Analysis and evaluation of socio-economic development of coastal municipalities in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

The paper presents the results of the study, the purpose and practical input of which was the analysis and evaluation of municipal governments, including the identification of municipalities best developed in socio-economic terms in conditions of data uncertainty. To this end, factors with a significant impact on the concept of territorial development were identified. For the purpose of the analysis, the variables were adopted that were related to various spheres of municipal development, including the social, economic, infrastructural, environmental and administrative ones. The study used such methods and exploration techniques as: desk research analysis, critical analysis of the literature on the subject, methods of economic analysis and methods of multidimensional comparative analysis. The uncertainty of data was caused, among other things, by the fact that the study did not take into account the effect of barriers hampering development processes and focused exclusively on variables whose highest values indicated the most effective use of development stimulating factors. Moreover, the diversification of the municipalities' endogenous potential was not included in the considerations. The above reasons seem to confirm the study results that found two municipalities: Kołobrzeg and Świnoujście to be the best developed in socio-economic terms. In the period under analysis the values of the diagnostic variables of both municipalities were the most similar to the benchmark municipality. The explanation for the results can be found, among others, in the high endogenic potential of both municipalities, especially in comparison with other coastal municipalities of the West Pomeranian Voivodship. The study contributes to further in-depth research on the best method of selecting variables for analyzing the development of municipalities. Future research in this field should be focused on identifying the best method of selecting diagnostic features where some features are uncertain or imprecise.