Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)

3. The settlement structure of Slovakia

Town planning in (Czecho)Slovakia

Figure 7. Towns in Slovakia in 1980

Source: Štatisticky úrad SR, Bratislava Edited by István Mezei, drawn by Máté Mády

1) The highest number of factories could be found in the construction industry (179) and in the food industy (166), although with very low production values, because a rather low number of people were employed (but at least 15 people, since only factories of that size were taken into account). The five largest factories of the construction industry were in Lubeník, Lovinobaňa, Jelšava, Rohožník and Košice, where there were sand pits, gravel pits, quarries, and brick making. The largest factories of the food industry were in the largest cities (Bratislava, Nitra, Košice and Trnava), but Nové Zámky was the most important of all.

(2) There were numerous factories in the timber industry (89), the electrical industry (57), in the machine industry (96) and also in the textile industry (38), however, still with low production values. The vast wooded area provided favourable conditions for the timber industry, but the many factories employed few people. Easily available raw materials were important, so the new plants of the timber industry and furniture factories were built in the mountains or close to them: in Zvolen, Turany, Prešov, Banská Bystrica and Žarnovica.

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