Discussion Papers 1999.
Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration 59-68. p.
NEW FACTORS IN THE DIFFERENTIATION
59
NEW FACTORS IN THE DIFFERENTIATION OF THE
HUNGARIAN SETTLEMENT NETWORK
BALINT CSATARI
INTRODUCTION
•
Special features of the 1989 political transition at municipal and regional level
The change of the economic and political system in Hungary did not consider
the whole spectrum of the regional level. It introduced a local governmental sys-
tem with great — maybe too great — freedom of decision at the municipal level.
Although the traditional county level as a regional self-government remained,
its competence and regional development role were limited to a minimum.
Towns with county rank are not legal (elected) parts of these counties, although
party politicians living there can be elected from the party lists into the county
bodies. The Regional Development and Physical Planning Act, passed in 1996,
tried to change this situation, creating county and regional development coun-
cils consisting of delegated members and initiating the organisation of the small
regions as well. Real territorial processes and co-operation, however, are hard
to achieve, because of the lack of willingness to co-operate at the municipal
level, particularly amongst the town governments, which have a high degree of
independence.
• Contradictions of the local governmental system at municipal and regional level
This is a great contradiction inherent in the system, especially if we consider
that the process of European accession prefers primarily supports for the
regional level, i.e. territorial units of higher level than the counties.
• Internal and external conflicts of municipal transformation
The municipalities welcomed their independence and with great enthusiasm
started to solve their accumulated and acute internal problems. The weight and
volume of these problems were so great that the municipalities could hardly see
beyond their own public administrative borders. Also, they were not particularly
interested in regional co-operation based on the modern principle of partner-
ship. However, the compulsory elements of regional policy, the new regional
application system for the resources of regional development and the partial

Csatári, Bálint: New Factors in the Differentiation of the Hungarian Settlement Network.
In: Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
1999. 59–68. p. Discussion papers. Special
60
BALINT CSATARI
decentralisation of their redistribution made some important regional-organisa-
tional changes necessary.
• European trends
It is interesting that after the large European political trends of regionalisation
in the 1980s and 1990s, from new European spatial development perspectives it
is the urban networks, the competition of modern cities, the key role of small
towns and the new type of village development which are more and more fre-
quently mentioned. It is uncertain what effect this transition will have on the
regional/settlement development of a country which has not gone through that
specific developmental phase of large-scale regionalisation.
THE AIM OF THE STUDY
During the last Seminar I discussed the differentiation of the Hungarian territorial
development at micro-regional level as well as the most important elements and fac-
tors of this process. In the past two years regional differentiation of the small regions
has increased since then. In this study I attempt to discover to what extent this differ-
entiation is the consequence of the processes taking place at the municipal level.
• A review of the main elements of the transformation of municipalities
The classical fields of settlement geography deal with the fundamental transfor-
mation of the economy, infrastructure, the institutional system, the central and
local settlement functions, population and society. In the euphoria of the
change of the political system everybody doubtless expected rapid and
favourable changes. The settlements themselves, however, are objects with
many centuries of traditions, and they can only slowly change. The settlements
are both stages, frameworks and results of a total socio-economic transition.
And since this transformation is as yet far from completed, it shows with great
precision the contradictions and deficiencies of the settlements.
•
Major features of the transformation of towns and villages
It is the majority of the villages who are definitely the losers in the transforma-
tion. Their socialist agriculture collapsed, and after the reductions of the social-
ist industrial plants in the small and large towns the unemployed flowed back
into the villages. The population of the villages has been ageing for decades.
Their local economic power is insignificant, their regional integrative and con-
tact-making ability is also moderate.

Csatári, Bálint: New Factors in the Differentiation of the Hungarian Settlement Network.
In: Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
1999. 59–68. p. Discussion papers. Special
62
BALINT CSATARI
MAIN PROCESSES AND FINDINGS REVEALED BY THE ANALYSIS
• Transitions defining the character of the villages and the towns
Taking the total Hungarian settlements into consideration, there is very little
close correlation within the index system and among the individual indices. This
is a favourable fact from the aspect of factorial analysis, but it also implies that
among the factors indicating transition there are hardly any "joint movements"
and interdependence. There seem to be two outstanding elements, namely the
provision with institutions and the primary school education of the population.
These usually amount to a positive differentiation. (Figure 1)
It is also interesting that, despite the main factor method, it was not the progres-
sive elements that stood out in the survey of the settlements, but the very high
negative determination of unemployment and social underdevelopment. In
other words, differentiation is strong downwards. Naturally, the main factor
only explained 23% of the changes described by the indices. The size and the
number of population became the main content of the secondary factor. This
shows that the changes of the macro-system, i.e. the total of the settlements is
only secondarily dependent on the size.
The analysis done for the towns, with a slightly expanded index system, showed
a completely different picture. On the one hand, the explanatory power of the
main factor is much stronger (61.4%); on the other hand, within the urban net-
work, which otherwise is more homogeneous than the whole of the settlement
network, the differentiation is much stronger. The main progressive elements
are: number of enterprises, high birth rate, favourable pace of housing construc-
tions, but the size of the towns is also an important element.
The result of the general analysis done for the villages is slightly different. On
the one hand, it is not dependent of the size, i.e. the quality of the village trans-
formation strongly depends on what quality urban centre the villages belong to.
On the other hand, while the basic infrastructure in the towns is partially bal-
anced, in the villages the effect of the infrastructure, telephone or car supply is
still significant. Six factors were detected here, among which, besides the main
factor demonstrating the general development, the existence or absence of the
signs of new village functions, such as tourism, second homes or even suburbani-
sation are worth mentioning.
• The role of the size, demographic situation, economy, infrastructure, the human
sphere and the typical settlement functions in determining the transition and in
differentiation at national level and on the Great Plain

Csatári, Bálint: New Factors in the Differentiation of the Hungarian Settlement Network.
In: Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
1999. 59–68. p. Discussion papers. Special
NEW FACTORS IN THE DIFFERENTIATION
65
I have already mentioned in general that a relatively small amount of close cor-
relation were detected in the survey of the changes. In other words, from the
favourable demographic conditions — which might be the consequence of a large
number of Gypsies in the given settlements — we cannot or can hardly draw con-
clusions for the economy. Besides the general levelling off of the infrastructure,
the concrete economic development effects of the main industrial elements is
minimal. One of the most interesting final conclusions can be that the quality of
the human resources is more and more differentiating. Its value in the main fac-
tor in the general analysis was 0.8. (Figure 2)
The settlement network of the Great Plain, however, is different from the
national one to a large extent. What differentiates the settlement network of the
region to the largest extent here is the existence or absence of the partially
inherited, well built-up institutional structure, the individual entrepreneurial
willingness and its high proportion. Thus the trends that can be seen at national
level exert their effects here in a different way. In the villages of the Great Plain
it is the high proportion of car owners and entrepreneurial willingness, while in
the towns of the region the size and the indices deriving from the administrative
position which differentiate the most. The indices of the traditional agrarian
character have a strong effect, too, but in a negative direction.
• Concrete factors contents determining differentiation, change and development
in the settlements
The indices demonstrating progress and falling behind exert their effects simul-
taneously, and these effects have shown so far the signs of strong differentiation
in the whole of the settlement network.
For example, size is only an important element in the towns of the Great Plain,
but not elsewhere. However, much more important and differentiating are the
indices showing the booming of the economy and the existence and adaptive
character of the human resources, which — especially in the case of towns — can
trigger uplift of investments and expansion of their regional effects.
In the case of villages, it is clear that the most important characteristics of
progress are the favourable geographical location, the strong connections with
the towns, the existence of some special non-village function or the appearance
of the latest village functions (suburbanisation phenomena, tourism, border
crossing etc.). Agriculture is only important in progress in very small intensive
village islands. (Figure 3)

Csatári, Bálint: New Factors in the Differentiation of the Hungarian Settlement Network.
In: Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration. Pécs: Centre for Regional Studies,
1999. 59–68. p. Discussion papers. Special
68
BALINT CSATARI
SUMMARY
•
Contradictions of the processes at municipal and regional level
The processes of the Hungarian political change of 1989 in the settlements are
full of contradictions, not only as regards the settlements themselves and their
inner system of their spheres of operation, but also their regional system. Their
internal contradictions can hardly be solved by the possibilities of regional inte-
gration and an organic regional co-operation, thus the towns are more and more
often confronted with the villages in their environs. There are and probably
there will be poor regions with rich towns, and also regions in a favourable posi-
tion, with rather poor villages — all of this at the same time. The undeveloped
regional policy has been unable so far to enforce its influence. Also, the extent
of solidarity at settlement and regional level is rather limited. (Figure 4)
• Contradictions in the development of the towns and their environs
As a summary we can state that the development tracks of the towns and the vil-
lages have been different so far. The factors are different and so are their
effects. Presumably joint development can only be achieved with much more
resources and much better co-operation.
• Opportunities to adapt to new European trends
The above-mentioned facts and processes may call smooth European accession
into question, both at municipal (mainly urban, of course) and regional level. It
is also questionable whether now, when the new regional principles of the
European Union prefer settlements and their special groups again, we should
carry on with the paths of regional organisation development which may be bur-
dened with a lot of difficulties, or we can go on concentrating more on the set-
tlements, towns and their environs organically connected to them. This is
probably a common question for all of us, but one I cannot yet answer.