Trends of change in the development of sustainable cities and communities in Poland in comparison with European Union countries

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to present the diversity and trends of changes taking place in cities and communities in Poland and in other European Union countries with respect of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Design/methodology/approach : The indicators included in Eurostat, which are collected to analyse the implementation of Objective 11: Sustainable cities and communities, have been used to assess the problem. 10 indicators and 27 European Union countries were analysed. The research period was 2010-2019 and the data was statistically analysed. Variations and distances between countries, trends in the changes taking place, ranking of countries, and relationships between the analysed indicators and the scale of their changes were calculated. Findings: EU Member States (27) are significantly differentiated in terms of household living conditions, environmental conditions, and safety at home. In Poland, dwellings are overcrowded but in relatively good condition. The Polish population is more often exposed to noise and air pollution, and they are at a higher risk of dying in a traffic accident, but they are less likely to report the occurrence of crime and vandalism. The results of the study confirmed important trends towards the development of sustainable cities and communities in Poland and in other EU countries. a confirmation of the hypothesis Originality/value: The article presents the latest information regarding the conditions of cities 1 and communities in EU countries and compares that data with indicators from previous years. 2 The value of the article lies in identifying and recognising the significance of differences 3 between EU countries and in verifying whether any positive changes towards sustainable 4 development of cities and communities are occurring.