Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
3. The settlement structure of Slovakia
The settlement structure of Slovakia tionally and physically. Its traditional quarters, especially its historical citycentre, were neglected and doomed to destruction. With industrialization, its economic life became rather one-sided. It is also due to the exaggerated industrialization that the largest oil-refinery plant of the country was set up close to the capital city. By building huge, ‘socialist’ housing estates, which looked the same from Berlin to Vladivostok, they severely damaged the specific character of the city. Bratislava became a typical socialist city. 3. 6 Town planning in (Czecho)Slovakia 3. 6. 1 Towns as industrial centres Like in all the other countries occupied by the Soviets or belonging to the Soviet sphere of interest, in Czechoslovakia a new political system was introduced from 1948. From a Soviet point of view, the geopolitical role of these countries was to defend the Soviet Union from possible imperialist attacks, and to be the starting points of Soviet aspiration for world hegemony, which was concealed by the slogan ‘Proletarians of the world unite!’. Therefore, every country under communist party control was forced to prepare for the Third World War; consequently, of all the sectors of economy industry was the focal point of development. The enforced development of the industry carried out by the means of state power changed the structure of economic sectors and had a fundamental influence on the role of settlements, i.e. that of towns. Industry, industrial production and the setting-up of industrial plants became primary factors in building towns. Rrst of all, the existing towns were industrialized, because, according to the new ideology, it was perfection of the functions of towns to set up industries that could employ crowds of people. In this way, industrialization was determined by political goals, and the elimination of regional differences was also subject to political intentions. The propagated ideology always served the aim of strengthening the working class through the regional division of industrial plants. The development of towns was intertwined with the development of the working class and that of industry; infrastructure and housing or other central functions were subordinated to it. This ideology concealed reality; actual development decisions were made in the centres of the power. The central political power in Prague delegated the right to implement the particular plans for town development to central executive organs that they forwarded to the regional centres concerned, from where the decision-making possibilities were again forwarded to the local political and executive organs. To be able 68
