The main purpose of the paper is to assess trends in local and regional socio‑economic development in a postindustrial metropolitan region undergoing fundamental change of its development trajectory. The study area consists of the Katowice urban region - the second largest metropolitan region in Poland after Warsaw. The Katowice urban region has been one of Poland’s two main problem areas characterized by environmental, social, and economic problems of national importance. The heavily industrial region experienced a substantial social and economic transformation after Poland became a democratic nation in 1989. Positive processes of socio‑economic development occur selectively across the discussed urban region and large differences in the trajectory of local socio‑economic development constitute significant challenges for the whole metropolitan region. The authors argue that the period of fundamental change of the socio‑economic trajectory in a fragmented system of management and under the extreme neoliberal model of development (as is in the case of the Katowice conurbation after 1989) will lead to the polarization and growing inequalities within the region.