The spatial structure of East-Central Europe

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore and analyze the main characteristics of East- Central Europe’s spatial structure and its changes during the recent years. In the first section we summarize the theoretical foundations of the notion and the elements of spatial structure, mainly based on our previous research. We discuss the complex way of the description of spatial structure (the regional development inequalities and the differences of socio-economic concentration), and analyze its three main elements (node, axis, zone). The next part reviews some recent and older literature about the changing ideas and approaches of spatial structure of Europe. We also describe the macroregion’s position in the spatial structure of Europe. The main difference between the point of views is whether the continent shows a polycentric spatial structure or a centre-periphery model, and whether East-Central Europe is a semi-periphery of the continent or a potential economic centre. Finally, based on the literature synthesis and our own calculations based on regional data provided by Eurostat, we trace the spatial structure of the macroregion. The more and less developed zones show a West–East contrast with some segregated, more developed regions in the Eastern part, but there isn’t a large socio-economic central area. The nodes are not concentrated, they have different social and economic weights, and the axes are probably the Pan-European corridors. The main change of the spatial structure in the 2000s is that the Southern part of the macroregion has become more homogeneous (a less developed zone).