The new systemic conditions following the change of the political regime in Poland in 1989 have created growth opportunities for towns. The conditions make it necessary for them to compete for investment and other growth factors, which can play an important part in their transformation. The large Polish cities that have made the most of the new socio-economic situation also include Poznań. The article presents key problems and achievements of the city’s transformation as moulded by the historical past, the rebirth of local government (the actual manager of an area), demographic changes, diversification of the economic structure, foreign investment, a change in the residential housing model, the development of the service sector, etc. The growth of the city and its suburban zone has also been influenced by post-modern tendencies in the development of contemporary towns, including the process of metropolitanisation. All those factors have combined to make Poznań an exceptional city among other regional centres in Poland, one that has clearly gained during the transformation.