Municipal challenges caused by agglomeration processes urban areas with different characteristics in Hungary

Abstract

Over the last decades, the spatial focus of regional and urban research has shifted from cities to agglomerations, with a particular focus on the challenges of residential and economic suburbanisation. The urban sprawl is a typical urban development process in the Central European region, characterised by the transformation of the relationship between the city and its surroundings, the expansion of the urban area and the emergence of urban features in previously rural areas.

The development trajectories of cities and agglomerations in post-socialist regions have become a focus of academic interest, highlighting the crucial role of central and local governments. In case of Hungary, local governments play a key role in managing agglomeration processes, and the research examines three metropolitan regions as case studies of the changing challenges of task provision and financing. The main objective of the research is to explore the challenges faced by local governments in agglomeration areas in relation to population growth and economic concentration. This will be done through data analysis and expert interviews in three regions with different characteristics: the city of Győr, the city of Miskolc, and the southern agglomeration of the Hungarian capital, Budapest. The present research is based on the theoretical framework of the evolution-history debate and on the analysis of three Hungarian urban areas. It seeks to study challenges of local government provision and financing related to agglomeration in the municipalities; those that are typical for all agglomeration areas regardless of their geographical location, as well as those that are specific to the agglomeration and to the municipality. According to the evolutionary school, post-socialist cities will follow a path similar to that of Western cities, but with a phase lag. The historical school argues that different historical, political, social and cultural influences have produced different types of urban development, and that it is therefore impossible to ignore the socio-economic characteristics of post-socialist urban development, which have set the cities concerned on different paths.

The case study approach allows the complexity and informal practices of the phenomena studied to be explored, but limits the generalisability of the conclusions. The novelty of the research is focused on the distinction between territorial specificities and generalities, highlighting a new approach to research on the challenges of municipalities in relation to agglomeration. The study can contribute to the understanding and further analysis of the challenges of agglomeration municipalities.