth century. It also offers a history of Victorian criticisms of urban life and an account of nineteenth-century discourse on urban reform. Here in the introduction, the main argument of this “dream before the dream” is outlined, key terms such as “suburbia” and “utopia” are defined, and the relationships between this book and the existing body of scholarship are explained. The literary venues and socio-political nature of Victorian utopian dreaming are also briefly outlined, helping readers to appreciate the gravity of this realm of discourse, and prepare them to analyze how and why utopian science fiction of the nineteenth century achieved sufficient power to shape the world in which we live today.

Progressivism and Urban Reform, 1890–1915

This chapter speaks of Judge Murray F. Tuley and the Municipal Voters' League who sought to save the city from the Chicago City Council and their conspirators, the elected city aldermen. It analyzes how the Chicago City Council allegedly degraded the city by means of what Chicagoans called boodle, which was the selling of municipal favors or privileges by politicians for personal profit. It also describes Tuley's sense of a noble crusade of righteousness that was typical of Progressive Era reformers, who sought to purge their cities of corruption, dishonesty, and bad government. The chapter highlights the Progressive movement that swept America, manifesting itself in the reform of both national and local politics between 1890 and 1915. It explores the Progressive Era reforms that accompanied America's transition from a nation of farmers and artisans to a nation characterized by immigration, industrialization, and urbanization.