Studies of economic, social and cultural processes and phenomena at different spatial scales have long tradition at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management of the Jagiellonian University. Franciszek Czerny published General geography of trade as the first Polish textbook of economic geography in 1889. The development of what was known as anthropogeography found its expression in the habilitation theses of Ludomir Sawicki (The distribution of population in the Western Carpathians 1910) and Wiktor Ormicki (The economic life of the eastern territories of the Republic of Poland 1929). In the inter-war period, the research in this field was also carried out by Jerzy Smoleński, Stanisław Leszczycki and Antoni Wrzosek (co-author of Anthropogeography with B. Zaborski, 1939).

The first unit specialized in human geography was only created in 1948. The Department, and later the Chair of Economic Geography, was initially headed by Józef Szaflarski, and later by Antoni Wrzosek. He developed extensive contacts with research centers in other countries and took part in all congresses of the International Geographical Union between 1960 and 1976. He is the author of numerous books and papers on industrial geography (e.g. Main industrial districts of Poland 1972, World geography of energy supply 1977), tourism geography, spatial planning and regional monographs. From 1966 to 1976 Antoni Wrzosek was the head of the Department of Regional Geography, which was divided into the Department of Tourism Geography and the Department of Industrial Geography in 1979. The latter was headed by Bronisław Kortus till 1997. His research interests included the dynamics of industrial districts and centers, industrial location (textbook Introduction to industrial geography 1986), changes in spatial economic structures, and Polish-German relations. His international activity manifested itself in the long-term membership in the Commission on Industrial Systems, and later the Commission on Industrial Change of the IGU (1974-1990), and the organization of the Commission?s conferences in Cracow (1977) and Rabka (1987). In 2000 the Department changed into the Department of Regional Development and it is now headed by Bolesław Domański.

• Regional and local development ? social, cultural, economic, and political determinants
• Regional policy
• The impact of self-government on the dynamics of economic development and spatial change
• Economic, social and spatial transformation of Poland and Central-Eastern Europe
• Structural economic change in various countries
• The role of innovation and the regional development of knowledge-based economy
• Foreign direct investment in Poland ? characteristics, determinants and effects
• The dynamics of industrial spaces ? contemporary changes in industrial towns and regions
• Changes in the spatial organization of automotive industry in Poland and Europe
• Economic and spatial changes in energy supply in Poland and Europe
• The transformation of derelict industrial land ? instruments of urban policy
• Location of industrial plants ? determinants and effects
• Location of producer services at the regional and local scale
• Spatial accessibility of services
• Spatial differentiation in the standard of living ? contemporary dynamics and determinants
• Social attitudes towards economic change at the local and regional scale