The aim of the article is to present international economic integration as one of the mega trends that infl uence on the redefi nition of the factors of socio-economic development. The research procedure includes three stages. In the fi rst stage, the most important modern mega trends of socio-economic changes are organized in a synthetic way. In the second step, the genesis and changes of the process of international economic integration are elaborated. In the third stage, the infl uence of international economic integration on the changes of factors of socio-economic development is systematized. This study is being carried out as part of the FORSED research project (http://www.forsed.amu.edu.pl) fi nanced by the National Science Center as part of OPUS competition 10 – 2015/19/B/HS5/00012: New challenges of regional policy in shaping the socio-economic development factors of less developed regions.

In the heterogeneous economic space, big cities are development poles that are usually characterized by the best conditions for running a business and the highest level and living conditions. Their role in development processes is the subject of many discussions. On 23 October 2017, at the invitation of the Mayor of Cracow, J. Majchrowski, an external Plenary meeting of the Committee for Spatial Development of the Polish National Academy of Sciences was held in Cracow, the aim of which was to discuss the role of big cities in Poland›s socio-economic development. This article presents the author›s opinions in a synthetic way, presenting the most important issues raised by him during the panel on the importance of Polish metropolises in shaping the development potential of the country and the region. In addition to the fundamental terminological and problematic discussion, the article describes the experience of Poznań as an agglomeration signifi cantly aff ecting the development of the region, formulating in the summary recommendations referring to the practice of regional policy.

Contemporary changes of socio-economic development factors. The aim of the work is to determine the scope of contemporary changes of socio-economic development factors, paying attention to the consequences for their interpretation and mechanism of impact relating to the regional and local level. The main goal is specified by formulating the following research questions: (1) What major megatrends shape contemporary developmental transformations? (2) What is the direction and scope of changes in socio-economic development factors? (3) How are the conditions of development processes changing as a result of these changes and how they differentiate the processes of development in space? The article is a synthesis of the results of two research projects of the National Science Center: NN 306 79 19 40: Socio-economic development and the development of areas of growth and areas of economic stagnation (2011–2014) and OPUS 10 – 2015/19/B/HS5/00012: New challenges of regional policy in shaping the factors of socio-economic development of less developed regions (2016–2019) and the results of own authors’ research – employees of the Regional Analysis Department at the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.