Volume XIV • Issue 44 pp. 41–59 SGH Warsaw School of Economics Collegium of Management and Finance Journal of Management and Financial Sciences JMFS Katarzyna Sadowy Collegium of Management and Finance SGH Warsaw School of Economics ORCID: 0000-0001-5791-2236 The urban local centre: from the centrally-planned economy to the capitalist city. The experience of the Ursynów district in Warsaw A BSTRACT e polycentric structure of the city reflects the role of various stakeholders, public and private, in shaping the urban development and life quality. e paper investigates the role of the public and private sector in creation of the local centres in neighbourhoods, hubs concentrating the services and amenities indispensable for modern life. e analysis is based on the case study of the Ursynów district in Warsaw, designed and constructed mainly in the 1980s, but with several infrastructural, housing, and commercial investments realised aſter 1989. e study encompassed the location of local centres, their functions, and spatial forms. e findings demonstrate that both public and private sectors play intertwined and significant roles for the local centres and create a synergy effect in such areas. e results of the study also show the evolutionary nature of the local centres’ develop- ment. e main elements of the design persist, but the market-oriented economy and decentralised democratic institutions allowed them to continue the original plans, while making the local centres more attractive and richer function-wise than it was possible during the centrally-planned period. Keywords: urban development, local economy, public utilities, local centre, polycentric city, Warsaw JEL Classification Codes: H4, H7, H8, O2, R5