Paper Title
Metropolitan Governance: Case of the Republic of Poland

Abstract
Urbanized areas, and metropolitan areas in particular, are playing an increasingly important role in socio-economic systems. This is a global trend that has been written about many times. They have huge demographic and economic potential, are well connected within countries and in international relations, and house many scientific and cultural institutions. So it is important to manage this "metropolitan resource" well. The term "metropolitan governance" appears in the literature in this connection. The history of the metropolis of the Republic of Poland is very difficult. They were completely destroyed during World War II - the destruction affected both buildings and local communities. During the period of the Polish People's Republic (communist regime), central state policies were implemented. The cities were rebuilt, but based on a defective development model. In contrast, the first years of sovereignty of the Third Polish Republic saw a strong turn towards capitalism and a free market economy - too strong. Recent decades have stabilized the position of the metropolis in development policy, the socio-economic system. A stronger culture and local identity has also begun to emerge.Unfortunately, state power has not been able to establish any system of metropolitan management. The metropolitan debate has been ongoing since 1989. Since that year, 25 metropolitan bills have been drafted. But the system is still lacking. Only one Polish metropolis has "dedicated" legal solutions - the Upper Silesian and Zagłębie Metropolis (Katowice). The others use various “temporary” solutions. The current law does not correspond to reality.In the paper, the author will present key challenges and barriers to the development of Polish metropolises, with a focus on political and legal aspects. Keywords - Metropolitan Governance, Metropolitan Self-Government, Metropolitan Areas.