Summary:

The article analyses and evaluates social, demographic and economic changes in the community of Michałowice. In the first part of the work, the author defines the term urban-sprawl, based on specialist literature. Next, the article fo-cuses on characteristic features of the Michałowice community, which is located in the vicinity of Krakow. That is a cause of strong social and economic links with the city. Moreover, the articles presents current local acts of spatial planning. Since, demographic situation plays an important role in the social and economic development of the area, the next part of the article sheds some light on demo-graphic dynamics, including structural changes related to the expansion of building developments. In addition, the study also included surveys among randomly selected inhabitants concerning the social and economic situation in the community. The development of the area is influenced by the rate of increase/decrease of business undertakings. That is why the last part of the article presents the current state and growth dynamics of business undertakings in Michałowice.