Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
6. Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border
Towns along the Hungarian and Slovak border divided into two parts. This is what happened in Komárom-Komárno at the Hungarian and Slovak border. This town was forced to follow two separate development paths after 1920. Following separate development paths meant for North Komárno and South Komárom growing into the category of twin towns. It will turn out in the course of time whether this separate development path will remain unchanged in the future, or the town will follow another path, as local people expect, i.e. that de jure there are two towns, but de facto they are still one (Sikos-Tiner 2007). Similarly, Sátoraljaújhely also belongs to the category of divided towns. Due to the railway juncture belonging to it, the part of the town called Slovenské Nové Mesto was cut off. Balassagyarmat also became a border town because its section on the right bank of the river Ipeľ, which is called Slovenské Ďarmoty today, had been cut off. Esztergom and Štúrovo are examples for twin towns or town pairs. These towns are close to each other, but have separate development paths. They emerged as independent settlements in the past and there are no ambitions to unite them. On the other hand, they can both benefit from the possibilities provided by the border. Miskolc and Košice are examples for towns lying relatively far from each other and developing independently. The issue of the close cooperation of the two cities continuously arises and a common euroregion has also been established, but the two cities tend to be rivals in the competition of towns. Due to its higher population, more important economic weight and the more decisive role it plays as an industrial centre and a traffic junction, Košice has a considerable advantage over Miskolc. Lelkes (2008) has set up categories of southern Slovak towns by their revenues. According to this, the town of Nitra has the most favourable social and economic environment. This town is followed by Dunajská Streda, which has turned out to be a centre in the Vienna- Bratislava-Győr triangle in the past one and a half decades. These two towns are followed by Nové Zámky and Komárno. In an economic sense, these towns were still lagging behind a decade ago. These four towns are followed by two ambitious towns, Šamorín and Štúrovo. However, each of them is only developing in the shadow of the two cities (Bratislava and Esztergom, respectively). The other southern Slovak towns do not show any special characteristic features, they have not found a role suitable for them, and they are still lacking in innovation and the ability to renew. According to their economic performance, they can be divided into two groups. The towns with good economic performance 152
