Transforming urban fringes: coexistence of poverty and welfare suburbanization on the example of Hungarian cities

Abstract

The peculiarity of the Hungarian settlement network is that, in addition to the main built up areas of the settlements, there are permanently inhabited outskirts and other inner areas too. In the restructured fringe areas of the rural centers, the spatial processes are also differentiated below the settlement level, where rapidly urbanising spaces developing alongside rural enclaves. In our research we examined how segregation is represented in the discourse of local residents and decision-makers and tried to reveal some geographic and legal reasons that contribute to the preservation of segregation at sample areas of agglomerations of Győr, Szeged, Zalaegerszeg and Hódmezővásárhely.

The survey shows that, besides ethnic segregation, residents suffer from significant material segregation and sometimes remarkable disadvantages due to the geographical isolation of the periphery. After 1990, and as a result of the financial crisis that unfolded in 2008, a large proportion of precariat households, especially those, who were outcast from the city or coming from remote rural villages in the hope of getting jobs, have migrated to these areas. Because of the distorted nature of social capital, the predominance of bonding capital and the „blindfolded” practice of city authorities to social problems, have contributed to the development of segregated areas. Furthermore, building and land regulations have further aggravated negative social impacts in these areas from transition to this day. However, in the local discourse, much more areas are considered to be segregated, than the number of cases that the empirical survey supports.