Not only the Budapest agglomeration exploded – Metropolitan areas are becoming more and more populated in the countryside
An agglomeration or agglomeration?
Before we look at how the population change in the area of rural metropolitan areas has developed, it is important to keep a little statistical methodological detour – not all large cities have agglomerations. As a matter of fact, in Hungary only three big cities have agglomerations outside Budapest and the two largest rural cities (Debrecen and Miskolc) are not among them. The CSO methodologically distinguishes between different settlement complexes according to the degree of their concentration. Thus, grouped according to the level of regional organization, there are:
- Agglomeration: settlement structures, where population growth and significant / significant housing construction activity can be observed in the settlements located there. A variety of functional links are established between the center and the settlements in the immediate vicinity (workplace-residence, business-economic, commercial-market, educational, cultural, health, cultural, various services). As a result of the intensive agglomeration process, a cohesive, physically integrated settlement body is formed, and the settlements merge with each other.
- Agglomeration area: those settlement structures (settlement complexes) in which the criteria of the agglomeration process are already recognizable, but the process is not yet finalized. Settlements in agglomerations, with the exception of the center, are also experiencing population growth and, as a result, accelerating housing activity. The intensity of the settlement and territorial concentration of the affected areas and the formation of a cohesive settlement body is still lower than that observed in the case of the formed agglomerations.
- Metropolitan settlement complexIn the regions, the formation of such a kind of territorial concentration, conglomeration, or even a cohesive settlement body, which is one of the specific criteria for the establishment of agglomerations, is small or absent in terms of settlement complexes. In the case of the examined settlement complexes, this can be typical only for some settlements within the complex (hometown and the neighboring settlement).
Today, in addition to the capital, we know a total of 22 areas in Hungary, of which three are agglomerations, four are agglomerations, and the rest are metropolitan settlements.
From the settlement complexes shown on the map, the agglomeration of Lake Balaton should be highlighted, which is unique in that it does not have a single specific central settlement (since the whole is organized around Lake Balaton instead of a city). Not surprisingly, therefore, there are also most of the co-centers (eight in number) that are the largest cities on the north and south coasts.
Agglomerations are also saturated in rural areas
Similar to the processes in Budapest, the saturation of agglomerations can be observed in the more developed rural regions, but in the less developed areas the population decreases in the immediate vicinity of cities between 2000 and 2020 in line with the depopulation of large cities (exceptions are shown below).
In connection with the above figure, a few important remarks must be made: firstly, there does not seem to be a relationship between the population dynamics of agglomerations and central cities – not all inverse or straight proportions can be observed, even taking into account the accuracy of the interlocking , but Pécs also has an agglomeration, and the process is reversed there, although the area of both cities is located in the less developed regions of the country).
However, it can be clearly seen that the largest growth can be observed in the more developed regions of the country – in the north-western big cities (Sopron, where the population grew strongly between 2000 and 2020, Győr, Tatabánya) and in emerging industries such as Kecskemét and Debrecen (where significant investments in vehicle production have taken place). Out of the line are Dunaújváros and Pécs, which are less developed cities, however, a significant increase in population was observed in their agglomeration and metropolitan settlement complex. It is important to highlight even the Balaton area, where the population has also been able to grow in recent decades.
Of the above 22 agglomerations / metropolitan areas, only 8 have a declining population. In areas with higher population growth, the saturation of the agglomeration may cause the same problems as in the vicinity of Budapest, where infrastructure (transport) and public institutions (kindergartens, school capacities) simply cannot withstand the growing population.
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