Integrating environmental, social andeconomic factors for sustainable urban development and management: the city of Kielce, Poland case study

The United Nations (UN) predicts that 60% of the world's population will live in cities by 2030; thus, urbanisation is our immediate global future. The growing dominance of cities must be of key importance in the context of sustainable development (SD). This work presents the application of selected environmental and socio-economic factors for determining the direction of SD of the city of Kielce (South-East Poland). City benchmarking, followed by a survey among residents and SWOT/TOWS analysis, was applied. Strategic and operational goals were indicated as well as directions of activities necessary to improve the cities in the economic, social, functional, spatial and natural spheres, and to conduct an appropriate development policy in accordance with contemporary paradigms. As a result, an aggressive strategy was selected that determines how effectively to influence the improvement of the quality of life of residents and growth of Kielce as well as how to ensure the optimal development under resilience and sustainability challenges.