Summary:

In accordance with the integrated territorial approach, the urban functional areas of regionalcentres require a coherent, comprehensive and coordinated development policy. Currently, there are neither legal nor organizational regulations in Poland solving the problem of multi-level management. In such situation the coordinating role can be attributed to spatial planning in both regional and sub-regional scale. One of its elements is the real capacity assessmentof the land planned for development.The article presents the method of analyses being the basis for estimating area capacity in the urban functional area of Wroclaw.The conducted analyses covered 25 rural and urban-rural municipalities, and as the reference areas the municipalities of Oława, Oleśnica and the core area i.e.Wrocław. It was adoptedthat the generally available statistical data will be used in the analyses and on this basis a set of indicators, divided into spatial, demographic and environmental criteria, was proposed. The scope of analyses covers the years 1995, 2005 and 2015. The purpose of the study is to characterize the functional area of Wroclaw in terms of its potential capacity and to compare the obtained results in time and space. The suggested balancing method can be useful for determining rational planning and spatial management directions at a local and sub-regional level.