The change of Hungary’s political and economic system brought about fundamental changes in the social-economic conditions of this country. As a consequence, there has been a significant transformation in the spatial structure, too.
Changes in spatial structure were primarily driven by dynamic factors, such as foreign capital influx and crisis phenomena, especially high unemployment which reached its peak in 1993. As a result of these trends, today’s spatial structure is characterised both by fast developing regions (the region of the capital city and North-Western Transdanubia) and by regions which find it difficult to catch up (North-Eastern Hungary).

The 1996 Act on spatial development and physical planning requires that the government reports on a biannual basis to Parliament on the course of spatial processes and the implementation of spatial development policy. The first report was made in 2000, and was accepted in 2001 by Parliamentary decree no. 39/2001. (VI. 18.). The second report was prepared in 2004, and was accepted by Parliament via the 97/2005. (XII. 25.) decree on the National Spatial Development Concept.

The examination of spatial processes is based on the statistics from 1998 to 2002. In order to be able to analyse certain processes, the 1990s are looked back upon as well. The investigation contains data from 2003 (and in one case from 2004) where this was available. The territorial level of the investigation is fundamentally determined by the 168 statistical micro regions. The analysis of the elements is discussed on different levels – in some cases it can be interpreted on the county level only, whereas in some places the detailed nature of the interpretation requires the analysis on the settlement level. In other areas the examination is based on physical conditions. The Report made use of data from the Central Statistical Office, data, sectoral data and information from the Spatial Information System, data from the National Tax and Financial Audit Office and in certain topics a database, compiled by means of questionnaires.

In Hungary there were both equalizing and differentiating processes in the spatial structure in the period between 1998 and 2002, but these developments only partially modified the main characteristics of the spatial structure, which had been established by the mid-1990s.
One of the determining processes of spatial structure is that the weight of the central part of the country became more pronounced. Spatial development policy with the system of instruments and institutions available has not been able to prevent market-based regional divergence, but has been able to restrain the unfavourable effects caused and has impeded the rise of further extreme regional crises.

VÁTI Hungarian Public Nonprofit Company for Regional Development and Town Planning
Hungary
http://www.vati.hu
Mr András Nagy (Counselior), tel. +36 1 244 3265

01/12/2005

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VÁTI Hungarian Public Nonprofit Company for Regional Development and Town Planning

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Urban Policy