The book focuses attention on marginal areas and the social and economic roots of their development problems. The importance of political, cultural and demographic conditions, including the compound effects of migration (especially long-term migration outflows), in the process of the perpetuation the underdevelopment of numerous territories on a local, regional and international scale is articulated in the book's analysis. The complicating interrelationships and relationships between these factors are also important, making it difficult to find and formulate appropriate policies to enable a development path out of the marginalising system. Attention is also drawn to the clear relationship between geographical and particularly communicational peripherality with marginalisation processes. The importance of transport accessibility in exacerbating marginalisation processes is also addressed in this context. Another theme worth highlighting are the dynamics playing out in rural regions and areas connected with national borders. Numerous studies show that economic, political, and socio-cultural marginalisation is especially common and critical for future development in these types of areas.

Krystian Heffner, as Professor of Economics (2001), has specialised in regional, rural and urban economics and policy. He is involved on research in the field of spatial economics, including the impact of metropolises on outer zones. He is an expert on migration issues from an international, regional and urban perspective as well as on peripheralisation and marginalisation processes in rural areas. He has been involved in small town development questions for many years. He has worked in the scientific sector for more than 40 years, both in scientific institutes (Silesian Institute in Opole, Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw) and universities (University of Lodz, Opole University of Technology, Silesian University in Opava [CZ], University of Economics in Katowice) where he lectured and conducted, often interdisciplinary, scientific programs and research. He has been the head of the Department of Spatial and Environmental Economy at the University of Economics in Katowice, Poland, for more than 20 years. 

Dolores Sanchez Aguilera is Associate Professor of Regional Geographical Analysis in the Department of Geography at the University of Barcelona (UB), Spain. Throughout her research career she has made contributions in various lines of work, such as the geography of population, the geography of tourism, marginal areas and spatial planning. The study areas were Catalonia, Spain and Latin America. The results have led to numerous specialised publications with a total of more than one hundred contributions, including articles, book chapters and lectures at national and international conferences and congresses. She teaches about tourism, population and spatial planning, both in the Geography and Social and Cultural Anthropology degrees and in the following official master's degrees at the UB: Urban Tourism, Spatial Planning and Environmental Management, Cultural Heritage Management and Education in Rural Territories.