The Uneven Development of Suburbanization during Transition in Hungary

Abstract

Natural decrease and out-migration are the main processes causing depopulation of rural areas in most of the easternEU countries. The causes of depopulation are varied as well as numerous and might differ within the same country or even a region. Both internal and international migration play an important role inthepopulation decline in Lithuania, but their relative importance differ from region to region. Depopulation leads to a falling population density and therefore to the shrinkage of social networks, especially in the rural areas. It has broad consequences for the life quality, causes pessimistic attitudes and threatens the future development of the sparsely populated areas. There is little hope that the existing demographictrends will change in the nearest future. However, the analysed processes are usually perceived purely negatively, thoughit is not true in somerespects.

‘Rural poverty’ in urban spaces of Budapest Research proposal for examining spatial inequality in contemporary Hungary

“…While my study focuses on the peripheral zones of post-socialist Budapest, the processes are embedded in the historical continuity of the spatial structure created by unequal spatial development since the modernising decades of the 19th century (Timár-Váradi 2001). In the focus of my paper these spaces are the 'containers' of the above mentioned macro structural social processes…”

“…In my view, the particular transformation of the Central and Eastern European urban-rural fringes was not only influenced by the post-socialist transition, but also by a longer socio-historical process which is better understandable in a longue durée perspective. (Braudel 2006, Győri 2011) The uneven regional development in Central and Eastern Europe has created a spatial and social process, through which we can speak not only about the continuous suburban expansion of the major cities, but also about the continuous migration process from cities to the rural areas and vice versa, depending on the economic cycles (Ladányi-Szelényi 2005, Timár-Váradi 2001. I argue, therefore, that the urban-rural fringes in Budapest and Hungary do not only mean the annexation of rural areas by the big city, but it also includes the flow of rural practices generated by spatial exclusion, back into the city.…”

Ethno-Political Effects of Suburbanization in the Vilnius Urban Region: An Analysis of Voting Behavior

“…These transformations have a clear expression in the spatial development of the major cities of post-communist Europe (Hamilton et al 2005;Timar and Varadi 2001). Suppressed urbanization and rural retention during the Soviet period resulted in major changes in land use patterns after the introduction of the market economy in these states (Bertaud and Renaud 1997;Boren and Gentile 2007).…”

The Ethnic Dimensions of Suburbanisation in Estonia

“…Many of these places have lost their formerly agricultural and industrial character and have been transformed into suburban residential and service areas (Borén and Gentile 2007;Hirt 2006;Krišjāne and Bērziņš 2011;Leetmaa et al 2009;Marcińczak and Sagan 2011;Ouředníček 2007;Timár and Váradi 2001). The new inhabitants of these suburban areas are mostly affluent households who have left cities in search of better-quality housing and living environments reflecting their (new) socio-economic status (Golubchikov and Phelps 2011;Kährik and Tammaru 2008;Ouředníček 2007).…”