Peripheral regions in Lithuania: the results of uneven development

Abstract

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lithuania has been struggling with rapidly increasing centreperiphery polarization. There has been a growth in major cities and a significant decline in peripheral rural territories. The ongoing peripheralization is deepening the gap between centre and periphery. This paper introduces a peripheral region determination model, whilst highlighting that this complex geographical issue combines location, demographic, social, economic, cultural, political and natural factors. By analyzing the case of Lithuania using 1992-2012 data at the LAU-1 region level, the study reveals a polarized picture of the country and highlights the factors influencing peripherality in different regions.

The Relationship Between People’s Environmental Considerations and Pro-environmental Behavior in Lithuania

“…Yet, despite economical advancements, Lithuania encounters issues that are not common to Western societies, especially the so-called WEIRD countries (Henrich et al, 2010). These issues include high rates of people living at risk of poverty and social exclusion (Eurostat, 2017b), one of the lowest income among EU countries (Eurostat, 2019), large development gaps between large cities and areas beyond them (Pociūtė-Sereikienė, 2019), high rates of unemployment in rural areas, high emigration rates and drain of the intellectual capital that flows to Western countries (Ubarevičienė and Van Ham, 2017). What is even more relevant in the context of the current study, is that Lithuanians do not recognize climate change as important, particularly compared to citizens of affluent countries such as Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, France and the Netherlands (Eurobarometer, 2018).…”

Social and Spatial Relation Between Small Towns and Villages in Peripheral Regions: Evidence from Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia

“…There is such a uniqueness as urban-rural interaction, which is the opposite of the concept of rural integration into industrial society, new rural functions, urban-rural interdependence. Problematic concepts such as the rural community and the cultural landscape have begun to be explored as the interdisciplinary approach in related fields: rural economy, demography, geography, architecture and planning, and political science (Loomis and Beegle, 1950;Piorr et al, 2015;Pociūtė-Sereikienė, 2019). It must be noted that also interconnection between urban and rural areas, their hierarchy, and functions is analysed interdisciplinary.…”

“…Tautvaišaitė (2007) considered periphery to be a rural area away from the capital or another large city, where there is depopulation, which is less developed, and the majority of the population work in the primary economic sector, which requires more intensive manual labour. Pociūtė (2014) and Pociūtė-Sereikienė (2019) summarized that periphery is a space that is quantitatively and/or qualitatively distant from the centre, which is characterized by a lack of integrity with the existing territorial system and the centre. Moreover, her attention was focused on that the appearance of peripheries is claimed to be a consequence of peripheralization (Pociūtė-Sereikienė, 2019), which perceived as an increase in socio-spatial inequalities, the 'production' of peripheries, whereas peripherality is the characteristic of a territory, indicating the distance (expressed in statistical values) from the centre.…”

“…Pociūtė (2014) and Pociūtė-Sereikienė (2019) summarized that periphery is a space that is quantitatively and/or qualitatively distant from the centre, which is characterized by a lack of integrity with the existing territorial system and the centre. Moreover, her attention was focused on that the appearance of peripheries is claimed to be a consequence of peripheralization (Pociūtė-Sereikienė, 2019), which perceived as an increase in socio-spatial inequalities, the 'production' of peripheries, whereas peripherality is the characteristic of a territory, indicating the distance (expressed in statistical values) from the centre. In Poland, peripheral areas are usually designated both based on spatial criteria (concerning the geographical and communication location) and economic (concerning a low socio-economic level).…”

The institutional thickness of an inner periphery in the cross-border region between Central Bohemia and Eastern Bohemia

“…Inequalities naturally arise between regions in the course of their development. The implication of this is that some areas are more successful, while others (problem regions) are less so (Friedmann 1972;Havlíček, Chromý 2001;Vaishar 2006;Hampl, Dostál, Drbohlav 2007;Siwek 2012;Kuhn 2015;Pociute-Sereikiene 2019). With deepening European integration, such 'problem regions' very quickly came to include regions with structural problems and an ineffectively structured local economy inherited from the era of central planning (Dostál, Hampl 2002) and peripheral regions located on the national border (e.g.…”