ABSTRACT
The chapter presents an analysis of economic transformations in Kraków after the fall of Communism in 1989. It shows what Kraków, currently Poland’s second most populous city, has done in the last 30 years to achieve economic success and become a metropolitan centre that achieves high positions in various European and global rankings. It discusses the impact of the constitutional and economic transformations in Poland, of Poland’s accession to the European Union, of the globalisation processes, as well as the impact of various institutional solutions resulting from those imports on the modernisation of Kraków’s economy. It illustrates how Kraków, a city provincialised by Communism and with enforced traditional industrial functions, managed to transform itself into an open city with a developed sector of state-of-the-art services for business, and a broad range of research and development facilities. It presents a portfolio of economic activity in the city, notably the creative industries, ICT, and the modern start-up sector that are the catalysts for Kraków’s development. The development opportunities for Kraków in the capacity of a modern metropolis are also outlined.
