Small towns as centers of rural micro-regions

Prepared by : Michaela Töröková (IBAC FEM )

According to:

Vaishar A. , Zapletalová J. : European Countryside, Volume 1, Number 2 / 2009

Basic terms:

• Counter – urbanization = is the process by which people and employment move out of large settled areas to smaller ones - a process of decentralisation

• Czechia = Czech Republic

• Human capital = the set of skills which an employee acquires on the job, through training and experience, and which increase that employee's value in the marketplace

• Hinterland= A region remote from urban areas

A region situated beyond metropolitan centers of culture.

• Periphery = it refers to an area of low or declining economic development

• Small towns = a community of people

smaller than a town

• Sub-urbanization = a suburb is a section of the city whose main role is residency for workers of the city. Suburbanisation is the process whereby residential sections of the city expand

1. Introduction

• Almost none rural settlement exists separately with its own detached local market of jobs and services

• In central European conditions we have micro-regions (centre of rural space with small town + surrounding villages )

Small town Functions: - services of the basic urban level- jobs- social contacts - occasions to travel outside the micro-region - service of state administration - sometimes identity of the micro-region

Aim

Analyse the role and position of Moravian small towns as centers of rural hinterlands in different types of region.

Morava

Consists of : - urban and sub-urban regions- two larger cities Brno, Ostrava- two bigger rivers Dyje , Svratka- lowlands and peripheral mountains - the research had been done in 2005 it took

researchers 8 years - nowadays the research is doing by Mendel

University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno

2. Role of Small Towns in the Settlement System

• small towns still play an important role in European peripheral regions with absence of big and medium towns

• nowadays when agriculture is being repleced with multifunctional countryside in geographical point of view , the attention must be pay more to small towns

• Styria 1998 in Murau – The first scientific symposium organized by ECOVAST

( European Council of Village and Small Towns )

Here was discussion about general problems of the small towns in relation to the countryside .

• After transformation ( in post- socialist Czechia ) the economy changed from centrally- planned to the market oriented economy

• The research is focused mainly on post- socialist countires

Research

• In the Czech geography small towns are not so important in interest of researchers

• Small towns are studied as a part of larger regions

• Geography of peripheral areas has been developed at Charles University in Prague

3. Small Town Investigation Approach

Small towns play an important position in the Czech settlement system

population size type inhabitants %

5 -1 999 Rural communes 2 672 825 26.0

2 000 - 19 999 Small towns 2 983 560 29.0

20 000 – 99 999 Medium-scale towns

2 489 927 24.1

100 000 and more

Big cities 2 146 621 20.9

History ( Small towns )

• In the past in Czech was lack of urban capital

• Czech industralization was based on noblemen investments

• In the socialist period it was politics of decentralization

• Nowadays is era of suburbanization and counter- urbanization and this keep the role of small towns in settlement system

3 basic types of small towns

I. Small Towns in the hinterlands of big cities

II. The small towns in well- accessible landscape of fertile Moravian lowlands

III. Small towns in peripheral positions

II. The small towns in well- accessible landscape of fertile Moravian

lowlands Moravian lowlands consists of:- regular network of small towns and big villages- every settlement has own independent local

market - big and medium towns are good accessible from

villages - rural people in lowlands can satisfy their needs - advice for this type of towns is to focused on

industry, education, health- care, tourism

III. Small towns in peripheral positions

- This towns are in difficult situation because they have natural borderland, mountains

- Their disadvantage is preconditioned by difficult accessibility due to hilly relief

- In this area is a big number of small villages not very far from one another

- Villages hardly have one market

- These villages are dependent on their small towns which offer ensure job opportunities, services, social contacts, transfer points for travelling and etc.

- This villages are poor with lack of investments

4. Small towns as Centres of Rural Micro- Regions

Issues of peripheral small towns:

- The big problem and disadvantage is lack of investments (people give to investors interesting offers but they are not enthusiasm because of problems like transport of raw materials and production)

- The periphery is poor ( business people cannot expect benefits )

- A fall of the economic power

Real example how can be peripheral

small town used for the business

This example is from pre - war Moravia.

The town Zlín has peripheral (narrow valley and river Drevnice) position and had about 3 000 inhabitants.

Tomáš Baťa started there his business activities.

He used a cheap labour force , cheap prices of land and better position in negotiation with local authorities.

He was elected a mayor of Zlin and head of the big shoemaking empire.

Zlin became to the centre of eastern Moravia.

5. Future of Moravian Rural Space with Small Towns

I. The second demographic transition II. Suburbanization and counter-

urbanization III. Globalization

IV. Continuation of transfer the jobs from

productive to non-productive sectors

V. Increasing value of leisure , environment, space, security ect. for inhabitants.

VI. Decreasing importance of the state border as a barrier of development

6. Investigating Small Towns within Rural Research

• The rural hinterlands play a role of micro-regional market of small towns. We must have in connection small towns and hinterland.

• The relation between small towns and rural settlements in their hinterlands should be of great attention. (important aspects: position with regard to regional centres, natural conditions regarding to micro-region development)

• The Czech structure of administration is

typical with a high number of communes.

• 59.1 % of communes have less than 500 inhabitants and 26.5 % have even less than 200 inhabitants

• The weakness of self – governance in small communes is solved by creation of voluntary association of communes as legal subject with small towns as their centres as a rule

• The eastern European rural space is influenced by globalization very slowly but step by step.

• For rural space it is very important era and hopefully we can expect a very successful

solutions and changes.

Thank you for your attention!!!