EN
The main functions and the spatial shape of the settlement system of the suburban zone of Warsaw have been formed in a complex and dynamic process of industrialization. Along main transport axes, aspecially along railroad lines, seven multifunctional settlement belts have been formed: three located to the West of Vistula river (Błonie, Grodzisk and Piaseczno belts) and four located to the East of Vistula (Legionowo, Wołomin, Otwock and Mińsk belts). Thcse belts, differentiated as to the degree of their urbanization, concentrate an important part of demographic and economic potential of the suburban zone.