The Changing Meaning of Core–Periphery Relations in a Non-Metropolitan “Urban Region” at the Hungarian–Romanian Border

Abstract

The multiplicity and fluidity of the roles and functions of Gyula, a small town in a non-metropolitan urban region along the Hungarian–Romanian border, both as part of a core and part of a periphery is unquestionable. In studying this multiplicity and fluidity in a relational approach and in the context of geographical scale, place and space, this paper has two main arguments:

1.	As a result of the geopolitical and politicaleconomic transformations of differing modes of production at a national scale, Gyula, in an everyday fight for power at an urban scale, was gaining and losing both its core position and hinterland.
2.	The uneven development of “new capitalism” has made Gyula's hinterland a “red-lined” periphery, where even the issue of dependence on the core loses its relevance, as it is an area completely shunned by flows of capital, labor and goods.

As far as the temporal dimension of the analysis is concerned, local agents' responses will be put in the context of the major shifts and turns of socio-economic structures from the early modern period (17−18th c.) to recent times. The changing meaning of core−periphery relations in the non-metropolitan region, which, is being peripheralized as part of a macro-region, will be interpreted in relationship to the uneven development of Hungarian regions and to the national discourse on uneven development.

The results of the research summarized in the paper are based on a qualitative analysis of a series of interviews with local stakeholders and a review of historical sources and literature, as well as urban/regional development documents.

Acknowledgement

The results interpreted above rested on the research project supported by NKTH/NIH of the Republic of Hungary (OMFB-00972/2009.; INNOTARS_08varoster). Moreover, we must thank to Gábor Velkey for his contribution to this project, and also for supporting the analysis in his earlier case study (2003) focused on Gyula.

Notes

This alone gives rise to interesting issues, because Marxist geographers in the West associate the existence of centers and peripheries and the relationship between them with uneven development which is endemic to capitalism (Smith 1984).

The number of semi-structured interviews we made in Gyula were 45, and over 25 in the Romanian side (Oradea, Arad, Salonta) from May to December in 2010. The major groups of interviewed actors covered: local decisionmakers in Gyula and its city region, leaders of administration departments and institutions (education, health, social care), entrepreneurs and their organizations (Chambers of Industry and Commerce, Chamber of Agriculture), major actors in tourism, important units of retail and real estate sector, as well as civic organizations, including the NGO of Romanian minority living around the town. We made also, a questionnaire in the inner city area of the town, when 70 of the 130 retail and service units gave us information about their business strategy. In parallel, we made a survey on identifying the customers of major tourist “hot spots” and large-scale retail units in Gyula through listing of parking cars in a two-week period in July 2010.

Central Békés FUR has a development strategy and programs (2006) that rest on mutual interests and agreement of local leaders (2006).

An interviewee, a chief executive of a local medium-size retail firm used the term “dying retail in the rural hinterland of Gyula”.

The process was widespread in East Central Europe and integrated into the global strategy of food retailers (see Begg et al. 2003; Cook, Harrison 2003; Hughes, Reimer 2004).

At the peak of the production (as far as the volume is considered), the supplier network of the Gyula meat factory involved about one-sixth of households in Békés county, its primary catchment area.

From the late 1960s on, the political relationships between Hungary and Romania got increasingly cold; the worst period was in the 1980s (Réti 2003).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gábor Nagy

Dr. Gabor Nagy, PhD in Social Geography, Senior Research Fellow, Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Békéscsaba Department. Habil. Assoc. Prof. at the University of Szeged, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Informatics, Department of Economic and Social Geography, Hungary. Dr. Gábor Nagy Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, HAS Szabó D. u. 42. H-5600 Békéscsaba

Erika Nagy

Dr. Erika Nagy, PhD in Social Geography, Senior Research Fellow, Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Békéscsaba Department. MA in Urban History from the University of Leicester, UK. MA in History and Geography at the University of Szeged in Hungary. Former editor of Tér és Társadalom (Space and Society). Dr. Erika Nagy Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, HAS [email protected]

Judit Timár

Dr. Judit Timár, PhD in Social Geography, Senior Research Fellow, Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Békéscsaba Department. Former editor of European Urban and Regional Studies and editor of Tér és Társadalom (Space and Society). Dr. Judit Timár Research Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, HAS [email protected]