Hardi Tamás - Tóth Károly (szerk.): Határaink mentén. A szlovák-magyar határtérség társadalmi-gazdasági vizsgálata (2008) (Somorja, 2009)
Esettanulmányok
Summary 215 are situated a bit farther from border. In Slovakia the urban development of the last decades took place more north of the border (with the exception of Košice), while the majority of the towns that were middle towns in the early 20,h century were not able to increase the number of their population (Horváth, 2004). As a result of this, significant areas without urban centres emerged, especially in the contact zone of Borsod-Abaúj- Zemplén county and the district of Košice. By the location of the centres, the border region can be divided into five typical functional zones. 1) The agglomeration of Bratislava. This involves the traditional suburban zone of the Slovakian side right until Somorja, the main commuting region of the capital city of Slovakia. The agglomeration of Bratislava has reaches across the state border by now; it involves the area of Mosonmagyaróvár close to the border and also some Austrian territories. The agglomeration is contiguous to the agglomeration of Vienna; the impact of the two capital cities is jointly shaping the area. 2) The zone of the Danube cities. This entails Győr and the so-called Danube city pairs, e.g. Komamo/Komárom and Sturovo/Esztergom. It is especially the transport geographical location of the two Komárom settlements and Győr that leads to the birth of considerable cross-border catchment areas. The special importance of these city pairs is given by the fact that they can actually be taken as single urban agglomerations by now. Together they have a population in excess of fifty thousand, so their common services and economic attraction is equal to that of a medium-sized Hungarian city, not to mention the high density of population in the economic agglomeration along the right bank of the Danube River (from Almásfüzitő to Dorog). 3) Zone of the mountainous towns. This zone reaches from the mouth of the Ipoly River to the edge of the hinterlands of Košice and Miskolc. Its western part is adjacent to the agglomeration of Budapest, including Vác. On the other hand, the low level of urbanisation along the Ipoly River is also due to the drainage effect of Budapest. The area between the Börzsöny Mountains and the Ipoly River gravitates to the city of Esztergom, allowed by theSchengen borders and the planned bridges across the Ipoly. At the northern feet of the North Hungarian Mountain Range there are the already mentioned towns with 20 to 50 thousand inhabitants (Salgótarján, Ózd, Kazincbarcika, Lučenec, Rimavská Sobota), but they are somewhat farther from the border (10-20 kilometres). Directly on the border we only find smaller centres (Šahy, Balassagyarmat). 4) The hinterlands of Košice and Miskolc. The border regions of the two cities are characterised by a deficient urban system, especially on the Hungarian side (being one of the least urbanised areas in Hungary). North of Edelény in the Zemplén Mountains we do not find any major central settlement. The areas right on the border may gravitate to Košice more than to Miskolc, even on the Hungarian side. 5) The area of the triple border in the east. This region has a weak urban network in both countries. Smaller centres can only be found on the Hungarian side, such as Sátoraljaújhely and Sárospatak. Especially the latter has strong cross-border attraction. On the Slovakian side, Trebišov can be found a bit farther from the border, and its services are too weak to have attraction on the Hungarian side of the border as well.
