Small town development in peripheral areas

Abstract

The objective of the study is to examine the correspondence between city status and city identity and the factors explaining the spectacularly large number of small cities in Hungary. A further aim is to explore the positive or negative impacts of the acquisition of city status on the development of the urban network. The study, using a historical approach, aimed to identify the key enabling factors of the transformation of small towns into cities. This was achieved through the qualitative assessment of specific properties of the urban micro space, the presentation of various life stories and a review of the main milestones of the development path. The elements of local government capacities of peripheral small towns in the region are assessed on the basis of operational and efficiency aspects. The lack or reduced mobility of these elements has negative implications on local government functions, the delivery of public services, the availibility of local resources and the vitality of the local economy. The recently launched Hungarian Village Program categorizing small towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants as villages may fuel further reflections on the development policy and governance relevance of the research. The analysis of developments planned and undertaken in the framework of the project and the monitoring of the implementation of the Modern Villages and Small Towns Programme will constitute the tasks of the next phase of the research.

Labour market effects and changes among enterprises in free enterprise zones in Hungary

“…Given the higher economic potential of the districts of the capital and the county capitals and cities with county status, the average change was also analysed after excluding the above-mentioned areas from the second phase of the analysis. Their exclusion was also justified by the fact that these municipalities really stand out, while small towns are treated on an equal footing with municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants when allocating economic development funds (Horeczki & Egyed, 2021). Although the gap between the two groups has narrowed, it is still higher for municipalities not belonging to Free Enterprise Zones.…”

The Impact of Brownfields on Residential Property Values in Post-Industrial Communities: A Study from the Eastern Part of the Czech Republic

“…A systematic brownfield regeneration undoubtedly contributes towards the improvement of the quality of life [70], increase in the value of the area, and the support of local development. It is without a doubt that the brownfield regeneration is topical, socially desirable, and essential [71][72][73], and can be seen as an innovation of the territorial product [21,74].…”

Population dynamics of the Hungarian small towns in the light of censuses

“…In previous works, all Horeczki, R., Molnár, E., Pirisi, G. authors of this article have used the latter, formal criterion for the delimitation of small towns, with all its contradictions (see e.g. Horeczki & Egyed, 2021;Horeczki, Molnár & Pirisi, 2023;Molnár 2007;Pirisi & Trócsányi, 2006). Considering the characteristics of the settlement network in Hungary, several authors have used a similar definition of a small town: Kőszegfalvi (2004) with the urban status and a population threshold of 30,000, Dövényi (1986) in his analysis of the Great Plain, Tóth (1988) in his early works, and the Hungarian Central Statistical Office also uses this population limit.…”

“…The combination of low spatial mobility and the deficiencies of larger cities' networks make the regional importance of these settlements more emphasized as central locations -primarily as employment centres concentrating workplaces -in comparison to Western Europe (Filipović et al, 2016;Kwiatek-Sołtys, 2005;Pirisi et al, 2016). On the other hand, their relative weakness, the limitations of their economic power appear as a key factor hampering regional convergence (Bartosiewicz et al, 2019;Cole & Svidroňová, 2021;Horeczki, 2014Horeczki, , 2021Molnár, 2015a).…”