Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
3. The settlement structure of Slovakia
The settlement structure of Slovakia Table 25. Towns with populations lower than and villages exceeding the threshold of 5,000 people according to the 1991 census Towns people Towns people Villages people Šaštín 4,787 Medzev 3,871 Beluša 5,919 Čierna nad Tisou 4,744 Leopoldov 3,826 Oščadnica 5,510 Svätý Jur 4,600 Spišské Podhradie 3,454 Tvrdošovce 5,276 Dobšiná 4,569 Spišské Vlachy 3,368 Dvory nad Zitavou 5,143 Trenčianske Teplice 4,436 Hanušovce nad Topľou 3,144 Nesvady 5,125 Tisovec 4,430 Podollnec 2,908 Čierny Balog 5,099 Nováky 4,341 Rajecké Teplice 2,540 Strážske 4,255 Jelšava 2,508 Rybáry 4,236 Spišská Stará Ves 2,196 Veľký Šariš 4,058 Dudince 1,530 Giraltovce 3,933 Modrý Kameň 1,374 Source: Štatisticky úrad SR, Bratislava The cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants were intended to act as symbols of socialist industrial development and Slovak grandeur, which could also have proved for the historical past the strength of Slovak people as opposed to their ‘former tyrants’. The results of the censuses, however, were not in accordance with the expectations. Although two towns, Bratislava and Košice, had managed to meet the requirements regarding population number before, Bratislava, Nitra and Banská Bystrica (the latter two under the required limit) showed decreases in population. The plans of the time had even more large-scale ambitions: the three cities of Bratislava, Košice and Banská Bystrica were intended to develop into metropolises with over 300,000 inhabitants. The development of a network of large cities is a task that has not been carried out up to the present day. The 1977 party directives considered the towns as first of all economic and population centres. The 1982 modification, however, took them into account rather as centres of administration and power. The new conception names 77 settlements with district rank in the territory of Slovakia. These settlements make up a network according to the medium-level regional division of the country (mezoregional level). Besides, 607 settlements represent the lower, local levels (microregional level). Both the medium- and lower-level centres had their gravitation areas marked out. An interesting approach of the time is that it was not the existing gravitation areas that the development plans of the particular settlements were adjusted to, but the other way round: the centre determined which settlements should play a central role and it defined their gravitation areas. Within these gravitation areas there were further set-82
