Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
6. Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border
Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border • The outstanding large city of the borderland is Bratislava, which, as a capital city, belongs to the Vienna-Bratislava-Győr golden triangle of international significance. Its gravitation area is continuously widening mainly in the direction of Dunajská Streda, but recently also towards Hungary. The long, eastward gravitation area of Bratislava runs parallel with Szigetköz on the Hungarian side, cut off from the Danube and the side-canal of the power station at Gabčíkovo. The settlements of Szigetköz belong to the gravitation area of Mosonmagyaróvár and Győr, where the influence of the Slovak capital cannot be felt. • Bratislava is the centre of the border section between Komárno- Komárom and Rajka, but its effect on the environs is rather ambiguous. There are signs of the common historical past, but the Danube branches off here, which makes crossing rather difficult. The only bridge after Komárno-Komárom is on the road connecting Győr and Veľký Meder, between Vámosszabadi and Medveďov. With regard to the whole section of the Danube, this is where the distance between two bridges is the largest, since the first bridge to the north of Vámosszabadi can only be found in Bratislava. Szigetköz, the river branches in Žitný ostrov, the Landscape Protection Area of Szigetköz and the industrial canal of the power station, all make crossing difficult for the settlements on the two sides. Mention must be made of Bodák, Vojka nad Dunajom and Dobrohošť, the three settlements on the Slovak side that are cut off from the land by the industrial canal and whose connection with Slovakia is also made rather difficult. (There is a ferry service for the settlements.) The lack of larger towns or cities also distinguishes this region. The influence of Bratislava on the Slovak side exceeds every other influence, every connection starting from the Danube is directed there, whereas on the Hungarian side the gravitation of a smaller town (Mosonmagyaróvár) and that of a big city (Győr) are dominant, but these three towns do not gravitate toward each other. Consequently, in Dunajská Streda being closer to Győr than to Bratislava, the influence of Bratislava is much stronger than that of Győr. The large-scale development of the Slovak capital city in recent years also had a strong effect on the villages in Žitný ostrov. The ethnic division in this zone used to show an overwhelming majority of Hungarian people. This, however, seems to have changed in the past few years. Due to the soaring real estate prices in Bratislava, many people have moved to smaller settlements, and 148
