(Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego, 2011) Koreleski, Dariusz
The aim of the paper is to present the issue of sustainable development (mentioning also eco-development and balanced development) in the context of different aspects of differentiation which may be found in a region, resulting in positive diversification or negative disparities, i.e. high amplitude and, additionally, not advantageous layout which, in consequence, leads to high polarization. In order to measure the level of polarization of the data set, the Extreme Rate of Differentiation (ERD), Polarization Quotient (PQ) and Polarization Index (PI), as well as polarization circles have been introduced. The issue of differentiation and polarization has been shown on the example of the Małopolska Province and its land-districts in years 2003 and 2008.