The Routledge Handbook of Small Towns [1 ed.] 2021006430, 2021006431, 9780367555900, 9780367555917, 9781003094203

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THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF SMALL TOWNS

The Routledge Handbook of Small Towns addresses the theoretical, methodical, and practical issues related to the development of small towns and neighbouring countryside. Small towns play a very important role in spatial structure by performing numerous significant developmental functions for rural areas.At the local scale, they act as engines for economic growth of rural regions and as a link in the system of connections between large urban centres and the countryside.The book addresses the role of small towns in the local development of regions in countries with different levels of development and economic systems, including those in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and Australia. Chapters address the functional structure of small towns, relations between small towns and rural areas, and the challenges of spatial planning in the context of shaping the development of small towns. Students and scholars of urban planning, urban geography, rural geography, political geography, historical geography, and population geography will learn about the role of small towns in the local development of countries representing different economic systems and developmental conditions. Jerzy Bański is Professor of Human Geography and since 2018 Director of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences (IGSO PAS). His main research interests include rural and agricultural geography, land use, regional policy, and spatial organization and local development. Between 2006 and 2012 he was President of the Polish Geographical Society. In 2017 he was appointed Chairman of the Commission of Local and Regional Development under the International Geographical Union. He is an author of 390 publications, including 24 books and more than 190 papers with review processes. He has co-ordinated over 40 research projects and is a member of 35 other national and international undertakings (such as FP6, FP7, Horizon, ESPON).

THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF SMALL TOWNS

Edited by Jerzy Bański

First published 2022 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Jerzy Bański; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Jerzy Bański to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bański, Jerzy, editor. Title:The Routledge handbook of small towns/edited by Jerzy Bański. Description: New York, NY: Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021006430 (print) | LCCN 2021006431 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367555900 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367555917 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003094203 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Small cities. | Regional planning. | City planning. Classification: LCC HT153 .R7354 2021 (print) | LCC HT153 (ebook) | DDC 307.76/2–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021006430 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021006431 ISBN: 9780367555900 (hbk) ISBN: 9780367555917 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003094203 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India Publication prepared under the research projects of the National Science Centre (POLAND), UMO-2019/35/B/HS4/00114, Diagnosis of the contemporary socio-economic structure and functional classification of small towns in Poland - in search of model solutions.

CONTENTS

List of Figures List of Tables Contributors

viii xi xiii

Introduction

1

SECTION 1

Small Towns: Theoretical Background and Research Issues 1 The Functions and Local Linkages of Small Towns:A Review of Selected Classifications and Approaches to Research Jerzy Bański 2 Small Towns in Settlement Systems:A Return to the Foreground? Ewa Korcelli-Olejniczak

5 7 20

3 Small Towns:Theoretical Background and Research Issues – Perspectives from the United States Benjamin Ofori-Amoah

32

4 Small Towns:Theoretical Background and Research Issues. Exploring the Diversity of Small Towns in France Christophe Demazière

52

5 Spanish Small Towns: Evolution, Functional Structure, and Characterisation Carmen Vázquez-Varela and José M. Martínez-Navarro 6 Determining Villages’ Status and Their Economic Functions:The Case of Mongolia Altanbagana Myagmarsuren, Solongo Bayarsaikhan, and Mungunchimeg Batkhuyag v

64

80

Contents SECTION 2

The Role and Signifcance of Small Towns in Socio-Economic Development

93

7 The Small Romanian Towns: From Creative Destruction to Destructive Creation and Back? Ioan Ianoş

95

8 From Informal to Formal:Towards the Sustainable Transformation of Small Towns in Africa Miguel Amado and Francesca Poggi 9 Small, but Resilient:A Case Study of the Town of Utazu, Kagawa, Japan Atsushi Taira 10 The Natural and Migration Movements Versus Population Ageing in Poland’s Small Towns Jerzy Bański,Wioletta Kamińska, and Mirosław Mularczyk 11 Performance of Small Towns in an Economically Lagging Region:A Case Study of the Spiš Region, Slovakia Ladislav Novotný, Marián Kulla, Janetta Nestorová Dická, Loránt Pregi, and Stela Csachová

111 125

138

160

12 Small Towns in the Energy Transition Era: Local Drivers for Climate Change Adaptation? Francesca Poggi,Ana Firmino†, and Miguel Amado

174

13 Contemporary Status of Small Towns in Bulgaria: Functions and Role in the Development of Rural Regions Boian Koulov and Chavdar Mladenov

188

SECTION 3

Small Towns in Rural Space

201

14 Changing Urban–Rural Relations in Israel’s Periphery Michael Sofer, Nir Cohen, Levia Applebaum, Irit Amit-Cohen, Yardena Shaul, and Irit Shmuel

203

15 Urban–Rural Linkages:An Inquiry into Second-Home Tourism in the Nordics Elin Slätmo and Iryna Kristensen

218

16 New Rural–Urban Relationships of Small Towns in North-Western Germany 232 Kim Philip Schumacher and Karl Martin Born 17 Small Regional Centres at the Periphery of Switzerland: Porrentruy and Brig-Glis Walter Leimgruber vi

244

Contents

18 Small Towns in Rural Space:The Case of Czechia Antonín Vaishar and Jana Zapletalová 19 Urban Growth Engines or Relational Proximity? What Can We Learn From Enterprise Population and Business Demography Indicators in the Context of Rural and Small-Town Scotland? Andrew Copus

254

268

20 The Role of Farmers in Small-Town Community Development in an Age of Austerity: Reflections from Australasia Etienne Nel and Teresa Stevenson

283

21 Agri-Food Workers: Transnational Connections in Small Towns and Rural Areas Ruth McAreavey

296

SECTION 4

The Small Towns Planning Challenges

311

22 Inter-Municipal Spatial Planning as a Tool to Prevent Small-Town Competition:The Case of the Emilia-Romagna Region Giancarlo Cotella and Erblin Berisha

313

23 Ukrainian Small Cities in the Perspective of Sustainable Spatial Planning Eugenia Maruniak, Leonid Rudenko, Sergiy Lisovskyi, Olena Dronova, and Artem Mozghovyi

330

24 Small Town Survival in Rural Australia:A New England Case Study Anthony Sorensen

346

25 Technologies of Government and Policy Implementation in Small Towns Economic Development Plans in Mpumalanga, South Africa Sabelo Tshabalala and Ashley Gunter 26 Small Towns in the Planning System:The Experience of the United States Benjamin Ofori-Amoah

361 373

27 Disturbing the Creation of a Spatial System: Outside Intervention and Urbanization in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Eberhard Weber and Camari Koto

386

28 Challenges of Local Planning in Peruvian Small Towns:The Example of Alexander von Humboldt Town in the Amazonian Basin Ana Sabogal Dunin Borkowski

404

Index

415 vii

FIGURES

1.1 5.1 5.2 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 7.1 7.2

7.3

8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4

Classification Scheme of Small Towns Spanish Small-Town System: Evolution Between 1960 and 2019 Location of Spanish Small-Towns by Category Comparison of Old and New Divisions of Administrative and Territorial Units, Mongolia Types of Village Types of Village Types of Village Settlements in Mongolia Granted Village Status Creative Destruction–Destructive Creation Cycle Indicators’ System. Quantitative indicators: X1 – annual dynamics of population; X2 – dynamics of occupied population in industrial activities; X3 – dynamics of occupied population in services; X4 – dynamics of industrial employees. Qualitative indicators: Y1 – appreciation of dominant trends;Y2 – year of appearance and disappearance of the main industrial enterprises; Y3 – dominant structure of the most important SMEs; Y4 – dynamics of foreign investments Small Towns’ Distribution by Phases of the Creative Destruction and Destructive Creation Cycle. A. Perpetual stagnation; B. Destructive creation followed by creative destruction; C. Creative destruction, destructive creation and back to creative destruction; D. Destructive creation followed by progressive stagnation; E. Creative destruction, destructive creation followed by stagnation; F. Stagnation, destructive creation and progressive stagnation; G. Stagnation, creative destruction, followed by regressive stagnation Sub-Areas from A to T Plots on the Cadastral Base Maps Standardization of the Existing Parcels a) Land Use; b) Land Limit Regularisation; c) Cadastre Division viii

16 71 74 82 84 84 85 90 99

100

104 117 118 119 121

Figures

9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 10.1

10.2 10.3 10.4

11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 12.1 12.2 12.3 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 14.1 15.1 15.2 17.1

Kagawa Prefecture and the Town of Utazu Population Changes of the Town of Utazu Population Changes of Kagawa Prefecture Population Migration in the Town of Utazu Model of Demographic Types to be Applied to Small Towns, Accounting for Relations Between the Natural Increase and the Net Migration Balance A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H – Demographic Types; NI – natural increase; NMB – net migration balance; MBI – migration balance indicator (per 1,000 inhabitants); NII – natural increase indicator (per 1,000 inhabitants) Distribution of Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2008–2010 Distribution of Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2015–2017 Distribution of Small Towns According to the Rates of Ageing of Inhabitants in the Years 2008/2010–2015/2017. Provinces: 1. Dolnośląskie, 2. Kujawsko-Pomorskie, 3. Lubelskie, 4. Lubuskie, 5. Łódzkie, 6. Małopolskie, 7. Mazowieckie, 8. Opolskie, 9. Podkarpackie, 10. Podlaskie, 11. Pomorskie, 12. Śląskie, 13. Świętokrzyskie, 14. Warmińsko-Mazurskie, 15.Wielkopolskie, 16. Zachodniopomorskie Slovak Part of the Spiš region and Classification of Municipalities Discrepancies Between Population Size, Present Amenities, and Their Perception Perception of Chosen Features by Category of Small Town The Attitude of Respondents to Selected Characteristics of Small Towns According to Their Categories Trends of the Share of Energy from Renewable Sources and the Incidence of Predominantly Rural Areas Municipality of Arraiolos: Location and Spatial Organization Model Example of Idle Areas in Arraiolos: (a) Inactive Granite Quarry; (b) Abandoned Industrial Facilities Geographic Distribution of Small Towns in Bulgaria by Population Size and Type of Municipality (LAU) in 2018 Geographic Distribution of Small Towns in Bulgaria Among the Predominantly Rural Regions (NUTS 3, Eurostat) in 2018 Locational Discrepancies Between Rural and Urban Regions, Beneficiaries of EU Agricultural and Rural Support Geographic Distribution of Small Towns in Bulgaria by Functional Type in the Rural Regions (Gross Domestic Product per Inhabitant, NUTS 3 regions) in 2018 Location Map of Case Studies The Total Number of Second Homes per Municipality (Size of the Circles) in the Nordic Countries Map Indicating the Location of the Five Case Study Municipalities, One in Each of the Nordic Countries The Ajoie in Northwestern Switzerland ix

129 131 132 132

141 145 148

151 161 166 168 169 177 180 183 190 191 192 198 205 221 224 246

Figures

17.2 19.1 19.2 19.3 21.1 22.1 22.2 22.3 23.1 23.2 23.3 24.1 25.1 26.1 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 28.1 28.2 28.3

Brig-Glis in the Southern Swiss Alps Business Birth Rate per 10,000 Persons of Working Age Business Death Rate per 10,000 Persons of Working Age Rate of “Natural Change” in Businesses per 10,000 Persons of Working Age Ribbon Development along Ayallogue Road (Northern Ireland) Main Spatial Development Trajectories in the Emilia-Romagna Region Unions’ Municipalities in Emilia-Romagna, Listed According to Categories of Integration Share of Land-Use Changes in the Union of Municipalities of Bassa Romagna in the Period 2012 to 2018 Population Change in the Dnipropetrovsk Region, Ukraine, 1989–2019 Population Change in the Kyiv Region, Ukraine, 1989–2019 Population Change in the Ternopil Region, Ukraine, 1989–2019 The Northern Tablelands Region Map of Mpumalanga Province A Schematic Diagram of the United States Planning System Atolls and Coral Islands of the Marshall Islands Central Places in Prehistoric Marshall Islands The People of Bikini, Enewetak, Rongelag, and Utirik Atolls as ‘Nuclear Nomads’ Native Villages and Military Facilities on Kwajalein Atoll Majuro Atoll – Population and Settlements Mentioned in the Text Land Deforested for Agricultural Production Typical Street in the Settlement of Alexander von Humboldt Main Street of the Settlement of Alexander von Humboldt

x

248 279 279 280 300 317 319 325 337 339 342 348 364 378 388 390 394 396 399 408 410 410

TABLES

1.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 5.2 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 7.1 7.2 8.1 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 12.1 13.1 14.1

Selected Examples of Approaches to the Classification of Small Towns State Minimum Requirements for Incorporated Places in the United States The Number of Small Towns (Places with 20,000 People or Less) in United States, 2010–2019 Small Towns in France: Different Definitions and Numbers Spanish Urban System According to Population Size, 1960 to 2019 Spanish Small-Town Characterisation Based on Two Groups of Variables: Demographic and Economic – 2000/2019 Evaluation of Criteria Types of Village Population Size/Average Types of Activity in Different Economic Fields in Villages, 2019 Comparison of Village Types in Different Economic Fields, 2019 Dynamics of Some Characteristics of Small Towns (STs) Number of Towns and Their Share by Each Type Extract of the Management Board Obtained by the Method Adopted – Parcels Limit Adjustments Structure of the Urban Settlement Network in Poland in the Period 2008–2010 and in the Period 2015–2017 Changes in Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2008/2010–2015/2017 Changes of the Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2008/2010–2015/2017 The Numbers and the Shares of Small Towns According to Changes in the Demographic Ageing Indicator Value in the period 2008/ 2010–2015/2017 in Particular Provinces of Poland Solar Municipality: Structuring Strategies (SS) Distribution of the Towns in Bulgaria According to Their Category and Size Frequency of Social Relations with the Adjacent Town Residents According to Social Group (% of total respondents) xi

15 34 40 56 70 73 86 87 87 88 89 102 103 121 143 144 150 153 182 197 210

Tables

14.2 14.3 14.4

15.1 15.2 17.1 17.2 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 22.1 22.2 22.3 23.1 24.1 24.2 24.3 25.1 25.2 26.1 27.1 27.2 28.1 28.2

Location of Consumption of Goods and Services by Rural Residents (% of All Respondents) Attitudes Concerning the Impact of Cooperation Between the Town and the Regional Council (% of total respondents) Attitudes of Residents of Regional Councils Concerning the Level of Impact of Suggested Factors on the Success of Cooperation Between the Town and the Regional Council [sum of responses great impact (2) and very great impact (3)] (% of total respondents) Total Population, and the Number of Second Homes, in Each of the Nordic Countries Cases and Interviews Regarding Second-Home Tourism in the Nordic Countries Porrentruy Commuters Commuters in Brig-Glis (FSO 2019; Grenzgängerstatistik) Population Numbers in Individual Segments of the Settlement Structure in 2011 Age Structure of Population in 2011 (%) Educational Structure of Population in 2011 (%) Employment of Economically Active Population in Individual Economic Sectors in 2011 (%) Small Towns with Highest Numbers of Overnight Stays in 2019 (2018) Business Stock Rate in Urban and Rural Scotland 2015–2020 Percentage Change in the Number of Registered Businesses in Urban and Rural Scotland 2015–2020 Sectoral Profiles of Registered Private Businesses in Scotland, by Urban Rural Category,Average 2015–2020 Indicators of Enterprise Growth and Survival, by Urban Rural Classification of Council Areas Italian Municipalities by Population Soil Consumption in Emilia-Romagna Provinces List of Associated Municipal Structural Plans Adopted per Union of Municipalities in the Emilia-Romagna Region General Matrix of SWOT Analysis Selected 2016 Census Data for Small New England Towns and their Hinterlands Leading Occupations and Industries in Selected Small Towns Drivers of Population Change Breakdown of Distinct Councils and Municipalities in Mpumalanga Budget Allocation from the IDP in Nkomazi The Number of Small Towns (Places with 20,000 people or less) in the United States, 2010–2019 Land Area and Population of Atolls and Coral Islands in the Republic of the Marshall Islands Population of Majuro and Ebeye, 1930–2018 Historical Processes Shaping Development Survey Results: Distribution of Income and Crops xii

210 212

213 220 222 247 250 258 259 259 260 261 274 275 276 278 315 318 320 335 352 356 358 363 369 374 389 396 408 411

CONTRIBUTORS

Miguel Amado is Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning and since 1993 Co-ordinator of Master Course of Architecture of the Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon University and responsible for the GEOTPU.LAB. His main research interests include sustainable development, urban planning, local development, architecture and smart cities. Since 2002 he has worked in Africa on programmes for development with local entities, universities and students. He is the author of 168 publications, including 6 books, 6 chapters and more than 190 papers with review processes. He has co-ordinated over ten research projects and is a member of five other national and international undertakings. Irit Amit-Cohen is Professor (Emeritus) of Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment, at Bar Ilan University, Israel. Until 2020 she was the Head and Director of the MA programme in ‘Preservation, Planning and Development of Cultural Landscape and Cultural Heritage’. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Council of Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel and of ICOMOS Israel (in which she was president in 2012–2020). She is the Chief Editor of the journal Sites Magazine, a scientific journal of cultural heritage sites in Israel. She is the author of 22 books and more than 180 scientific papers in refereed journals/periodical and books. Her main research interests are: planning, conservation and development of cultural landscapes and heritage sites in rural and urban areas; environmental studies; cultural tourism. Levia Applebaum is a researcher of the rural space in Israel. Between 1965 and 1995 she was a senior member of the research staff in the Settlement Study Center in Rehovot, Israel. Since 1995 she has been involved in research and teaching in various institutes, including the Florsheimer Institute for Policy Studies and the Department of Geography and Environment of Bar-Ilan University. She was also a member of several public committees which dealt with issues related to the changes taking place in the rural space of Israel. She has published over 70 books and papers and was a guest editor of several issues of the Israeli journal Horizons of Geography. Jerzy Bański is Professor of Human Geography and since 2018 Director of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences (IGSO PAS). His main research interests include rural and agricultural geography, land use, regional policy, spatial organization and local development. Between 2006 and 2012 he was president of the Polish Geographical Society. In 2017 he was appointed chairman of the Commission of Local and Regional Development under the International Geographical Union. He is the author of 390 publications, including 24 books and more than 190 papers with review processes. He has co-ordinated over 40 research projects xiii

Contributors

and is a member of 35 other national and international undertakings (such as FP6, FP7, Horizon, ESPON). Mungunchimeg Batkhuyag is a researcher in the field of urban–rural geography and sustainable development. She holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Magdeburg, Germany. She currently works as a researcher in the Division of Socio-economic Geography at the Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include regional development, rural geography, sustainable development and public policy. Solongo Bayarsaikhan is a researcher in the field of human geography. She holds a bachelor’s degree in the Science of Geography from the National University of Mongolia. She currently works as a researcher in the Division of Socio-Economic Geography at the Institute of Geography and Geoecology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences. Her research interests include rural development, urban–rural integration, and land use. Erblin Berisha is postdoctoral research fellow at Politecnico di Torino. His research focuses on territorial development and urbanization in the Western Balkan region, and in particular on the role played by the European Union and other international actors in the evolution of the territorial governance and spatial planning therein. Previously he was consulting for private companies and public institutions like the former Albanian Ministry of Urban Development. He took part in a number of international research projects like ESPON COMPASS (2016–2018), ESPON SUPER (2019–2020) and the post-2020 ADRION Programme’s territorial analysis. Ana Sabogal Dunin Borkowski is an engineer agronomist, academic and Peruvian scholar/ environmentalist. Her current research includes the human impact of the agriculture and ecology of the tropical forest, plant distribution and the influence of the human impact of plant distribution and society, and the study of vegetation and grazing in the fog-forest ecosystems in south Peru. Her previous research and publications include ecology of Moorland ecosystems, study of vegetation, grazing in the forests of northern Peru with emphasis on the distribution of Ipomoea carnea Jacq. and management of dry forests in the northern coast of Peru. Sabogal is the Director of Master Studies in Environment Development at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and was the Director of Research and Information to the Peruvian Ministry of Environment (2012–2013).Ana Sabogal’s academic interests include the impact of environmental changes in vegetation and the study of the human impact on the ecosystem. Karl Martin Born is Associate Professor of Human Geography at the University of Vechta (Germany) and the Institute for Structural Research and Planning in Areas of intensive Agriculture (ISPA). His main research foci are the transformation of rural areas and governance-related processes at regional and local levels. He is Chairman of the Research Group ‘Village Development’ within the German Society of Geography and President of the ‘Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape’ (PECSRL). His extensive publication activities combine analytical research on rural areas with the discussion of future developments; having a background in Historical and Political Geography he stresses the necessity to take path dependencies and political frameworks into consideration. Nir Cohen is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Environment at Bar Ilan University. His research interests include relations between states and diasporas, the politics of migration and citizenship, and urban geographies in Israel. His work on policies towards skilled migrants, stratified citizenship and socio-spatial relations in Israeli have appeared in such journals as IJURR, Cities, Population, Space and Place, Environment and Planning D, Social and Cultural Geography and Geoforum. In spring 2018 he was Visiting Fellow of Jewish Migration at The Parkes Institute

xiv

Contributors

for Jewish/Non-Jewish Relations at the University of Southampton, UK. In 2019 he was Visiting Professor for Urban Studies at TU Vienna,Austria. Andrew Copus joined the Karelian Institute at the University of Eastern Finland as a senior researcher at the beginning of 2020. He is a Human Geographer by training, and his research interests lie in rural demography, development and policy.Although his 30-year research career in rural development has been based in the universities of Aberdeen and the Highlands and Islands, t?gether with the James Hutton Institute, and Scotland’s Rural College, he was also seconded for more than ten years to Nordregio in Stockholm. Andrew has participated in a number of European research projects (Horizon, ESPON, consultancy for the Commission), and as co-ordinator of several. He is a member of the Scottish Government’s Expert Advisory Group on Population and Migration. Giancarlo Cotella is Associate Professor of Spatial Planning at Politecnico di Torino, where he focuses his research on the comparative analysis of spatial governance and planning systems in Europe and beyond, with particular reference to the impact of EU policies on domestic contexts. His work focused extensively on the potentials for transferability of good practices and policy recommendations within the European space in relation to the comparison of the different contexts as well as their mutual learning and exchange of knowledge. He has co-ordinated numerous international research projects (ESPON, FP7, Horizon2020), and the results of his research are widely published in the international scientific literature. Stela Csachová is an assistant professor in the Institute of Geography at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, Faculty of Science. She tutors geography teacher training courses and focuses on geographical education with the use of geospatial technologies. She reflects on teaching human geographical concepts at school curriculum. She guarantees a programme of professional development of in-service geography teachers in the national project IT Academy – Education for the 21st Century. She is a member of the Slovak Commission of the Geographical Olympiad. She has published numerous research papers and has participated in several national and international projects. Christophe Demazière is Professor in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Tours, France and co-ordinator of the International Master in Planning and Sustainability. He has chaired the French-speaking Association of Planning Schools and Research (APERAU) (2012–2017). He has researched extensively on urban and regional development issues in France and in Europe, including on small and medium-sized towns, strategic spatial planning and metropolitan governance. He is the author or editor of ten books, including The Right to the City: Dialogues in Urban Planning (edited with Chris Silver and Robert Freestone) published by Routledge in 2018, and La Gouvernance des Métropoles (edited with Xavier Desjardins and Olivier Sykes), published by PUCA in 2020. Olena Dronova is Associate Professor of Economic and Social Geography Department of Geographical Faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine). Simultaneously, she works as a Researcher of the Department of Sustainable Development and Environmental Assessment in the Institute of Geography of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine on a part-time basis. Her main research interests include sustainable development, environmental management, urban geography, new urbanism approaches and constructing the people-friendly city. She is a member of the editorial board of the international journal Environmental Hazards: Human and Policy Dimensions and a member of the Geographical Society of Ukraine. She is author and co-author of 70 publications, including 13 monographs and 3 handbooks. Ana Firmino (1954–2020), was Full Professor and PhD co-ordinator at the Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Universidade xv

Contributors

Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. She was Co-Chair of the Commission on the Sustainability of Rural Systems of the International Geographical Union (2012–2016) and co-founder of the Portuguese Association of Landscape Ecology (APEP) and Portuguese Federation of Social Agriculture (FED-PAS). Her main research topics dealt with rural areas’ sustainable development, anchored in organic farming’s contribution. Other interests were urban and social agriculture and more recently, proximity economy and alternative production and distribution systems. She has also worked as Invited Professor in different European and Brazilian Universities. Recent participations in projects:“RUFUS, Rural Future Networks”, financed by the European Union; “Territory, Rural Development and Good Practices in Areas Threatened by Desertification in Brazil, Portugal and Green Cape”, financed by CnPQ Brasil; EU Project Searusyn,“Prospects of Organic Farming in Peri-Urban Areas of Hanoi and Nanjing”,Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI),The Hague, Holland. Ashley Gunter is a Professor in Geography at the University of South Africa. He is the Editorin-Chief (human geography) of the South African Geographical Journal. He has conducted numerous international research collaborations with funding from the ESRC, Newton Foundation, NRF and currently an AHRC (UK) grant on decolonisation. His research interests lie in local economic development and infrastructure and development. Ioan Ianoş is Emeritus Professor of Human Geography and the founder of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics belonging to the University of Bucharest. He is the President of the Professional Association of Romanian Geographers since 2009 and between 2005 and 2018 was a member of the Romanian Urban Planning Register (RUR). His main research topics include urban and rural geography, economic geography and regional development, theoretical geography and higher education analysis. He founded, together with professor Ronan Paddison, the Journal of Urban and Regional Analysis. Author of more than 250 publications, he has participated as leader or member of research teams in over 80 research national and international projects. Wioletta Kamińska is Professor of Social Sciences and since 2019 a Director of the Institute of Geography and Environmental Sciences of Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce. Her main research interests include rural geography, local development and geography of tourism. In 2012– 2020 she was a vice-president of the Polish Geographical Society. She is also a member of the Committee for Geographical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a chairwoman of the rural team of the Committee for Spatial Economy and Regional Planning at Polish Academy of Sciences. She is the author of 200 publications. Ewa Korcelli-Olejniczak holds a PhD in Human Geography. Since her Habilitation in 2013, she has worked as Associate Professor at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization. She also conducts courses for students at the Pedagogical Department of the University of Warsaw. In her research she represents an interdisciplinary approach which encompasses a wide range of urban and regional studies. Her interests in regional studies focus on developing an integrated concept of the contemporary metropolitan region, while in her ‘urban’ research she conducts comparative studies, where the emphasis is on the participatory model in urban governance, strategic planning and social interaction in urban subareas. Recently, she also took up functional studies of small towns, focused on the search for their territorial capital and development potential. Ewa Korcelli-Olejniczak is author or co-author of six books, numerous papers and book chapters. She has participated in many international research projects, and in the period 2013-2017 was local co-ordinator of the seventh EU FP Project DIVERCITIES. Camari Koto is an academic at the University of the South Pacific with more than 15 years of tertiary level teaching and research experience at the University of the South Pacific (USP) xvi

Contributors

and the College of the Marshall Islands (2019–2020). Since January 2021 she has been back at USP. Her research interests lie in the field of the Pacific Islands’ socio-economic development, community livelihood practices, institutional roles and environmental management. On urban issues she has worked on urban poverty in Fiji and the Revitalizing Informal Settlements and their Environment (RISE) project in Fiji lead by Monash University, Australia. In her PhD she investigates people’s agencies and communities’ livelihood practices from the perspective of social vulnerabilities. Boian Koulov is Professor at the National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy, and Geography at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He has spent a sabbatical at Harvard University (2009), and is Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar (2005). Between 1990 and 2007, Koulov taught at a number of US universities and the US Foreign Service Institute in Washington, DC. He is former Chair of the Board of Directors of the European Specialty Group at Association of American Geographers. Koulov has lead research projects, sponsored by the European Commission,The EU Horizon 2020, ESPON, US National Science Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the US National Research Council.The journals Political Geography and Tijdschrift voor Economische/Sociale Geografie, as well as Springer, Oxford University Press and John Wiley have published his research. Iryna Kristensen holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Salzburg (Austria). She has previous experience as a senior research fellow at the International Research Institute for Regional Development and Planning (Nordregio) under the Nordic Council of Ministers in Stockholm, specializing in local and regional economic development and innovation with national and international experience in this field. She has been continuously involved in a number of European and Nordic research projects such as Horizon2020, ESPON, Nordic cooperation programmes etc. Between 2018 and 2020 she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. Her current research focuses on questions related to regional economic development policy, innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability. Marián Kulla is an assistant professor and deputy for education in the Institute of Geography at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, Faculty of Science. He is also a member of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Science, a member of the Slovak Geographical Society, a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the scientific journal Acta Geoturistica. His research is focused on issues of geography of tourism and geography of industry, as well as renewable energy sources and transformation of urban and rural areas. He is the author of over 80 publications, and has participated in several national and international scientific projects. Walter Leimgruber is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. His chief interests are issues of marginality and marginal regions (particularly mountain regions), boundaries and transborder relations, and humans–nature interrelations. In 1987–1989 he was president of the Swiss Geographical Society and its successor, the Association of Swiss Geographers, and between 1989 and 1992 presided over the Swiss National IGU Committee. Between 2000 and 2004 he served as chair of the IGU Commission on Evolving Issues of Geographical Marginality in the Early 21st Century World. He is Secretary of the IGU Commission on Globalization, Marginalization and Regional and Local Response since 2005. He is also co-editor of the Springer book series ‘Perspectives on Geographical Marginalization’. Sergiy Lisovskyi is Doctor of Human Geography and is Deputy Director of the Institute of Geography, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IG NASU) since 2012. His main research interests include sustainable development, landscape planning, and strategic environmental assessment, regional and local development. He is the Vice President of the Ukraine Geographical xvii

Contributors

Society since 2016. He is the author and co-author of 260 publications, including 24 books and more than 120 papers. He has been a research supervisor for nine research projects and a participant in 25 other national and international projects. In 2014–2015 he was a UNDP expert on the project Integrating Rio Conventions Provisions into Ukraine’s National Policy Framework. José M. Martínez-Navarro is, since 2019, Assistant Professor of Human Geography at the Madrid Autonomous University. Previously he was a part-time teaching assistant at the University of Castilla-La Mancha for seven years. His research work has two clearly differentiated interest topics: one focused on the social science perspective of rural wildfires, and another on issues of land-use planning and urban planning, regional policy and local development. He is the author of 38 academic publications, including 1 book and 25 book chapters, and 12 articles in peer reviewed journals. He has co-ordinated 2 regional projects and been a member of 11 other national research projects. Eugenia Maruniak is Doctor of Science in Human Geography and since 2019 Director of the Institute of Geography, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IG NASU). The scope of her research interests includes spatial planning, sustainable development and regional policy, environmental impact assessment, globalization and international integration processes, geopolitics and geography of governance. She is the author and co-author of more than 190 publications, including 14 monographs. She has co-ordinated and developed more than 20 research projects as well as providing expertise for UNDP and FAO programmes. She is Honorary Professor of the International Association for Sustainable Development and a member of national and international editorial boards. Ruth McAreavey is a reader in Sociology at Newcastle University. Her research is focused on migration to rural and regional places and she is also interested in wider issues relating to sustainable rural development and regeneration, research ethics and inequalities. She is an active member of the European Society for Rural Sociology and is currently co-editor of Sociologia Ruralis. Chavdar Mladenov is Professor of Geography of Population. His main research interests include geodemography, depopulation, ageing, migration, urban–rural geography, spatial organization and local development. He is the author of 180 publications, including books and papers with review processes. He has co-ordinated over 15 applied research projects. Artem Mozghovyi is Doctor of Geographical Sciences and Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Geography, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IG NASU) as well as Professor of Geography, Department of Faculty of Natural and Geographical Education and Ecology at National Pedagogical Dragomanov University. His main research interests include urban geography, sustainable urban development and urban conflicts. He is the author and co-author of 120 publications, including 6 books and more than 100 papers. He has been co-performer in more than ten international and national research projects. He is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Geographical Journal. Mirosław Mularczyk is Doctor of Science in Earth Sciences in the scope of Geography. He works in Jan Kochanowski University of Kielce in the Institute of Geography and Environmental Sciences. Since 2017 he has been a deputy director in charge of education. His scientific activity is related to settlement geography, geography of tourism and geography didactics. He has published over 100 scientific papers. Altanbagana Myagmarsuren is Associate Professor and since 2017, the Head of the Division of Socio-economic Geography at the Institute of Geography and Geoecology (IGG), Mongolian Academy of Sciences. His research interests include regional development, rural–urban geograxviii

Contributors

phy, sustainable development, climate change, environmental policy and spatial system analysis. He has co-ordinated over 35 research projects, and published more than 60 publications, including 11 books, 3 book chapters, 32 conference papers and more than 10 journal articles with peer review processes. He is member of seven other national and international organizations (Member of Future Earth Mongolian Committee, Founder of Regional Economic Integration Research Institute (PEIRI), Founder of Research Center for Regional Development policy, NGO). Etienne Nel is a professor and the Head of the School of Geography at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. His research interests lie in the areas of regional and local development, small towns and development studies.To date he has published 12 books and 178 research articles and book chapters. From 2004 to 2012 he chaired the IGU’s Commission on Marginalization, Globalization and Regional and Local Response. From 2016 to 2019 he chaired the ISSC’s Steering Committee on Comparative Research on Poverty. Janetta Nestorová Dická is an assistant professor in the Institute of Geography of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, in the Faculty of Science. She works at the Department of Human and Regional Geography. Her main research focus includes urban and rural geography, redistribution of populations, demographic behaviour of populations, population projections and their impacts on various spheres of society. She evaluates her research analyses through advanced statistical methods. She is the author of 54 publications including 7 in journals indexed by WoS and Scopus and two CC. She has participated in seven national and four international scientific projects (Interreg,Visegrad Fund, NKFIH). Ladislav Novotný is an assistant professor and secretary in the Institute of Geography at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, Faculty of Science. He has been head of the Department of Human and Regional geography there since 2018. He is also a member of the Academic Senate of the Faculty of Science, a member of the Slovak Geographical Society and since 2018 also a member of its executive committee. His research focus includes migration of populations and urban development with an emphasis on its differentiated impact on metropolitan and peripheral or rural areas. He is the author of over 50 publications, and has led or participated in several national and international projects. Benjamin Ofori-Amoah is Professor of Geography and since 2006 the Chair of the Department of Geography, Environment,Tourism at Western Michigan University, USA. Ben is an economic geographer and urban and regional planner with expertise in economic development, urban and regional planning, and geographic information systems (GIS), and research interests in American small cities and African development. He has authored many publications in these fields of expertise including his latest book, Africa’s Geography. He has participated in a number of international collaborations including Social Science Research Council on International Collaborations, the Global Dialog on Emerging Science and Technologies of the US State Department, and capacity-building in Uganda with the Rockefeller Foundation. Ben has led many workshops in faculty development in Ghana, Uganda and the United States. He is a member of the American Association of Geographers and the American Planning Association. Francesca Poggi is a senior researcher at the Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences (CICS. NOVA) of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and an integrated member at the GEOTPU.LAB. Since 2014, she has been a guest lecturer at several universities, teaching in the fields of Geography and Spatial Planning, Bioclimatic Urban Design and Sustainable Construction. Her main research interests revolve around the adaptation of cities, rural areas and landscapes to sustainable energy transition, exploring self-reliant model at different scales. Since 2018, she has been a member of the Portuguese Association of Landscape Ecology (APEP). She is the author of 38 publications, xix

Contributors

including a book on the subject of the energy efficient city and several papers in indexed journals and conference proceedings at the international and national level. Loránt Pregi is a PhD student in the Institute of Geography at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Slovakia, Faculty of Science. His research focuses mainly on the process of spatial redistribution of the population with special regard to selective migration of population by education, age and ethnicity. He has also examined the transformation of the economy and population of selected categories of settlements. He is the author of 19 publications and has led or participated in two domestic scientific projects and a foreign scientific project (INTERREG). Leonid Rudenko is Academician in Geography of National Academy of Science of Ukraine (NASU). He held the position of Director at the Institute of Geography of NASU for 28 years (from 1991 to 2019). Currently he is the Director Emeritus and the Head of the Department of Cartography at the Institute. His main research interests include geographical cartography and spatial planning, regional nature management, environmental assessment, and sustainable development. He is a head of the Ukraine National Geographical Committee and a member of Ukraine the Geographical Society as well as the United Scientific Council on Fundamental Geographical Problems at the International Association of Academies of Sciences. He is the author and co-author of more than 600 publications, including 30 books. He has coordinated over 50 research projects and participated in many governmental research programmes. Kim Philip Schumacher is an economic and social geographer and works as senior researcher and project manager at the Institute of Geography of Osnabrueck University, Germany. Additionally, he is Honorary Associate Professor at University of Vechta, where he was Assistant Professor for Gender and Rural Studies from 2010 to 2018. He obtained a PhD from University of Freiburg (Germany) in 2006, researching long-term landscape change. His research and publication activities focus on the sustainable regional development of rural areas in the global north and global south, especially processes of globalization and the sustainability transition of the agro-food, as well as the energy, systems in rural areas and, more recently, the logistics industry. Yardena Shaul is a Doctor of Geography and Environmental Studies. Her professional philosophy combines research work and teaching with practical work in the field. She is a senior lecturer at the Western Galilee Academic College, Multidisciplinary Department and a lecturer at the University of Haifa, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies. Her areas of interest and specialization include: rural and agricultural geography, land use, national planning policy, centre and periphery, open-spaces management, sustainability and sustainable cities, and consumer culture. She attends scientific conferences and writes research articles and reports on these topics. Over the years she has carried out projects for government ministries such us the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Housing and Construction, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. Irit Shmuel is the Head of Tourism Studies at the Department of Service Organizations Management at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem. She is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Environment at Bar-Ilan University. Her main research interests relate to the geography of tourism. Elin Slätmo has a PhD in Human Geography and since 2017 a senior research fellow at Nordregio, an international research centre for regional development and planning, established by the Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM). In 2010–2015 she worked at the Unit of Human Geography, Department of Economy and Society, University of Gothenburg. She did her postdoc in 2015– 2017 at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala. Specialized in rural and agricultural geography, sustainable development, and

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Contributors

governance of land, she now works within Nordic and European projects (such as NCM, ESPON, H2020). Her goal is to develop knowledge that challenge norms and guides policy-makers. Michael Sofer is Professor Emeritus In the Department of Geography and Environment, Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He is an economic geographer with specialization in issues concerning the rural space and local and regional development. He is the chairman of the Israeli National Committee to the International Geographical Union and past president of The Israeli Geographical Association. His current research interests are focused on processes of restructuring of the rural space; entrepreneurship in the rural space; land-use changes in rural settlements; processes of change in Arab settlements in Israel; rural–urban relationships; and economic and agrarian transformation in the Fijian village. All these topics are focused around issues of development at the local, regional and national levels. His experience evolved in work in Israel, Fiji,Tanzania and Romania. Anthony Sorensen is an adjunct professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of New England (UNE). UNE is located in the remote small city of Armidale in northern New South Wales,Australia.An ardent futurist, he is also a fellow of both the Institute of Australian Geographers and the Regional Australia Institute, and past president of the Australia and New Zealand Regional Science Association.Tony’s research, reported in over 120 publications, also largely focuses on driving Australia’s future rural development in the 4th Industrial Revolution. He is also on the steering committee of IGU’s Commission on Local and Regional Development, and has been advisor to all tiers of government within Australia. He is also a local community activist, promoting Armidale’s future development by working with various local organizations. Teresa Stevenson is a qualified planner who lives and works in Dunedin, New Zealand. She has particular interests in community development and small-town development. She works as an independent researcher and has published one book and six academic papers. Atsushi Taira is Professor of Human Geography at Kagawa University, Japan, and a steering committee member of the Commission of Local and Regional Development of the International Geographical Union. His main research focuses on the transformation of local industrial clusters and glocal strategies of small and medium-sized firms located outside the major metropolitan areas. He has over 100 publications, including 17 books and over 60 papers, including those published in international academic journals such as Geographical Journal and Geographical Review of Japan. Sabelo Tshabalala is a lecturer and PhD candidate in Geography at the University of South Africa. His research interests are in spatial development and township planning in South Africa. Antonín Vaishar, Associate Professor, graduated from Comenius University in Bratislava in the field of economic and regional geography. He worked at the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, where he defended his doctoral dissertation in the field of geography. Since 2007 he has been working at Mendel University in Brno where he was Habilitated in the field of applied and landscape ecology. He guarantees a master’s degree programme in rural development. He is the executive editor of European Countryside journal. He has 46 publications on the Web of Science Core Collection, which have been cited 132 times. Carmen Vázquez-Varela has since 2003 been Associate Professor (civil servant) of Regional Geography in the Department of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. She started her academic career working on urban social geography topics dealing with urban social segregation. Over time, her publications and research interest broadened to include issues related to transport infrastructures and spatial planning, and the different dimensions related to regional development processes and social capital. Since 2016 she has been a member of the Steering Committee of the Commission of Local and Regional Development under the International Geographical Union. She is the author of more than 80 academic publications, including 6 books and 43 book chapters besides the aforementioned articles in peer-reviewed xxi

Contributors

journals. She has co-ordinated two national research projects and she has been a member of the research team of 21 national and international research projects (European Framework Program FP4, FP5). Eberhard Weber is Associate Professor at the University of the South Pacific. He has worked for the past 35 years on issues around food and livelihood security, rural and urban development, migration, resources management and development in South and South East Asia as well as the Pacific Islands region. Dr Weber has a PhD in Development Geography from the University of Freiburg, Germany. He has taught Development Geography in Germany (University of Freiburg, the South Asia Institute of the University of Heidelberg) as well as in India (Madras University) and Thailand (Chulalongkorn University). Since 2000 Dr. Weber has taught Development Geography and social aspects of environmental and climate change at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. Jana Zapletalová is a geographer working in the Department of the Environment of the Institute of Geonics of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She deals with, among other things, the geography of tourism and the geography of transport. She is a member of the editorial board of the international scientific journal Moravian Geographical Reports.

xxii

INTRODUCTION

In each country, small towns form a key component in the settlement structure; and where policy on territorial development is concerned. They represent a specific kind of link in the system of linkages pertaining between large urban centres and rural areas. And, as motors of local development and centres of public and cultural life, they perform a number of important social and economic functions. It is for the above reasons – among others – that a recognition of the functional structure, diversity of socioeconomic roles and developmental stages of small towns represents a matter of interest to researchers from both the cognitive and applied points of view. Operating in favour of them is the new paradigm of regional policy that has been taking shape for a long time now, and which sees more attention than hitherto paid to local specifics, including endogenous potential, local competitive advantage, decentralised decision-making and so on. That said, a certain difficulty is posed by the very issue of how to define the small town. It is typical for the inclusion of a settlement unit within this category to involve reference being made to a defined number of inhabitants. Account is then taken of characteristics of the national system of towns and cities, including the number and size of large urban centres, the distribution of towns with defined administrative functions, distances separating such centres, the size of rural settlements, and so on. It is for these reasons also that the upper size-limits adopted for small towns differ (usually across the 5,000–25,000-inhabitant range). However, there are certain countries in which town or even city status further complicates the situation. In Poland, for example, town rights are conferred upon localities in a manner not directly dependent on their numbers of inhabitants.This explains why the country’s smallest town (Opatowiec) has just 338 inhabitants, while its largest village has no fewer than 12,747. For its part, Mongolia has just 29 towns, of which 18 have fewer than 25,000 inhabitants. This means that the functions of small towns are there served by larger urban centres first and foremost – and there are relatively few of these also. Small towns have become a key topic for scientific study thanks to an increase in their level of functional diversity, as well as economic diversification in their immediate vicinities.This situation has found its reflection in a broad and multi-stranded literature, with relevant work from the fields of geography and spatial management as broadly conceived, now made up of numerous papers, often on extremely narrow, detailed and specific issues; as well as whole books offering a synthetic treatment of knowledge on small towns.What are, however, lacking are studies encompassing the whole subject matter of small towns, in which their significance in the spatial structures of differ-

1

Introduction

ent regions and countries of the world would be in some way documented. It is my hope that the handbook proposed here will fill that gap, with a holistic look at small towns now finally taken. The book in question is a collection of 28 studies prepared by authors from no fewer than 24 countries located on all of the inhabited continents (presented in order of the chapters, the countries involved are Poland, the USA, France, Spain, Mongolia, Portugal, Japan, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Sweden, Germany, Sweden, Czechia, the UK, New Zealand, Italy, Ukraine, Australia, South Africa, Fiji, The Marshall Islands and Peru). The list of authors is made up of geographers first and foremost, but there are also planners, sociologists, economists and representatives of other related fields. This ensures that the subject matter of the book is diverse, and presents the research approaches to small towns taken at many different academic centres worldwide. The work of these authors relates to the significance and functions of small towns when it comes to the local development of areas representing a range of socioeconomic categories located in countries on different levels of development and with various economic systems.There is here discussion on research theories and methodologies, on the functional structures of small towns and their roles in the urban system, on relations between small centres and rural areas, and on the challenges faced by spatial planning when it comes to the shaping of small-town development. In this way a reader is able to recognise the subject matter present contemporarily in relevant studies (ranging from social and demographic analyses through to planned spatial development), as well as many of its specifics. The book is divided into four parts that relate to key strands of the research in question on small towns, which is to say, theories and methodologies, significance in socioeconomic development, relationships with surroundings, and challenges present in spatial planning. The first part entitled ‘Small Towns – Theoretical Background and Research Issues’ is a set of studies in which authors address issues linked with both the theory and methodology of the study of small towns. Content inter alia embraces the connotations of the small town, roles in the spatial and settlement structure, the diversity of methodological approaches to functional structure, and current research topics present in the different countries represented.That said, there are certain works here that are their own kinds of case study, given that they offer a research approach deployed in several different countries whose settlement systems and levels of socioeconomic development differ. The handbook’s second part – on ‘The Role and Significance of Small Towns in SocioEconomic Development’ – operates as a review of the subject matter, focusing in on the functions and roles small towns play in the socioeconomic development context, and on a variety of different spatial scales from the local, via the regional, to the national.The authors of the studies here give their attention to the statuses of housing estates in small towns, to demographic processes and the consequences and challenges arising out of them, and to the social and economic roles small towns are able to play in regional differentiation – with particular attention paid to regions categorised as peripheral. The third part – on ‘Small Towns in Rural Space’ – has a title that leaves no room for doubt as to its subject, with the basic aim being the assessment and identification of relationships pertaining between small towns and the rural areas surrounding them. Studies here present the results of work on urban–rural relations in peripheral areas, urban–rural linkage in the context of weekend recreation, and the economic functions small towns perform vis-à-vis the rural areas surrounding them – with particular account taken of functions relating to the food sector. The fourth and final part relates to ‘The Small Town Planning Challenges’ and it is devoted to the significance of small urban centres within the national and regional planning systems. Exemplified by several countries in different parts of the world, what are on offer here are experiences as regards spatial planning targeted at small towns.

2

Introduction

It is my sincere hope that such diverse subject matter taken up in the handbook will prove of interest to a broad group of academics whose work relates to small towns.The book may also constitute a source of knowledge for students participating in urban-geography seminars, or else those relating to spatial and urban planning. For their part, practitioners dealing with small urban centres on a daily basis may find examples of the challenges posed to development, as well as interesting planning solutions arrived at in various different parts of the world. Jerzy Bański

3

SECTION 1

Small Towns Theoretical Background and Research Issues

1 THE FUNCTIONS AND LOCAL LINKAGES OF SMALL TOWNS A Review of Selected Classifcations and Approaches to Research Jerzy Bański

Introduction Contemporary principles underpinning the shaping of development policy on different spatial scales (local, regional, national or international) demand synthetic concepts by which regions, units of administration, rural areas, towns and cities can be classified, so that they may be better programmed to act effectively. The kind of classification involved ought to embrace the specifics of defined structures and other spatial elements, so as to provide for their development, and allow full advantage to be taken of resources possessed and competitive advantages enjoyed. Development policy’s differentiation from one category of area to another should denote support for concrete conditioning of socioeconomic development, the shaping of policy relevant to that, and consideration being given to interventions in line with particular needs. Classification-related concepts relate to towns of small size, as well as other kinds. Small towns have specific social, economic and cultural features that distinguish them from medium-sized and large urban centres on the one hand, and rural areas on the other. They are a significant component in the settlement structures of regions that determine their polycentricity or monocentricity. Equally, their relationships with their rural surroundings set local development in terms of both direction and level (Hinderink and Titus 1988). Small towns are specific kinds of centres of economic development in rural areas (Shucksmith et al. 2005), hence the focusing of relevant research on relationships with the countryside, as well as the role played in servicing the rural populace (Dej et al. 2014; Edwards et al. 2003; Heffner and Halama 2012; Powe 2013;Van Leeuwen 2010). Small centres are core localities for the supply of local firms and farms with goods and services, as well as the first places offering a market for the produce and products the former generate (Courtney et al. 2008;Tacoli 1998). Further emphasis is put on small towns being nodes of transmission where regional policy is concerned, as well as optimal places in which to locate core community services for those living in the countryside (Satterthwaite and Tacoli 2003). Moreover, they represent key links in the urban system when it comes to the overall linkage between large urban centres and rural areas, though it must be said that there are certain researchers who see small towns as increasingly sidestepped or leapfrogged where the operation of these relationships is concerned (Czarnecki 2012; Hindering and Titus 2002). Equally, the roles referred to above sug-

7

Jerzy Bański

gest that small centres may continue to be elements indispensable to the development policies each region and each country chooses to pursue. At present, it is possible to observe a rise in the level of functional diversity characterising small towns, i.e. as a result of the ongoing economic diversification of rural areas (Courtney et al. 2007). In part, this also reflects small centres taking on certain urban functions that had previously been the preserve of large cities, or at least urban centres of medium size.As an example, J.Wright (2000) noted how small-town USA present in close proximity to large metropolises had ceased to function solely in a dormitory role, instead coming to comprise fully fledged centres in a position to meet the basic needs of their inhabitants. However, a different view was expressed by K. Heffner (2016) in relation to urban areas in Poland, whose industrialisation, development of services, metropolitanisation and ongoing globalisation all ensure that many of the functions hitherto typical of small towns are being taken on by large centres, as well as the economic structures located on their margins. This kind of view in fact gained further confirmation with the economic situation of small towns in Scotland – as presented in one of that country’s planning documents from the late 20th century (Planning ... 1997).Through a concentration of jobs and services in or around larger urban spaces, the small towns there are becoming “less independent” – i.e. more dependent on large cities. This necessitates the planning of development, with priority or specific functions of centres needing to be reinforced. Development programmes attach particular importance to the quality of the urban landscape, the renewal and revitalisation of centres, and improved transport infrastructure. A reconnaissance of the tasks small towns discharge on a local or regional scale typically entails analysis of dominant economic sectors, or – more broadly – the role different socioeconomic spheres play in the given centre and its immediate surroundings. It is to this kind of subject matter that the work described here has been devoted, with the basic aim being to discuss and assess different classifications and research approaches to small towns that take their social and economic functions into account, as well as relations with surrounding areas. However, the very concept of the small town poses certain problems, not least because definitions generally simplify down to the criterion of population size. Account may also at times be taken of the wider settlement system nationally, with consideration therefore given to the sizes and numbers of the largest urban centres, as well as those of lower order: the distances separating localities, density of population, forms of land use and various other criteria of an economic nature. Another problem relates to the criteria distinguishing a town from a rural area that are seen to vary greatly from one country to another (Servillo et al. 2017; SMESTO 2006).A review of these kinds of criteria in no fewer than 38 countries confirms application of at least two that help play a distinguishing role. Needless to say, the criterion utilised most frequently (in 27 of the countries) is population size within the settlement unit – albeit in combination with various other criteria (Hopkins and Copus 2018). Depending on the country, the size criterion differs and is generally in the range 5,000 to 25,000 inhabitants. In the EU (Dijkstra and Poelman 2012, 2014), as in Germany, a small town has fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, while in France, the Czech Republic and Poland the threshold is below 20,000 (Kwiatek-Sołtys and Mainet 2014; Vaishar and Zapletalova 2009). In the UK, the range of sizes is 7,500 to 25,000 inhabitants (Baker 2018). In line with the typology of urban areas espoused by the ESPON TOWN Project, a small town has some 5,000 to 25,000 inhabitants (Servillo et al. 2017;TOWN 2014).1 In turn, in the USA as of 2009, the small towns that had 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants were home to around 40 million people (Bell and Jayne 2009).

Functional Classifcations of Small Towns Classifications and typologies of small towns are a popular subject for research and debate among geographers, planners and sociologists. In most cases, they take either direct or indirect account of 8

Functions and Local Linkages of Small Towns

the functions (roles) that given urban centres play in local and regional space. Economic, social and cultural functions may also be key criteria – or among the criteria – used to define urban centres. According to one of the proposed definitions in the TOWN Epson Project report (2014, p. iii), a town or urban centre is: an urban settlement or urban municipality containing a concentration of jobs, services and other functions that serve other settlements in its hinterland, acting as the core of an urban (functional) region, which is a larger area that contains the urban centre and its hinterland, forming together a socio-spatial system integrated by functional inter-relations. In turn, in the UK, the devised classification of urban and rural areas is such that each cluster (cell) of 1 ha is assigned a defined economic character (as “no businesses”, “farm businesses”, “tourist businesses” or “other businesses”), as one element in a multi-criterion classification allowing inter alia for the separating-out of small towns (Bibby and Shepherd 2004). Functional classifications of towns and cities most often draw distinctions between different types of social, cultural and economic functions that given centres discharge, with these assigned to one or other class or functional type on this basis. An example of this kind of approach is the ESPON classification of Functional Urban Areas, which distinguishes five functional categories allowing groups of towns to be differentiated (Study … 2007). Included here are: (1) the functions of centres playing administrative roles at local, regional or natural level, (2) the decision functions typifying centres that are the seats of boards of enterprises, (3) the transport functions speaking of a town’s capacity to generate transport linkages with other centres, (4) the knowledge functions associated with institutions in higher education and key research centres, as well as (5) the tourism functions reflecting not only tourism as such but also cultural activity. However, this proposed structure, clearly referring to large urbanised areas, remains incomplete, on account of its only considering functions arising out of non-production-related activity (the services sector). In contrast, in a large group of small towns, a major role is indeed played by productive activity related to agriculture or located in different branches of industry and construction. Moreover, in small centres, the administrative functions proposed under this classification correlate closely with decision-making functions, and so should rather constitute a single functional category. H. Elsasser (1998) proposed a structural approach to small urban centres, taking in a broad spectrum of socioeconomic activity.That author distinguished four different key functions of small towns, i.e. (1) in supply and resupply, (2) residential, (3) labour-market-related and (4) cultural; albeit with the first of these also needing to be seen as a resource allowing roles in production and services to be served. In turn, under Ireland’s National Development Plan, the role foreseen for the town is in terms of activities provided, or services rendered, by the urban centre, in regard to its own inhabitants and people residing in the immediate vicinity (DELG 2000). This kind of approach allowed seven functions of towns to be identified, in: financial services, retail services, business services, social and administrative services, educational services, tourism and leisure services, and agricultural services. In the middle of the last century (i.e. at the time of the near-universal spread of statistical methods through economics), it was quite typical for the functions of towns and cities to be determined by reference to the structure of the labour force and associated processes. Precursor versions of these analyses came from Ch.D. Harris (1943, 1967) and H.J. Nelson (1955, 1967). The former researched 984 American towns with over 10,000 inhabitants, identifying dominant economic functions within them. Data on inhabitants’ employment and occupational structure allowed for the identification of nine functional categories of urban centre, involving manufacturing (M), retailing (R), diversified (D), wholesaling (W), transport (T), mining (S), education (E), resort or retirement-centre status (X) or other (P). Nelson in turn used a database deriving from the 1950 US Census to propose a system for the functional classification of urban centres (though a bet9

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ter description might speak about a classification of the degree of economic specialisation). That system took account of the population’s occupational structure as regards the town’s main sector of industry (agriculture and construction were not considered).The author was seeking to ascertain what share of the labour force needs to be employed in a defined sector to justify a status as a functionally distinct centre within an adopted classification.Through the application of statistical analysis (arithmetic mean and standard deviation), it proved possible to pinpoint distinguishing categories of employment in each town, with leading economic functions identified in this way. The consequence was the listing of nine functional classes of town, relating to: (1) manufacturing, (2) retail, (3) professional services, (4) wholesaling, (5) personal service, (6) public administration, (7) transport and communications, (8) finance, insurance and real estate and (9) mining. The method proposed by H.J. Nelson found fertile ground in Indian geography, where it gained widespread use in discerning the functional structure of towns and cities in different regions of the country (e.g. Pothana 1995; Seetharaman 1985).2 For example, in an assessment of the role played by cities in the economic development of the province of Andhra Pradesh, and in taking account of nine categories of employment, typical functions for defined size-classes of urban centres were indicated (Pothana 1995). It is the agricultural function that prevails in small towns, as often augmented by small-scale commerce and services. In turn, in the medium-sized towns, functions are associated with crafts and industry, as well as centres providing services and engaging in trade. Most towns were found to be multifunctional or bi-functional in nature. Similar research that distinguished between five functional categories (of manufacturing, services, transport and communication, finance, trade and commerce) was carried out in neighbouring Nepal (Shrestha and Rijal 2017).This inter alia found an increase in the level of functional diversity of larger urban centres (metropolises and sub-metropolises) in the period 1971–2011, while a clear majority of small towns proved to be in a single functional category (with two present only far more rarely). Most classifications are based on statistical material that is limited in terms of its subject matter, and non-comparable through time, given changing methodologies for data collection.A flaw with such classifications is the arbitrary nature of the choice of diagnostic features, and the boundaries set for certain indicators when it comes to separating one class from another. It is typical for each author of a classification to propose a different set of indicators. This may be mitigated if a large number of measures are selected, but these should still not have any significant linkages or correlations with each other. In other countries, much use is made of structural approaches to the functional classification of towns. In the Polish case, an example would be a typology elaborated to analyse occupational structure in industry, services and agriculture (Jerczyński 1977).While ten functional types of town were proposed to take in all size categories, it emerged that the prevalent ones were of the industrial, industrial/service-providing and service-providing/industrial types. A large number of the towns included within the industrial group arose in the context of Poland’s post-war industrialisation policy, which assumed towns developing on the basis of new industrial investment.Analogous work was carried out on the basis of 2002 data for towns in southern Poland (Kantor-Pietraga et al. 2012).The goal in this case was assessed demographic development in small towns representing different kinds of functional structure. Five main functional categories identified for small towns were service-related, industrial, agricultural, transport-related and tourism/recreation-related, albeit with the proviso that a given town might be assigned to more than one of these. The results inclined the authors to conclude that, over the 1978–2002 period at least, the small towns most at risk of depopulation were those with specialised functions in the services, tourism and recreation, and transport. In South Africa, classification of towns by reference to economic structure is done in three ways, i.e. in line with economic function, defined economic factors (performance) or historical economic legacy.The functions mentioned as identified among small towns are agriculture, tourism, the commercial base, mining, forestry, fisheries, transport, the administrative base and mixed 10

Functions and Local Linkages of Small Towns

functions (Atkinson 2009). In one classification based around numbers of inhabitants (albeit below 15,000), as well as numbers and structure of enterprises, it proved possible for researchers (Toerien and Marais 2012) to arrive at a three-category proposal for small towns.The first group comprised typical small South African towns with strong agricultural and service-related (e.g. financial and motorisation-related) functions, but only weak processing of agricultural products and a limited role for industry, construction and tourism.The second group included towns of very diversified structure (coastal towns, mining towns, former “homeland” towns and large rural towns), which feature more-important industrial, commercial, transport and construction sectors, as well as a production sector and sector serving agriculture only of limited significance. A third group of socalled “artist towns” features a major role for services in tourism and hospitality, as augmented by the farming sector. A significant criterion determining the functional structure of a small town may be its geographical location, above all in respect of large urban centres.The criterion of location has inter alia gained use in typologies of EU regions (Dijkstra and Poelman 2008) that took account of rural areas’ locations in relation to the main urban centres, as well as accessibility in terms of transport. The authors’ two-stage research procedure saw them identify five types of region, i.e. (1) urban, (2) transitional – in the vicinity of cities, (3) transitional – and distant, (4) rural – in the vicinity of cities and (5) rural – and distant. By applying a somewhat modified version of the method the above authors used, small and medium-sized towns might also be classified in terms of their locations. Such a classification taking account of the locations of urban centres, as well as the relations between them, was devised in the context of the ESPON (Role of Small and Medium-Sized Towns) Project.This distinguishes small towns that are: (1) in the vicinity of large agglomerations, (2) adjacent to one another and forming a network of linkages or (3) isolated (SMESTO 2006). Also pointed to at the same time were relationships between the locations of towns and their roles in local space. It was in line with similar assumptions that a three-category classification of small towns in Scotland (UK) emerged, comprising: (1) accessible small towns, (2) remote small towns, (3) very remote small towns. This last (third) category comprises centres with between 3,000 and 10,000 inhabitants, separated by at least 60 minutes’ travel time (by land or water) from a centre with at least 10,000 inhabitants (Pateman 2010). However, alongside location, each of the three categories was also described in line with defined socioeconomic functions. Research into the labour market in the small towns of Wales (UK) found that their functions as local centres of employment depended greatly on location (Wales Rural Observatory 2007). It emerged that towns in peripheral locations were much more significant in shaping local labour markets than those close to large agglomerations. Bearing in mind both function and the opportunities for the employment market to be shaped, a distinction was here drawn between six categories of small town, i.e. (1) sub-regional centres (that render higher-order service functions over extensive rural areas), (2) anchor towns (that provide rural districts with commercial, social and administrative functions), (3) island towns (that are located close to larger urban centres but remain in a position to retain their independence where employment and services are concerned), (4) doughnut towns (having quite strong hinterlands providing additional services and employment), (5) satellite towns (that are close to – and dependent on – larger urban centres) and (6) niche towns (that develop new and specialised tourist attractions in place of a previous function that has declined). Similar conclusions on the role of small towns in peripheral locations were arrived at by studies of Poland’s Mazowsze region. That showed how centres in peripheral locations served far more important functions as regards the rural areas surrounding them than did analogous towns located in close proximity to an agglomeration. They are characterised by a high concentration of service- and production-related activity, while often also representing the only places in which local inhabitants may find work (hence a typical positive balance when it comes to commutes to work). 11

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Small towns in agglomerations differ on account of the close proximity of large cities, and are far less competitive in discharging functions to the benefit of surrounding areas (Bański et al. 2016). In general, they are less closely linked to their surroundings than are the towns in peripheral locations. As the relationships between villages and small towns on the one hand and large urban centres on the other meet most needs, there is no particular role for local linkages. In contrast, towns located far from large centres do have a role to play as centres of local development. In particular, these peripheral centres must meet basic social and economic needs in their areas – i.e. among both their own inhabitants and the populace in nearby rural areas.The servicing of agriculture and the trade in farm produce as broadly conceived is among the key spheres of activity of businesses operating in the towns in question. Likewise, in analysing directions of development among three types of small Moravian (Czech) towns (i.e. (1) in the hinterlands of large cities, (2) in lowlands with good accessibility to larger cities and (3) on the periphery),A.Vaishar and A. Zapletalová (2009) concluded that, in line with these kinds of location specifics, centres of the first kind are losing their central functions, while those of the second kind are developing specific functions, and those located peripherally are becoming centres for their hinterlands. Other conclusions arise out of work on the interaction between location and the structural function of small towns in Russia’s Kaluga District, located to the south-west of Moscow (Savoskul et al. 2014). Such a location in fact allowed small towns to develop industrial and recreational functions. On the other hand, a location on the margins of this region combines with weak connections to the capital to encourage economic stagnation, with functions in industry and transport that developed in times gone by being retained in the face of a lack of new impulses encouraging any kind of change in structure. Finally, there are small towns that once served as agricultural centres, but have now lost their key functions of this kind due to the crisis in farming, and have come to offer only simple administrative and urban functions. More-detailed research encompassing the factors of location, economic structure and level of independence of a large city involved Turkey’s Izmir agglomeration, with it proving possible to identify four functional types of small satellite town: (1) with a predominant residential function (located under the immediate influence of the metropolis), (2) producing for the main city, (3) existing quite independently and serving as an “image bearer” (tourist centre) and (4) rural centres maintaining an intermediate position between rural areas and the metropolis. All of these types proved to be strongly influenced by Izmir, while also contributing to its development. Other approaches to the classification of small towns eschew the key role of functional structure, or location within the system of urban centres and accessibility vis-à-vis the centres of agglomerations.Also applied is a mixed approach whereby at least two criteria (like those relating to structure and location) are brought to bear. In research practice, small towns are often conceptualised jointly with the rural areas for which they represent local centres of development (Courtney et al. 2000; Heffner 2016). Small towns have always had integral, inherent linkage with their rural surroundings, the links involved being functional and organisational (notably administrative, service- or trade-related, and educational). Particular kinds of relationship with rural areas arise out daily commutes to work, as well as the basic servicing of farms. J. Rajman (2006) discerns farmingand-services towns whose functions are based mainly on the traditional type of servicing of some immediate hinterland; towns serving residential functions that are close to larger industrial plants and linked with them via daily commutes to work; towns with degraded urban functions in which the populace are mainly involved in crop-growing and livestock-rearing (and above all so that people can meet their own needs); agri-towns (i.e. farming settlements built once by reference to urban-planning principles); as well as former towns that forfeited their town rights at some point in the historical past. According to K. Heffner (2016), small towns (may) play several roles in local space that represent multi-component relationship, e.g. offering backup for agriculture; supplying services to the 12

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population of rural areas – and places of work; supplying a diversity of services; and serving as seats of educational, cultural, health, welfare and entertainment institutions. It was observed that in typically agricultural areas, it is the relations between towns (usually of multifunctional structure) and their surroundings that are the strongest. In contrast, monofunctional towns (such as tourist resorts) and towns from highly urbanised zones only have far weaker economic linkage with their rural hinterlands. On this basis, it proved possible to distinguish between: (1) centres that are highly integrated locally, (2) centres only weakly integrated and (3) small towns with development opportunities not utilised fully.The subject matter of small-town relationships with their rural surroundings was taken up and pursued further in work by A. Czarnecki (2012), who found that – in an era of globalisation and the development of new means of transport and communication – small centres are becoming less and less significant as markets for produce and goods from non-agricultural firms in rural areas, as well as for supply and cooperation. A whole range of different factors arising out of today’s global processes ensures that small towns become superfluous links in the chains pertaining between producers and consumers, losing functions in the servicing of surrounding areas that they had before.This is why a very significant goal of development policy in regard to small towns is to seek out new functions, including via active policy to increase attractiveness, and diversify economic activity – even in the direction of higher-order services. The strong farming-centred relationships between small towns and their rural surroundings are taken as read in many European countries, even as they may be overlooked in places like South Africa. Research there on 19 administrative units (municipalities) including small towns showed that agriculture takes neither first, second or even third place when it comes to the perceived importance of development sectors, even where in truth this is a key factor underpinning these towns’ progress with entrepreneurship and growth in general (Nel and Goldman 2006). It is by the way worth adding that, alongside the identification and classification of relationships between small towns and rural areas, there is also a popular approach seeking to conceptualise the relations between small urban centres and large cities.This is most often the case for units located within metropolitan areas or in the immediate vicinity of agglomerations.Typologies that refer to relations between urban centres mainly take account of economic conditioning. For example, the typology describing relations between economic centres and those located in their vicinity and small towns considers four types of relationship regarding the labour market (Jones et al. 2009; Cox and Longlands 2016). The first of these types, involving the “independent” small town, is characterised by a strong labour market independent of influences from the leading centre. With the second (isolated) type, the labour markets of small and large centres have no linkages between them, while the third (dependent) type sees the labour market in the small centre dependent on the central locality. Finally, in centres of the fourth (interdependent) category, the labour markets in both categories of town are closely linked with each other, and indeed are interdependent. The functional diversity present among small towns (of less than 20,000 inhabitants) was the focus for Serbian researchers considering the roles played in surrounding space (Spasić and Petrić 2006). The centres in question were found to differ from the point of view of socioeconomic development, demographic structure and spatial features, all of which impacted upon functional characteristics. Referencing work considering the size, functions and locations of 89 small towns in central Serbia, they drew a distinction between: (1) potential sub-regional centres, (2) central (administrative) centres of the lowest-level units of administration not extending beyond their boundaries, (3) towns serving as the centres of rural communities and (4) centres with prevalent economic functions (in tourism, spa-care, industry and mining).They also pointed to four fundamental features represented by the small urban centres in local space, i.e. as destinations and markets for agricultural produce or products, in the distribution of goods and services, as regards the nonagricultural activity of SMEs, and as places of employment for the inhabitants of nearby villages. For their part, D. Satterthwaite and C.Tacoli (2003) contended that small urban centres acted in support of regional development in four different ways: as centres exerting a demand for agri13

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cultural output, as centres for the production and distribution of goods to surrounding rural areas, as local centres providing employment and as localities attracting rural migration. The forms of activity referred to do depend on the administrative circumstances a town finds itself in, not least as regards land-ownership structure, the quality of transport and communications, and structural conditioning operating at the international, national and local levels. In turn, Lamprecht (2008) stated that the functional transformation encompassing industrial sites in small towns is a function of both the use and accessibility of land (as regards both transport and regulated ownership) and its value. In contrast, under the ESPON (Small and medium-sized towns in their functional territorial context) Project, the proposed classification of urban centres of under 50,000 inhabitants took account of settlement type, a region’s levels of urbanisation and industrial transformation, and the dynamics characterising demographic change (TOWN 2014). In the view of T. Kachniarz (1987), who divided towns (large villages) of up to 20,000 inhabitants into 23 groups differing in terms of their functional structure, administrative status and numbers of inhabitants, the fundamental function of small towns and main (non-city3) centres of gminas (i.e. the units of Polish administration at local level) is to serve the populace and agriculture, and to engage in the development of light industry and crafts. However, this view gained no confirmation in the research by D. Szymańska and E. Grzelak-Kostulska (2005), who showed that Poland’s change of economic system was followed by an increase in the role of small towns supplying services, at the expense of the industrial function.At the same time, there was also a decline in the number of small agricultural towns.

An Attempt at the Multi-Criterion Classifcation of Small Towns The above review points to considerable differentiation in the classification of small towns in line with the socioeconomic functions they serve. Classifications facilitate scientific research of the planning and shaping of development policy on different spatial scales. Scientific research sees various approaches taken to classification, and methods of classification – in line with the goals and scope of research, as well as the discipline involved (be it, for example, geography, economics or sociology). In contrast, classifications serving practical tasks divide small towns into rather uniform groups, to which defined actions are assigned, with a view to socioeconomic development of the whole country or region thereof being achieved, as well as optimisation of the settlement system. The discussed approach to the classification of small towns usually focuses on the socioeconomic structure, as well as location. In this context, attempts are made to unite the approaches into a single entity, sometimes in line with the relationship (linkages) between the urban centre and its surroundings. Each of the approaches referred to draws distinctions between towns on the basis of criteria set out in relation to diagnostic features, with a series of logical assumptions considered. That said – irrespective of the type of classification – a decided majority of these look into the functions in local and regional space that given urban centres serve. Bearing in mind the approaches to classification, it is possible to propose a synthetic method for classifying small towns that takes account of economic structure, location and the relationship between the towns and their surroundings. In the case of economic structure, the small centres may be divided into two basic groups – those featuring a multi-branch structure and those that are specialised economically. Regardless of what country they are located in, centres of the first group are decidedly more numerous and comprise towns that have at least two economic sectors of equal importance. The second group, somewhat smaller than the first, is formed by towns concentrating a defined economic activity in a particular way. Examples here might be spas or health resorts, mining towns, port towns or cities, and centres in which large industrial plants are located. It is possible to propose different criteria by which to identify economic structure (of which some have been discussed in the previous section, e.g. in relation to employment structure or the roles played by different branches in a town’s budget incomes.The selection of defined measures representing 14

Functions and Local Linkages of Small Towns Table 1.1 Selected Examples of Approaches to the Classification of Small Towns Type

Source

Structural Approach

ESPON – Study of Urban Functions (2007)

Location-Related Approach

Mixed Approach

Classification

functions that are: (1) administrative, (2) decisionrelated, (3) transport-related, (4) knowledgerelated and (5) tourism-related Department of the services that are: (1) financial, (2) in retail, (3) Environment and Local business-related, (4) social and administrative, (5) Government, Ireland educational, (6) tourism and leisure-related and (2000) (7) agricultural Ch.D. Harris (1943, 1967) (1) manufacturing, (2) retailing, (3) diversified, (4) wholesaling, (5) transportation, (6) mining, (7) educational, (8) resort, (9) retirement, (10) others SMESTO 2006 (1) small towns at the fringes of large agglomerations, (2) the small-towns network (3) isolated small towns The Scottish Government (1) ST accessible small towns, (2) ST remote small Urban Rural towns, (3) ST very remote small towns. Classification (Pateman 2010) A.Vaishar and A. (1) in the hinterlands of large cities, (2) in lowlands Zapletalová (2009) with good accessibility to larger cities, (3) on the periphery Wales Rural Observatory (1) sub-regional centres, (2) anchor towns, (3) island (2007) towns, (4) doughnut towns, (5) satellite towns, )6) niche towns (1) potential sub-regional centres, (2) small Spasić and Petrić (2006) municipal centres, (3) small urban settlements which function as centres of communities of villages, (4) various settlements with a single dominant function

Source:Author’s own elaboration

diagnostic features is an important part of the process.Their availability, number and level of detail may allow for a more sophisticated division in relation to economic structure, for example combining different sectors of the economy. In the case of the division proposed above, expert knowledge is (all that is) required for different urban centres to be assigned. A second element of the classification reflects the locations of urban centres. Two basic types can be identified – the small town within the range of impact of a large agglomeration (i.e. with good access to a main regional or national centre), or else the town outside such areas, which is to say located peripherally.Towns are therefore best qualified by reference to an index of travel time to the central urban location. The subject literature defines this in relation to daily commutes to work, or else to take advantage of services. The third component of the classification arises out of small towns’ relations with their surroundings.This can for example be studied by reference to structure among those commuting to and from rural areas, relations between enterprises, or the limits of administrative boundaries linked to a town’s functioning. One of the possible approaches concerns the role of a given urban centre in the territorial hierarchy of a country or region. Different kinds of relations will characterise a town or city not discharging an administrative function or only servicing a small area (lowest-level administrative unit) administratively, as opposed to towns or cities that are sub-regional centres or 15

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Figure 1.1 Classification Scheme of Small Towns

the capitals of certain larger units (provinces, counties or districts). What is involved here is not merely the administrative function, but also the location of buildings serving education, culture, commerce, etc. In consequence, it is possible to indicate eight types of small town, i.e. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

local centres enjoying good accessibility and a multi-branch economic structure; local centres enjoying good accessibility and a specialised economic structure; peripheral local centres characterised by a multi-branch economic structure; peripheral local centres characterised by a specialised economic structure; supra-local centres enjoying good accessibility and a multi-branch economic structure; supra-local centres enjoying good accessibility and a specialised economic structure; peripheral supra-local centres characterised by a multi-branch economic structure; peripheral supra-local centres characterised by a specialised economic structure.

Summary The subject literature typically includes three types of approach to the classification of small towns, i.e. (1) the structural, (2) the location-related and (3) the mixed. Each differs from the others in terms of the criteria defined, and the functions served by the minor urban centres taken account of. The structural approach allows for the direct grouping of centres from the point of view of the social, cultural and economic functions they discharge in relation to the local populace and entities operating in the given place, as well as in its vicinity.Typically, structural classifications tend to single out the leading economic sector represented in the given town, allowing each to be analysed individually.This approach may be either static or dynamic, with the first case entailing reference to a given time at which categories identified offer information on socioeconomic structure. In contrast, a dynamic approach sees the degree of variability of such structures analysed, with this making it possible to indicate categories of town discernible in line with identified directions and rates of development. 16

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As the roles of different components of socioeconomic structure in small towns are analysed, it is possible to operate in line with a division into two key groups: of towns characterised by a specialised structure (dominated by just a single structural element, and thus seen as industrial towns, tourist towns, etc.), or of towns with a multi-branch structure that is balanced between several different socioeconomic components. Bearing in mind the more detailed classification possible, a combination of different elements can be applied, though with first- or second-order components also identifiable. The location-related approach draws on the idea of there being a continuum between the centre and the periphery, with significance therefore attached to the location of a given small urban centre vis-à-vis large centres undergoing development to the greatest extent. In very general terms, this approach allows a distinction to be drawn between satellite towns located in the zone of impact of large agglomerations and metropolises, towns that are traditional foci of the settlement network, and centres in isolated locations out on the peripheries. It thus emerges from this that town locations should have a very major influence on their functional structure. Under the location-related approach, the spatial criterion best providing for the arrangement of units of territory is inhabitants’ travel time to the central city. Location is rarely the sole element used to differentiate between small urban centres; and it is present regularly as just one among a number of criteria by which a classification or typology can be arrived at.We are then dealing with a so-called mixed approach, which is complex in nature and in general brings together criteria deployed under the other approaches. Beyond those relating to location and structure, there are also issues of linkage with surroundings.A mixed classification making simultaneous use of the different approaches to research brings the most information to bear in regard to categories of urban locality, but their results may therefore prove hard to interpret, given the more complex research procedure and number of possible classes, categories or types.

Acknowledgements Publication prepared under the research projects of the National Science Centre (POLAND), UMO-2019/35/B/HS4/00114, “Diagnosis of the contemporary socio-economic structure and functional classification of small towns in Poland - in search of model solutions”.

Notes 1 The standard adopted by the Project holds that small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) have more than 5,000 inhabitants, a population density above 300 people per km2 and a location beyond High-Density Urban Clusters. In practice, this means the localities concerned may even have 50,000 inhabitants.Where European countries as a whole are concerned, towns conforming to these criteria are found to be home to around 21% of the entire population (Atkinson 2019). 2 Overall, Indian geography has usually drawn a distinction between nine (non-agricultural) functional categories of urban centre, i.e. the administrative city, defence town, cultural city, collection centre, production centre, transfer and distribution centre, resort, residential town, seaport, and city of diversified functions. However, the attention of researchers there is focused on large urban agglomerations. 3 In Poland, a town is defined as a settlement unit with a prevalently continuous built-up area and nonagricultural functions that enjoys town rights or has had the status of town conferred upon it by virtue of separate regulations. The conclusion emerging from this is that status as a town (or for that matter a city) is not identified by reference to size alone (be that either area or number of inhabitants), but more through the conferring of rights. Equally, it is typical for town rights to correlate closely with the size of a settlement unit, even though there are some towns with quite small numbers of inhabitants. Poland’s smallest town – Wiślica – is thus a locality that had only 503 inhabitants as of 2018, while the country’s largest village – Kozy – had as many as 12,196 inhabitants in 2013.

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References Atkinson D., 2009, Creating access to economic opportunities in small and medium towns, Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies, www.tips.org.za (access 01.05.2020). Atkinson R., 2019,The small towns conundrum: what do we do about them? Regional Statistics, 9, 2, 1–17. Baker C., 2018, City and town classification of constituencies and local authorities, Briefing Papers, 8322, House of Commons Library. Bański J., Czapiewski K., Górczyńska M., 2016, Impact of the locations of small towns in Mazovia (Poland) on their socio-economic structure and on their role in relation to the neighboring rural areas, Journal of Urban and Regional Analysis, 8, 2, 117–131. Bell D., Jayne M., 2009, Small cities? Towards a research agenda, International Journal of Urban and Regional Studies, 33, 3, 683–699. Bibby P., Shepherd J., 2004, Developing a new classification of urban and rural areas for policy purposes – the methodology, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment _data/file/137655/rural-urban-definition-methodology-technical.pdf (access 3.05.2020). Courtney P., Errington A., 2000, The role of small towns in the local economy and some implications for development policy, Local Economy, 15, 4. Courtney P., Mayfield L.,Tranter R., Jones P., Errington A., 2007, Small towns as ‘sub-poles’ in English rural development: Investigating rural-urban linkages using sub-regional social accounting matrices, Geoforum, 38, 1219–1232. Courtney P., Lépicier D., Schmitt B., 2008, Spatial patterns of production linkages in the context of Europe’s small towns: How are rural firms linked to the local economy? Regional Studies, 42, 3. Cox E., Longlands S., 2016, City Systems.The Role of Small and Medium-sized Towns and Cities in Growing the Northern Powerhouse, Institute for Public Policy Research North, Sprinningfields. Czarnecki A., 2012, Znaczenie małych miast w strukturze powiązań ekonomicznych wiejskich przedsiębiorstw regionu Zielonych Płuc Polski (Significance of small towns in the structure of economic relations of rural enterprises in the Green Lungs of Poland region), in: K. Heffner, A. Halama (eds.), Ewolucja Funkcji Małych Miast, Studia Ekonomiczne, Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Katowicach, 63–82, (in Polish). Dej M., Janas K.,Wolski O. (eds.), 2014, Towards Urban-Rural Partnership in Poland. Preconditions and Potential, Institute of Urban Development, Kraków. DELG (Department of the Environment and Local Government), 2000, National Spatial Strategy – The Irish Urban System and its Dynamics, NUI Maynooth Fitzpatrick Associates. Dijkstra L., Poelman H., 2008, Remote Rural Regions, How Proximity to a City Influences the Performance of Rural Regions, Regional Focus, 1, DG Regio, European Commission. Dijkstra L., Poelman H., 2012, Cities in Europe.The new OECD-EC Definition, Regional Focus, 1, DG Regio, European Commission. Dijkstra L., Poelman H., 2014, A Harmonized Definition of Cities and Rural Areas: the new Degree of Urbanization, Regional Working Papers, 1, DG Regio, European Commission. Edwards B., Goodwin M.,Woods M., 2003, Citizenship, community and participation in small towns: a case study of regeneration partnerships, in: R. Imrie, M. Raco, (eds.), Urban Renaissance? New Labour, Community, and Urban Policy, Policy Press, Bristol, 181–204. Elsasser H., 1998, Ist eine Kleinstadt mehr als eine kleine Stadt? in: S.Tagungsband (ed.), Kleinstädte – Motoren im Ländlichen Raum, 10–18, Österreichisches Kuratorium für Landtechnik und Landentwicklung, Murau. Harris Ch.D., 1943,A functional classification of cities in the United States,American Geographical Society. Harris Ch.D., 1967,A functional classification of cities in the United States, in: H.M. Mayer, C.F. Kohn (eds.), Readings in Urban Geography. Central Book Depot,The University of Chicago Press, l29–138. Heffner K., 2016, Obszary wiejskie i małe miasta: czy lokalne centra są potrzebne współczesnej wsi? (Rural areas and small towns: do local centres need a modern village?), Studia Ekonomiczne. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Ekonomicznego w Katowicach, 279, 11–24 (in Polish). Heffner K., Halama A. (eds.), 2012, Ewolucja funkcji małych miast (Evolution of small towns functions), Studia Ekonomiczne, Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Katowicach. (in Polish). Hinderink J., Titus M., 1988, Paradigms of regional development and the role of small centers, Development and Change, 19, 401–426. Hinderink J.,Titus M., 2002, Small towns and regional development: Major findings and policy implications from comparative research, Urban Studies, 39(3), 379–391. Hopkins J., Copus A., 2018, Definitions, Measurement Approaches and Typologies of Rural Areas and Small Towns: a Review, Report, James Hutton Institute,Aberdeen. Jerczyński M., 1977, Funkcje i typy funkcjonalne polskich miast (Functions and functional types of polish cities), in: Statystyczna Charakterystyka Miast, Funkcje Dominujące, Statystyka Polski, GUS, nr 85,Warszawa (in Polish).

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Functions and Local Linkages of Small Towns Jones A., Clayton N.,Tochtermann L., Hildreth P., Marshallk A., 2009, City Relationships: Economic Linkages in Northern City Regions, Northern Way, Newcastle. Kachniarz T., 1987, Małe miasta (Small towns), Człowiek i Środowisko, 11/3, 281–316 (in Polish). Kantor-Pietraga I., Krzysztofik R., Runge J., 2012, Kontekst geograficzny i funkcjonalny kurczenia się małych miast w Polsce południowej (Geographical and functional context of shrinkage in case of small towns of the Southern Poland), in: A. Heffner, A. Halama (eds.), Ewolucja Funkcji Małych Miast, Studia Ekonomiczne, Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Katowicach, 9–23 (in Polish). Kwiatek-Sołtys A., Mainet H., 2014, Quality of life and attractiveness of small towns: a comparison of France and Poland, Quaestiones Geographicae, 33, 2, 103–113. Lamprecht M., 2008, Functional changes in 20th century industrial areas of small towns in central Poland, European Spatial Research and Policy, 15, 1, 25–38. Nel E., Goldman I., 2006, Investigation of Pro-Poor Local Economic Development in South Africa, CWCI (EU), World Bank, Bloemfontein, www.khanya-aicdd.org (access 1.05.2020). Nelson H.J., 1955,A service classification of American cities, Economic Geography, 31, 189–210. Nelson H.J., 1967, A service classification of American cities, in: H.M. Mayer, C.F. Kohn (eds.), Readings in Urban Geography. Central Book Depot,The University of Chicago Press, l39–160. Pateman T., 2010, Rural and urban areas: comparing lives using rural/urban classifications, Regional Trends, 43, 11, 11–86. Planning in small towns, 1997, Planning Advice Note PAN 52, Scottish Government, http://www.scotland. gov.uk /Publications/1997/04/pan52 (access 3.05.2020). PothanaV., 1995, Functional classification of towns in Andhra Pradesh, in: M. Koteswara Rao (ed.),Urbanization. Migration and Economic Development, Kanishka Publishers Distributors, New Delhi, 43–56. Powe N.A., 2013, Market Towns: Roles, Challenges and Prospects, Routledge, Abingdon. Rajman J., 2006, Małe miasto w przestrzeni rolniczej – wybrane kwestie metodologiczne (Small town in an agricultural space - selected methodological issues), in: E. Rydz (red.), Rola Małych Miast w Rozwoju Obszarów Wiejskich, Studia Obszarów Wiejskich, 11, PTG, IGiPZ PAN,Warszawa, 13–24 (in Polish). Satterthwaite D.,Tacoli C., 2003, The Urban Part of Rural Development: the Role of Small and Intermediate Urban Centres in Rural and Regional Development and Poverty Reduction, IIED, London. Savoskul M.S., Mozgunov N.A., Pivovar G.A., 2014, Social-economic transformation of small towns of the non-Chernozem region (case study of the Kaluga oblast), Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, Seriia 5, Geografiia 2, 62–67. Seetharaman S., 1985, An approach to the understanding of occupational structure of small towns in Tanjore District in Tamilnadu, The Deccan Geographer, 23, 1, 31–38. Servillo L.,Atkinson R., Hamadouch A., 2017, Small and medium-sized towns in Europe: Conceptual, methodological and policy issues Tijdschrift Voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, 108, 4, 365–379. Shrestha Ch.B., Rijal S.P., 2017, Revisit to functional classification of towns in Nepal, The Geographical Journal of Nepal, 10, 15–27. Shucksmith M., Thompson K.J., Roberts D., 2005, The CAP and the regions, in: Territorial Impact of the Common Agricultural Policy, CABI Publishing,Wallingford. SMESTO, The Role of Small and Medium-Sized Towns, Final Report, 2006, ESPON 1.4.1, OIR,Vienna. Spasić N., Petrić J., 2006, The role and development perspectives of small towns in central Serbia, Spatium, 13–14, 8–15. Study of Urban Functions, 2007, ESPON Project 1.4.3, Final Report, ESPON Monitoring Committee. Szymańska D., Grzelak-Kostulska E., 2005, Małe miasta w Polsce – zmiany ludnościowe i funkcjonalne w drugiej połowie XX wieku (Small towns in Poland - population and functional changes in the second half of the 20th century), in: K. Heffner (red.) Małe miasta a rozwój lokalny i regionalny, Wydawnictwo Uczelniane Akademii Ekonomicznej w Katowicach, Katowice, 59–90 (in Polish). Tacoli C., 1998, Urban–rural interactions:A guide to the literature, Environment and Urbanization, 10, 147–166. Toerien D., Marais L., 2012, Classification of South African towns revisited, in: R. Donaldson, L. Marais (eds.), Small Town Geographies in Africa: Experiences From South Africa and Elsewhere, Nova Science Publishers, New York, 3–19. TOWN Small and Medium Sized Towns in Their Functional Territorial Context, 2014, ESPON, https://ww w.espon.eu/programme/projects/espon-2013/applied-research/town-%E2%80%93-small-and-mediumsized-towns (access 20.11.2019). Vaishar A., Zapletalová A., 2009, Small towns as centers of rural micro-regions, European Countryside, 2, 70–81. Van Leeuwen E., 2010, Urban-rural Interactions: Towns and Focus Points in Rural Development, Springer Science+Business Media, Berlin. Wales Rural Observatory, 2007, Small and market towns in rural Wales and their hinterlands, Research Reports, 13. Wright J.D., 2000, Small towns, mass society and the 21-st century, Society, 38, 1, 3–10.010236200Information Classification: GeneralInformation Classification: General

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2 SMALL TOWNS IN SETTLEMENT SYSTEMS A Return to the Foreground? Ewa Korcelli-Olejniczak

Introduction When considering demarcation lines separating various categories of urban places, their relative, but also partial character is usually pointed out. In a book on small cities, Bell and Jayne (2006, p. 4) note that whereas the size matters, the question still remains of “how small is small?”. It is especially so, as the smallness may refer to the range of influence, the administrative status or integration into global economy which do not necessarily correspond with the population size. With respect to the latter, the small towns’ upper bound of 20,000 inhabitants,1 as used most frequently in empirical, including the ESPON (2008), studies in Europe, is considered as a flexible criterion. In fact, in such studies the small, together with middle-size towns, are often treated as one, extended class of “other-than-large” urban centers. Small towns are universally recognized to form important, essentially the initial, components of settlement systems, the latter defined as territorial aggregates of urban settlements at national and regional levels, linked in complex webs of interrelationships and interdependencies (Simmons and Bourne 1981).When expressed in terms of location of urban centers and their size distribution, such systems display considerable stability over time (Dziewoński 1971; Pumain 2000).Their functioning and internal morphological patterns, however, evolve while adapting to social, economic and technological change.The shifting roles of small towns in spatial and functional structure of settlement represents a major, although still rather fragmentarily examined, dimension of these general trends. In European countries, networks of small market towns formed in the Middle Ages, which since then had gone through periods of growth and contraction, were extended and functionally differentiated in the course of 19th-century industrial development and railway construction, to become integrated within the emerging national urban systems (Smailes 1944; Carter 1984; Dalmasso 1984).Their functions, spacing and position occupied within urban hierarchy attracted considerable scientific interest in the mid-20th century, following the dissemination of Christaller’s (1933) central place theory (Ullman 1941; Berry and Pred 1961). In empirical studies at sub-national scale concerned with urban functional hierarchy (interpreted according to the “restricted functions are higher in level” principle; see: Lukermann 1966), individual small town sub-categories – hamlets, villages, towns – have been placed at subsequent lower hierarchy levels (Berry and Garrison 1958). At national settlement systems’ scale (Schoeller et al. 1984), these have often been treated as members of a single category, the base stratum within six- or seven-tier hierarchical settlement patterns, one step above rural settlements, and perceived as central places in the original meaning 20

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of the term, i.e. serving mainly ubiquitous tertiary-sector functions. More recent studies (Errington 1991; Courtney and Errington 2000; Heffner and Solga 2006; Courtney et al. 2007; Bański et al. 2016) have emphasized the role of small towns in the local, in particular, the rural, economy and in urban–rural socioeconomic linkages in general. As indicated by John W. Webb (1959), along with their progressing integration into broader urban systems, the small urban centers tend to reveal both increasing functional differentiation and functional specialization that accelerate under diminishing friction of space and growing population mobility. In this process, also due to the appearance of new goods and services of wider market range, the tributary areas of larger centers expand at the cost of those served by smaller ones.This marks a concentration within central place hierarchy (Berry 1967) via contraction and gradual elimination of its lower tiers. Gerald Hodge (1965) illustrated the trend by providing evidence on, and predicting further decline in, the number of small local centers situated in predominantly agricultural areas, an effect of the growing size of farm holdings and thinning-out of rural population densities. In the course of accelerating metropolitan development which is shaped by the mutually interwoven forces of globalization and the expanding role of information flows in both economic activity and social life, a progressive differentiation within the category of small towns with regard to functions performed may be observed.At the same time, such places become increasingly polarized in terms of their position held within settlement systems.Whereas, over recent decades, the main focus on urban studies agenda has shifted toward multifaceted questions concerning the metropolization phenomenon (Lichtenberger 1994), reference to the role of small urban places continues to appear in a number of contemporary concepts of urban and regional development. In spatialpolicy–related studies, the small and medium-size towns are typically perceived as secondary components of settlement structure, a kind of residuum within national and regional systems (Gloersen et al. 2007; ESPON 2008). The role of small urban places is seen to be largely determined by accessibility to the nearest large city.Towns located within, or at the edge of, metropolitan areas are shown to serve as residential zones or provide locations for industrial and commercial functions, thus contributing to the metro area’s development potential. Those situated at a greater distance from a metropolitan city can contribute to territorial cohesion by developing functional links in the form of local town networks. Small towns in peripheral regions, with functions of local service centers performed for the surrounding rural areas can sustain their position by developing some functional specialization based on endogenous resources, as the decreasing friction of space brings a loss of trade and other service functions that relocate to higher-ranking urban centers.Their future role also depends increasingly upon environmental resources, access to attractive natural landscape in particular. Such a perspective, one related to territorial position held, is adopted in the present chapter, which discusses the evolving role of small towns in settlement systems as analyzed by referring to the relevant theoretical concepts. In the last section, selected scenarios on future human settlement patterns are interpreted. It is argued that along with the increasing importance of life quality among factors shaping spatial patterns of human settlement, with growing recognition of the related hazards, important new developments in small-town–oriented urban and rural studies are now in sight. It is believed that this may lead to a more central position of small towns’ studies in urban research.

Small Towns Within Metropolitan Areas The study by Berry (1960) is a classical account of functional change of small towns located in the vicinity of a growing large urban center. Once engulfed by the city’s daily commuting range, such places, as local service centers, witness a transformation with progressing specialization in residential, industrial, commercial or recreational functions performed at the metropolitan area level.This 21

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change, attributed to the decreasing friction of space, was interpreted by Berry as a special case of centralization trends operating in the urban hierarchy. In a more general, quasi-dynamic form, the impact of population growth and spatial expansion of a large city upon surrounding smaller urban and rural places is depicted in the well-known concept of stages of urban development (Klaassen et al. 1981; van den Berg et al. 1982), with its causal background traced back to urban land rent theory (Alonso 1964). At an early, the concentration, stage, such places experience an outflow of residents and lose functions, the latter being usurped by the city. During the successive phase of de-concentration this turns into selective flow of suburbanites and economic activities from the area core. It does not necessarily imply a growth of satellite towns which may be initially bypassed by residential suburbanization waves aiming at environmentally attractive, surrounding rural space. The following stages of dispersion and re-concentration bring about a correspondingly differentiated course of change to suburban communities, including independent towns now integrated into the metropolitan area. At these advanced development stages, functional linkages extending from the central city reach out toward successive rings of small, as well as medium-size towns, situated in the peri-urban zone (Piorr et al. 2011). In case of dynamic, growing metropolitan centers undergoing decentralization of functions and related workplaces, such towns often serve as focal points for secondary labor and housing markets, with their mutually crisscrossing, daily commuter sheds spreading beyond the metropolitan edge (Fassmann and Georgl 2010). Even more compound patterns of functional roles and spatial linkages are exhibited by small towns situated within polycentric metropolitan areas. In general, along with spreading employment and diversification of its composition, a growing importance is assumed by suburb-to-suburb commuter flows (van der Laan 1998; Dessemontet et al. 2010).

Small Towns in Urban Regions At the regional level, city–hinterland relations are evolving in course of metropolization and reflected by an expanding market range of large cities and their increasing functional dominance over other settlement components.These changes were depicted and interpreted in the framework of the concept of metropolitan regions, a new major dimension in spatial organization of urbanized societies.The metropolitan dominance involves the formation of linkage structures superimposed upon, and transforming, the central place system. In a new spatial pattern, small towns arranged in a flattened hierarchy, one with a decreasing number of hierarchical levels, interact with the main city via production-oriented links. In the domain of consumer functions, an intermediary role is played by sub-dominant centers – typically middle-size towns. Along with growing distance from the region’s core, a declining gradient in values of social and economic development indicators is found. This regularity has been challenged by more recent evidence.2 According to it, following some depression in the intermediate – the metropolitan shadow zone which extends beyond the peri-urban zone and is exposed to backwash effects – such indicators actually tend to increase again in peripheral sections of metropolitan hinterland (Korcelli-Olejniczak 2015). Nonetheless, small towns’ fortunes appear to be strongly polarized, and dependent upon the territorial position held, be it a part of the metropolitan area – the daily urban system of a large city – or its more or less distant regional hinterland zone. In the concept of urban–rural region (Nilsson et al. 2013), which refers to structural change – the transition from industrial to service- and information-based economy – the relationship of dominance interlinking its constituent parts is replaced by functional complementarity.The latter is reflected in a balance in terms of in- and out-migration incentives present at each level; unlike in the prototype metropolitan region, where functional relations at a regional scale are based upon economic linkages, migration patterns and social organization. Here, the interdependence between urban and rural areas, while taking these links into account, focuses on provision and consump22

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tion of ecosystems services used for production and reproduction, including recreation purposes. Following this approach, the small towns interspersed among typically rural areas are considered as components of rural countryside. Those situated in the expanding peri-urban zone of mixed land use, where large cities shed land-intensive activities, are involved as part of a new living and working environment, “a rapidly growing multifunctional territory, often with globalized industries, high mobility and transport dependence, fragmented communities and degraded landscapes” (Ravetz and Loibl 2011, p. 30).

Small Towns in a Regional and National Periphery Setting The prevalence of local central place functions remains a specific characteristic of small towns situated in peripheral areas (Stafford 1963). Some of these, however, also perform certain specialized – the development – functions of supra-local range (Blotevogel 2005; Greiving and Flex 2016). The latter include niche-type, product-specificity–based industrial, less frequently service, activities targeted at distant national and global markets. In the European context at least, they increasingly rely upon direct trade relations rather than those channeled via regional cities or metropolitan centers (Woods 2013). Factors standing behind their development include local skills, traditions and material resources, and, in the case of lower-income countries, also local labor supply. Sources of territorial competitiveness (Camagni 2002) can be traced, in the case of small towns performing specialized socioeconomic functions, to the territorial capital components, such as creativity, entrepreneurship-friendly social climate, proactive and cooperative local government. When these factors happen to occur in a synergy-driven linkage pattern, they can build a form of sustained development based upon competitive advantages of a given place (Camagni 2008). This is quite rare in those urban places where the specialized functions have been attracted by the comparative-advantage–related, traditional location factors. Small towns of local service-center type – the market towns – owe their role to the territorial position held – one of sustaining (or stabilizing – Blotevogel 2005) urban–rural functional relationships (Bengs and Zonneveld 2002) at local level, down the national settlement systems’ hierarchy. Their central place functions are often fostered by the administrative status of municipality or township center and related public sector services.The latter’s presence is particularly crucial, since along with the compression of space, the transformation of rural economy (Courtney et al. 2008), as well as the raising of consumer expectations and focus on scale economies in service provision, “the delivery of most services to rural residents has gravitated up the settlement hierarchy” (Powe and Shaw 2004, p. 405).As small towns’ economic linkages at the local level are threatened by erosion, the importance of their exogenous public-sector social functions grows. The availability of these activities in small market towns allows incomers from nearby rural settlements to meet multiple travel goals on a single, short-distance trip, which is important in light of the curtailing scope, especially in sparsely populated areas, for more specialized, but also the convenience-type, services. Small towns in peripheral regions, to a greater extent than such urban places in general, witness selective out-migration of young people, motivated by work and higher education. In regions experiencing lasting depopulation, small towns continue to act as local magnets for rural-to-urban moves, including those by elderly persons seeking closer access to social infrastructure, medical and shopping facilities. In the case of environmentally attractive areas, this movement is accompanied by an inflow of amenity migrants; also of some returnees from large cities and foreign migration destinations. In fact, these sub-stream migration flows notably contribute to accelerated ageing of small towns’ populations.Thus, the functional stability of small towns in peripheral regions – local centers of private and public-sector services – can be perceived as hinging increasingly upon the ability to sustain their place-of-residence function (Korcelli-Olejniczak et al. 2018). These small urban centers actually combine the function of Level 1 centers – consumption, as places of resi23

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dence and reproduction – with that of Level 2 – retail trade (and other convenience-type services) – within Philbrick’s (1957) seven-tier scheme of functional organization of settled space.

The Internal Migration and Differential Urbanization Context The long-term, vertical concentration of economic and social functions within national settlement systems (Berry 1973), a consequence of economic and technological change, is accompanied by spatial redistribution of population, with the rule of hierarchical migration flows as its main mechanism.According to this pattern, urban places within a given population size category, when considered an aggregate, are net gainers in the migratory exchange with places in each of the smaller size classes, whereas they are net losers vis-à-vis all the larger size groups. Operationally, these relationships are defined in terms of differences between respective destination-specific outmigration rates (Rogers and Willekens 1986). In this process, the small towns comprising the lowest populationsize category feature the highest values of total out-migration rate. With respect to demographic balance, their net migration losses are partly compensated for by an inflow of migrants from surrounding rural areas, as well by birth rates which are typically higher than in larger cities. In the longer term, the consequences of the prevalence of hierarchical migration flows within settlement systems are amplified by differences between small towns and larger urban centers with respect to the composition of migrants by age.When compared to model migration schedules (Rogers and Castro 1981), the former places exhibit a particularly high primary peak of out-migration rates, one corresponding to labor-related movement of young adults in their early twenties, as well as the absence of the secondary elevation pertaining to migration associated with retirement age. A reverse kind of difference concerns rates of in-migration by age (Rogers and Serow 1988). All this results in a progressing accumulation within small towns of populations in older age categories, along with a gap in the 20- to 40-years-of age group. The hierarchical configuration of internal migration within settlement systems corresponds to the population mobility transition phase (Zelinsky 1971) at which, due to an increasing proportion of urban population among the total, the formerly prevailing rural-to-urban migration gives way to inter-urban moves.The persistence of this migration pattern, attributed to the ascendancy of spatial concentration forces at both national and regional level (Colby 1933), was questioned in the late 1970s on the grounds of a turnaround in the balance of migration flows recorded in a number of highly urbanized countries, to the benefit of smaller urban places including those situated in peripheral regions (Vining and Kontuly 1978). This unanticipated shift, generally, albeit rather erroneously, referred to as counterurbanization (Berry 1978) revealed some limitations, in fact a general inadequacy, of the existing urban development theory (Zelinsky 1977). Accordingly, the various alternative explanatory factors proposed, including those related to: (a) technological change and the search for economic efficiency; (b) cultural predispositions ad natural amenities; (c) implicit policy; (d) exploitation, power and conflict, and (e) random space economy, failed to offer consistent explanation of the observed change (Bourne 1980). Since the latter was basically discontinued during the 1980s (Cheshire 1995), it could largely become interpreted as a deviation from established, long-term urbanization. Nonetheless, in view of recent developments, a discussion on its foundations should have been returned to. A step in this direction was taken in the 1990s, leading to the formulation of the differential urbanization concept (Geyer and Kontuly 1993; Geyer 1996, 2002). Here, in reference to the core– periphery model and the related notion of polarization reversal (Friedmann 1972; Richardson 1980), the migration turnaround phenomenon is incorporated into a secular change of national settlement systems. During its consecutive phases of urbanization, polarization reversal and counterurbanization, the mainstream migration flows are attracted mainly toward large, medium-sized and small towns, respectively.Whereas the first shift is geared by increasing economic integration of national territory, the driving force in the second is identified as a transition from productionism 24

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(Berry 1978) to environmentalism-oriented motivations of migration moves; growing weight is attached to quality of life in the choice of residential and workplace (and hence of firms’) location. Some pertinent questions, however, are left, in the differential urbanization concept, unanswered. First of all, the phenomenon of polarization reversal has originally been identified with an early urbanization stage, one marked by formation of regional and national urban systems (Friedmann 1966). It is not entirely clear in what measure it applies to developed countries, with their wellarticulated urban hierarchy and dense networks of inter–urban interactions. Hence, although the model designed aims to portray a revolving process, conditions for its continuation, once the first cycle is completed, are not really specified. Also, due to a fuzzy distinction made between the national and the regional, as well as the subregional level, basic differences in migration patterns observed, between these small towns situated within and those beyond metropolitan areas, are not taken into account in the model. Preference for small-town life (Gordon 1979), embodied in the environmentalism approach, is expressed in reality by both suburbanization and ex-urbanization, primarily by the former in terms of migration decisions made. The counterurbanization issue returned in the present century, though mainly in the sense of selectivity of the phenomenon – the specificity of its spatial context. Individual components of the latter include high urbanization level, high overall population density and advanced level of socioeconomic development. Under such conditions, which prevail in Great Britain, the Netherlands, to some extent in France, counterurbanization is pictured in the form of a creeping phenomenon. It was identified by Champion (2002) as counterurbanization cascade, one denoting a gradual transfer of net migration gains down the urban hierarchy, from large cities to medium-size and small towns, primarily within the perimeters of individual urban. This shift also involves rural areas (Ward and Brown 2009) which, owing to improved transport infrastructure, when coupled with the presence and growing appreciation of natural and cultural amenities, have been attracting residents as well as business, thus witnessing a reversing of long-term negative migration trends. In these general observations the interpretation of counterurbanization as an extension of, rather than departure from (Vining and Strauss 1977), the metropolitan development process is conveyed, with a focus on its ever-expanding spatial reach.

Town-ness and City-ness as Spheres of Urban Interaction In an attempt to redefine, within an integrated theoretical construct, the nature of and differences between vertical and horizontal external urban relations, Taylor, Hoyler and Verbruggen (2010) introduce the notions of “town-ness”, representing town–hinterland functional ties, and “city-ness” interpreted in terms of its links with the hinterworld. Whereas the former are analyzed in reference to the central place theory (Christaller 1933; Blotevogel 1996), the latter are considered from the urban-networks (Taylor 2001) and the space-of-flows (Castells 1996) perspective.These novel constructs are looked at here from the viewpoint of their implications for the evolving position of small towns within settlement systems. The authors assume that smaller urban places are to a higher degree constituted by local, i.e. town–hinterland, rather than network, relations.They argue that town-ness is inherently non-dynamic as an economic process. At the same time, following Jacobs (1969), they indicate that an urban place may be quickly changed by enhanced city-ness, whereas its economy becomes more complex, with important non-local links. Indeed, this happens to be the case not only of those small towns functionally integrated into metropolitan areas, but, as pointed out earlier in this chapter, also of some situated in peripheral regions.The latter, owing to external or local, territorial capital (Camagni 2008) related factors, are able to attract, or generate often niche-type, export-oriented activities. In fact, the division of a town’s external relations into these with its rural hinterland and those of network type is consistent with the identification of the categories of stabilizing and development functions (Blotevogel 2005; Greiving and Flex 2016) of peripherally situated small towns. 25

Ewa Korcelli-Olejniczak

Another point refers to the evolving role in small towns’ external relations of the place-ofresidence function. Taylor, Hoyler and Verbruggen (2010, p. 2816) make reference to a study by van Nuffel and Say (2006), who argued that:“the development of the network society has eroded the nested hierarchy of residential spaces, and ipso facto, central place theory (…) has been rendered outdated as a possible explanation of the present-day structuring tendencies of residential space”. Accordingly, as noted earlier in the present chapter, aside from receiving an inflow of new residents from their rural hinterland, small towns in amenity-rich peripheral areas become increasingly destinations for the ex-urbanite movement which accounts for their supra-local functions – the non-place external network relations; i.e. the city-ness component.

Alternative Future Development Paths The central question concerning the future of small towns is whether the metropolitan development is a reversible process or, like the urbanization phenomenon of which it comprises a part, a finite process. If the latter is true, it can be assumed that in a model case, at national scale, the share of metropolitan areas in total population size and (or) total volume of economic activity grows at a gradually decelerating pace until they approach asymptotically the saturation point.This implies mutual mitigation of driving and countervailing metropolization forces; a kind of flexible equilibrium in long-term perspective. Deflections from the curve, including the counterurbanization incident of the 1970s, can be interpreted as deviations of lesser or greater magnitude from the otherwise regular trajectory, caused by economic, social or political factors of basically transitional character. If, however, the settlement patterns molded under the metropolitan regime become at a certain point ill-adapted to fundamentally changing conditions of natural or human origin, a renaissance of small and medium-size towns appears to be the viable alternative, since such places offer suitable locations with regard to place-of-residence functions, and for a wide spectrum of industrial and service functions.This change may be conceptualized either in terms of the beginning of a new, longer development path or, as in the differential urbanization model, as a single phase within the general urbanization cycle. These two perspectives are incorporated in scenario-based studies on future human settlement structure in Europe (Ravetz et al. 20133; ESPON 2012) taking account of a wide spectrum of underlying environmental, social, political and technological factors. In some among these projections an acceleration of the observed metropolization process is foreseen as a consequence of rapid technological progress, in particular in the ITC sector, along with a drop in energy cost driven by new developments in its renewable sources. Conversely, a discontinuity, followed by a turnaround of metropolization trends observed, as presented as an alternative to the above scenarios, is assumed to be linked either with external factors of global dimension – the anticipated exhaustion of energy resources, the adverse consequences of climate change or with the progressive population ageing and rapid deterioration of living conditions within large cities and metropolitan areas. The former, a positive version of change represented by the Europe of the Regions (ESPON 2013) scenario corresponds with the idea conceived in the urban–rural region concept (Nilsson et al. 2013). Here, the spatial human settlement pattern that emerges in the middle of the 21st century is one in which urban and rural areas form a regionally differentiated mosaic.The small- and medium-sized towns function as focal points within self-contained, ecologically balanced regions. Their development, within a broad range of specialized activities, and preconditioned by life quality, is generated by inflow of skilled personnel and retirees, also economic entities from large, decentralizing urban centers. Local markets and local economic links become of growing importance.The imbalances at intermediate and lower levels of urban hierarchy are reduced. Such a transition is supported by policies emphasizing endogenous development and allocation of public goods based upon the principle of territorial cohesion. 26

Small Towns in Settlement Systems

Increasing social fragmentation and spatial social polarization are seen as negative forces responsible for a possible halt of metropolization. Here, the advancing population ageing generates immigration, partly uncontrolled, and gives rise to growing distrust among social groups.Tensions arise in relation to intergenerational financial transfers, and to the position and interests of ethnic communities. Social disintegration finds reflection in spatial divides (as vividly presented by Mallach, 2018).The older, native population with strong voting power occupies suburban zones, as well as “green enclaves” located in peri-urban and peripheral zones, whereas inner cities are the domain of immigrants. Smaller urban places perform service functions for the surrounding rural areas and the nearby situated residential communities. Hence, in light of studies on alternative futures, a possible turnaround of observed metropolization trends is mainly conditioned, aside from natural hazards, upon negative externalities of metropolitan development including adverse aspects of big-city (partly also suburban) life, rather than on the attracting force of small towns. Under specific assumptions, such a change may imply a contraction of suburban and peri-urban development with return to more compact urban patterns, or still another form of spatial deconcentration accompanied by a decline of inner cities. Irrespective of a metropolitan–non-metropolitan areas dichotomy, increasingly blurred owing to expanding peri-urban development, metropolization can and should be perceived as more or less spatially continuous, penetrating deeply, albeit with unequal, over time, intensity into rural countryside. In this process, small urban places, involved in networks of functional relations become detached from the rural hinterland, hence assuming the city-ness attributes (Taylor et al. 2010). Such a future of the total metropolization pattern was drawn by Friedmann and Miller (1965) in the form of the urban field, where small towns performed some regionally specialized, including knowledge-based, functions. Today, small towns in peripheral regions, equipped with natural and cultural amenities, assume increasingly the place-of-residence function of wide spatial range together with associated, extensive sphere of non-place (Webber 1964) social and economic contacts.Thus, they become a part of the metropolitan space.As expressed by Leven (1978, p. 6):“It is not so much that metropolitan life is being forsaken for a return to a small town or rural existence, but rather that metropolis is actually moving to the countryside”. Looking back at alternative development scenarios, it should be pointed out that the year 2020, with the experience of a new global-scale biological hazard, brings a necessity of revaluating the previous stance.This pertains to two essential aspects of interpersonal contacts and communication means.The first is the role of “social distancing” in its physical sense; the second pertains to massive and universal use of electronic media for telework and other than face-to-face human interaction. Both represent powerful forces of spatial deconcentration, possibly in the longer term.Their impact will certainly be studied, bringing a new generation of small-towns–focused empirical research works. It will also provoke the formulation of new, alternative concepts of human settlement structure and change. A prospective repositioning in the role of small towns in the spatial and functional structure of human settlement under a deconcentration trend will involve their progressing differentiation – a further increase in the range of urban experience. The traditional though continually important location factor of spatial accessibility, vis-a-vis large urban centers in particular, will be, on the one hand, counterbalanced by the availability of natural amenities, and, on the other, by the presence of local social capital. In such a future, a small town’s development chances may be determined less than previously by a peripheral situation within regional or national space.

Conclusions The secular process of concentration within urban systems’ hierarchy – an effect of diminishing friction of space, together with deconcentration of population and economic activity at local and sub-regional level – has strongly affected the small towns’ position in the spatial and functional 27

Ewa Korcelli-Olejniczak

structure of human settlement. Globalization forces, the restructuring of agricultural economy and the growing valuation of life quality among residential, but also work place, location factors have contributed over the last several decades to observed differentiation of functions performed by small urban places and their overall development trends.These have become mainly related to: (a) territorial position/situation vis-à-vis metropolitan centers on one hand and natural amenities on the other; (b) local endogenous resources such as social capital and quality of local government, (c) the role of the public sector in the provision of economic and social activities. Open, important questions pertain to the future development path of small towns and, accordingly, to their position in urban research. Which, among the conceptual approaches and alternative projections discussed here should be adopted in an attempt to outline the future position of small towns in regional and national settlement systems? One possibility, in the European context at least, is a state of flexible equilibrium in midterm. It would mean a development drift according to which the attracting power of large cities and metropolitan areas, related to their role in public administration, corporate control, academic, cultural and other specialized functions, is weighted against the small towns’ life-quality advantage. An alternative to the above appears to be a tilt toward population deconcentration in space, one followed by decentralization of labor markets, generated by possibly a rather rapid, to some extent intergenerational, change of residential preferences in favor of smaller urban and rural areas. Such a turn, once it occurs, would be incomparable in length and intensity to the 1970s counterurbanization, with the driving factors of the latter being never fully recognized, and should provide challenging questions to small towns’ research, moving the issue to the foreground in urban studies.

Notes 1 Various rules apply to the lower size limit. In some countries, minimum population size (usually 2,000 or 5,000) is used to differentiate between urban and rural settlements; in other instances, holding the formal town charter constitutes the relevant criterion. 2 See, among others: Gorzelak and Smętowski (2005) and Korcelli-Olejniczak (2015), on spatial functional structure of metropolitan regions in Poland. 3 These were formulated by adapting to the EU space the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) global context scenarios up to the year 2050 (IPCC 2000).

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3 SMALL TOWNS Theoretical Background and Research Issues – Perspectives from the United States Benjamin Ofori-Amoah

Introduction A common commentary about small towns in the United States of America is that they are deeply entrenched places in America’s consciousness that manifest in a wide range of emotions – from admired fascination to critical mythology (Lingeman, 1983; Lewis, 1972;Wright, 2000; Poll, 2012). Lingeman (1983) says this consciousness appears to ebb and flow with social upheaval. For Adicks (1983, p. 49) the consciousness has gone from being a frontier settlement, an established institution, a target for attack and satire, to an institution struggling to hold its place in a rapidly changing society. Indeed, following this consciousness is like going on a roller coaster.Thus, when the American industrial revolution caused massive migration from small towns to the big cities in the 1890s, concerns about the fate of small towns led the Country Life Movement and the subsequent Presidential commission to look into life in the rural areas in 1908 (Lingeman, 1983). Favorable views of small towns boosted partly by improved living conditions in rural areas and partly by World War I was short lived, when in the 1920s America became 50% urbanized. Small towns became the butt of satire on the part of urban America for being conservative, backward, and too traditional, causing the publication of some of the most critical novels about life in small towns America (Masters, 1915; Anderson, 1919; Lewis 1920).The depression years,World War II, and the post–World War II period through the 1970s revived the importance of small towns, as government rural development programs, suburbanization, counterurbanization, nonmetropolitan industrialization, and rural population growth projected America’s efforts to capture small-town dreams (Jackson, 1985; Lonsdale and Seyler, 1979; Champion, 1989a; Lingeman, 1983; Hart, 1988). However, when improved farm commodity prices in the 1970s ended in the 1980s, and deindustrialization and the farm-ownership crisis appeared to suck the last air out of small towns, their fate was again questioned (Davies, 1998; Davies et al, 2003; Connolly, 2010). Over a broad sweep on the place and role of small towns in the United States, researchers and policymakers have raised and answered many theoretical and practical questions about small towns from various perspectives.These questions have ranged from a definition of small towns, the role and functions of small towns, spatial and social structure and problems of daily living in small towns, to the growth and survival of small towns. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize some of these perspectives from the United States. In particular, it addresses some of the theoretical perspectives and research questions on the definition, the role and functions, and the future of small towns in the United States.The chapter draws on published literature in the social sciences including the work of historians, (rural) sociologists, psychologists, economists, geographers, and (rural) planners. 32

Small Towns: Perspectives from the US

The presentation follows a historical approach.The chapter is organized into three main sections and a conclusion. The first section deals with the definition of small towns in the United States. The second section deals with the role and functions of small towns.The third deals with the future of small towns.The concluding sections highlight some questions for further research.

Defnition of Small Towns What constitutes a town in the United States is not easy to define, much less a small town. In many instances the terms village, town, and city are used interchangeably. Jackson (1983) traces the terminology of city and town to 17th-century America. He points out that “city” and “town” were not defined by their population sizes or densities but by their functions.The city was a seat of authority, the place of government, and a center of administration, while the town was a collection of dwellings and farms, a place where people lived. In New England (the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) the town came to refer to a piece of land of less than 30 square miles, including farms, homesteads, and several villages, while in Virginia the expression such as “the city at Jamestown” was common (Jackson, 1983). The definition of a town became more complicated when the government decided to use population size to define dwelling places as urban during population censuses. Beginning in 1874, the minimum population for an urban place was set at 8,000 people. This was reduced to 4,000 people in 1880, and to 2,500 in 1910, while populations in areas with less than 2,500 people were classified as nonmetropolitan or rural (Radcliffe et al., 2016).While the 1910 definition of urban places has remained, other factors have added more confusion to the definition of a town.The first is that different state statutes apply different definitions to incorporated places. The result is that places of the same population size may be called a village in one state, a town in another, and a city in yet another state (Table 3.1). The second factor is the imposition of large geographic units by the government for purposes of administration and statistical collection on the settlement geography of the country. In the New England states, the term town or township refers to minor civil divisions, which operate like counties (Radcliffe et al., 2016; Lapping et al., 1989). In the Midwest however, townships were initially created as geographic units measuring 6 miles square, or 36 square miles. In Wisconsin, these units later on became political or civil townships with some limited local government powers. In other states, they consist of unincorporated settlements, named places, or enclaves of settlements typical of sprawl, with very limited governing power, and mostly administered by counties. For statistical collection and budget purposes, the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the US Census Bureau (USCB) in 1950, introduced a new population-based approach for defining places. All incorporated places with a core population of 50,000 or more became urbanized areas. All counties with one or more urbanized areas and outlying counties with economic ties to the cores as measured by commuting to work became standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs).The rest of the places were classified as nonmetropolitan areas or counties. In 1983, SMSAs became simply metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), but two new definitions of urban places were introduced – primary statistical metropolitan areas (PMSAs) and consolidated metropolitan statistical areas (CMSAs). PMSAs were MSAs with a core population of 1 million or more, while CMSAs were areas with more than one PMSA. In 2000, the USCB and OMB shifted from a county-based to a core-based statistical area (CBSA) definition of urban areas.They classified urban areas into two urbanized areas, defined as before (a core population of 50,000 people or more), and urban clusters – areas with at least a population of 2,500 but less than 50,000 (Lang and Dhavale, 2005). In 2003, urban clusters with a core population of 10,000 but less than 50,000, plus additional populations from adjacent territory that has a high degree of social and economic interaction with the core as measured by commuting ties, were classified as Micropolitan areas (Office of Management and Budget, 2010).At the same time, a city or town, or groups of cities and 33

No min Minimum population ≥ 1,500 Minimum population ≥ 500

Alaska Arizona Arkansas

34

District of Columbia Florida

Delaware

Connecticut

California Colorado

Minimum population >300, located in Jefferson County, or within 3 miles of incorporated area, requires ≥ 1,000 to incorporate; in Jefferson Country & within 3 miles of an incorporated area requires ≥ 10,000 people to incorporate

Minimum population ≥2,000

Alabama

Village

Same as city Minimum population ≥ 20 qualified voters to incorporate Minimum population ≥ 500 qualified voters to incorporate Same as city Minimum population≥ 2000 Petition must be signed by registered voters; 40 registered voters with a population of 50 landowners is needed to incorporate

No minimum

Same as city

Small Towns: Perspectives from the US

36

Minimum population ≥ 800 Minimum population ≥ 250; minimum density requirement of 4 people per acre if the city is within 7 miles of a county seat, or within 7 miles of another city at least equal to the density of the proposed city; there are no density requirements.These requirements do not apply to special charter cities No minimum

Nebraska Nevada

New Hampshire New Jersey No minimum New Mexico Minimum population ≥ 150, at least one person per acre, except in Hidalgo and Sierra counties where density must be 1 person per 4 acres

Minimum population ≥ 1,000

Same as city Same as city

Same as city

Minimum population ≥ 300, and a population density ≥500 per square mile, unless the community was a town site owned and built by the US Government prior to April 3, 1981

No minimum

Minimum population ≥ 500

Missouri

Montana

Minimum population ≥ 300

No minimum Minimum population ≥ 2,000

Minnesota Mississippi

Town

City

State

Table 3.1 Continued

Same as city Same as city

Minimum population ≥ 100

Under current Mississippi law, new villages may no longer be incorporated. Incorporated places before this law needed a population of>100 and 200

Village

Benjamin Ofori-Amoah

37

Vermont Virginia Washington

Utah

Texas

Tennessee

Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina

Oklahoma

No minimum

North Carolina Ohio

Same as city

No minimum Minimum population ≥ 5,000 Minimum population ≥ 1,500; territory within 5 air miles of a city whose population is ≥ 15,000 requires a minimum population of 3,000 to incorporate

Minimum population ≥ 1,000 Minimum population ≥ 300; territory within 5 air miles of a city whose population is ≥ 15,000 requires a minimum population of 3,000 to incorporate

Minimum population ≥ 25,000 for new cities; existing cities have minimum population requirement of 5,000. Cities must be at least 4 square miles in area, have a minimum 1,000 per square mile, and assessed property valuation of $2,500 per capita Minimum population ≥ 1,000 Petition signed by ≥ 25 registered voters needed to incorporate Minimum population ≥ 150 ≥ 150 Minimum population ≥ 10,000 no minimum No minimum Same as city No minimum; a minimum density of 300 per square mile, except for (1) area bordering on or being within 2 miles of the Atlantic Ocean; and (2) areas on all sea islands bounded on at least one side by the Atlantic; both require a minimum of 150 dwelling units, at least 1 dwelling unit per 3 acres, and 50 resident voters Minimum population 500, except cities under the manager-council Same as city form of government, which require a population of ≥5,000 to incorporate Minimum population 600 if organized under 1875 legislation, or Same as city 201 if organized under 1909 legislation Minimum population ≥800 Population ≥100 and

No minimum

New York

(Continued )

Minimum population ≥201 and ≤ 800 ≥ 30 houses

≥ 1,600, of 800 people per square mile, and an assessed property valuation of at least $3,500 per capita

Minimum population requirement of 500 and must have a population density of ≥ 100 people per square mile Same as city

Small Towns: Perspectives from the US

38

Source: Compiled from “Places” www2.census.gov/geo/pdfs/reference/GARM/Ch9GARM.pdf Accessed August 10, 2020

Same as city

Isolated cities are a population of 1,000, an area ≥ 1 square mile, and a population density of ≥ 500 people per square mile; metropolitan cities are situated in a county containing two cities with an aggregate population ≥ 25,000; metropolitan cities require a population of ≥ 5,000, an area of ≥ 3 square miles, and a population density of ≥750 people per square mile

Wisconsin

≥ 500 with an area of ≤ 3 square miles is required to incorporate

≤ 1 square mile require 100 residents to incorporate; otherwise at least 500 residents are required

Minimum population ≥ 2,001

West Virginia

Wyoming

Town

City

State

Table 3.1 Continued

≤ 1 square mile require 100 residents to incorporate; otherwise at least 500 residents are required Minimum population for isolated villages is 150; metropolitan villages are situated in a county containing two cities with an aggregate population of ≥ 25,000; metropolitan villages require a population of ≥2,500, an area of ≥2 square miles, and a density of ≥ 500 people per square mile

Village

Benjamin Ofori-Amoah

Small Towns: Perspectives from the US

towns, in New England that contain an urbanized area with a population of at least 2.5 million was designated as a New England City and Town Area (NECTA).A NECTA Division was also defined as consisting of a main city or town that serves as employment center plus adjacent cities or towns that have a high degree of integration with the main city or town as measured by commuting ties (Office of Management and Budget, 2010). The overlay of these large defined areas on the settlement geography of the country has made it difficult to identify and differentiate towns from other types of human settlements such as villages or cities.Thus, towns and villages in MSAs become part of the large city at the core instead of being small towns or villages. In the same vein, Micropolitan areas consist of places which, depending upon the state, may be cities or towns. The fact is there is no commonly acceptable definition of what constitutes a town or differentiates a small town from a small city.The result is that researchers and government agencies apply their own criteria of differentiation. For example, Lonsdale and Seyler (1979) used nonmetropolitan areas to refer to areas outside metropolitan areas. Jackson (1983) defined a town as “a small community with special social and cultural and economic characteristics that has little to do with size.” Francaviglia (1996) defined a small town as with a population more than 750 and less than 30,000. For Daniels et al. (1995) small towns have no more than 10,000 people, while Appler (2017) considers such places as small cities. In this volume, we are defining small towns as incorporated places with 20,000 people or less.This lack of a standard definition makes it difficult to do comparative studies. For example, this chapter is limited to only previous research that focused on places of 20,000 or less but not necessarily on literature that dealt with small towns or cities.The question is:“Is it necessary to have a common definition of towns and for that matter small towns?” Martino et al. (2019) reports that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2010) developed rural–urban area codes that seem to address directly what constitutes a town and a small town. Thus, large urban areas have at least one urbanized area of 50,000 or more; small urban areas are urban cluster with less than 50,000 but at least 10,000; small towns are urban clusters of 2,500 to 9,999 people; while rural areas are places with less than 2,500 people not adjacent to urban cluster or urbanized areas. Perhaps, adoption of this categorization could be a step in the right direction for future research.

The Role and Functions of Small Towns in the United States In the United States, small towns have three main roles and functions. First, they serve as dwelling places or homes of people. Second, they serve as hubs of economic activities.Third, they hold social, cultural, and political values.

Small Towns as a Primary Dwelling Places In 1790, only two places had more than 20,000 people in what was the United States of America. The two places were Philadelphia (41,582) and New York (31,328). This means that the overwhelming majority of Americans lived in small towns as defined in this book. A century later in 1890, more than 75% of Americans still lived in rural or small towns of 20,000 people or less. In 2019, there were an estimated 17,653 incorporated places with 20,000 people or less, accounting for 14.5% of the total United States population (Table 3.2). Studies on the role of small towns as people’s primary dwelling places in the United States have followed a stage, or phase, approach. As already mentioned,Adicks (1983) identified four phases – the frontier settlement, small towns as institution, small town as source of satire, and small towns as institution struggling to survive in a rapidly change society. For Davies et al. (2003) there are five phases – the formative years (1790–1890), Main Street ascendant (1890–1930), depression, war, and resurgence (1930–1960), crisis on main street (1960–1990), and farm crisis to the present (1990–present). During the frontier settlement period, most Americans lived and worked in small towns, most of which had less 39

40

Source: US Census Bureau

7.98 (values higher than the mean plus standard deviation): towns featuring high rate of ageing of the inhabitants (above the average).

The study of the interrelations between the elements of demographic processes (natural increase, net migration balance) and the rate of ageing of the population made use of Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient. Analysis was applied to all those settlement units which had urban rights during the period considered and had up to 20,000 inhabitants in 2017.4 Altogether, 670 small towns were analysed, that is, 72.6% of all towns in Poland.The total number of inhabitants of these units was close to 5 million (exactly 4,906,809), meaning that they accounted for 12.8% of the total population of Poland, and 21,2% of the total urban population in Poland. An average number of inhabitants in these towns was 7,324. The fundamental base of the statistical materials was constituted by the data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), concerning population numbers, net migration balance and natural increase. Attention ought to be paid to the fact that the available statistical data, concerning numbers of inhabitants of towns, may be biased with definite errors. Investigations, carried out by P. Śleszyński (2011), suggest that the intra-regional differences generally consist in the underestimation of population numbers in large agglomerations and overestimations with respect to the population of peripheral areas.Analogous difficulties concern also the data on migrations, especially the foreign ones. Many countries of Central Europe are characterised by the bipolar structure of an urban settlement network (Pirisi and Trócsányi 2014). On the one hand, this network is represented by the few, but dominating, in terms of population numbers, capitals of the regions, being the growth centres (poles). On the other hand, the settlement network is constituted by numerous small urban centres, which are relatively densely distributed over the space of the country. Poland, in contradistinction to Czechia and Hungary, which are characterised by the monocentric urban network, dominated by the primary centre (Prague or Budapest), features the polycentric setting with numerous and evenly spatially distributed representation of large and medium-sized towns. Small towns in Poland are the most numerous group in the structure of the urban settlement network (Table 10.1). They account for approximately 75% of all towns in Poland, and are rela142

143

1 16 203 672 892

1 709,781 6 213,349 10 447,708 4 917,343 23,288,181

0.1 1.8 22.8 75.3 100.0

7.3 26.7 44.9 21.1 100.0

% of urban population 1 15 202 705 923

Number of towns

% of towns

Number of towns

Number of inhabitants

2015–2017

2008–2010

Source: Own elaboration on the basis of data from Local Data Base (BDL) of GUS

1 million and more 200,000–1 million 20,000–200,000 below 20,000 Totals

Towns

1 764 615 5 880,662 10 458 668 5 005,308 23,109,253

Number of inhabitants

Table 10.1 Structure of the Urban Settlement Network in Poland in the Period 2008–2010 and in the Period 2015–2017

0.1 1.6 21.9 76.4 100.0

% of towns

7.6 25.4 45.3 21.7 100.0

% of urban population

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tively evenly distributed within the particular provinces.5 Small towns fulfil many essential social and economic functions.These centres constitute an important link in the system of connections between the rural areas and towns of regional and national significance (Kamińska and Mularczyk, 2014).

Analysis of Population Changes in Small Towns Relations Between the Natural Increase and Net Migration Balance in Small Towns Against the Background of Selected Conditions Small towns in Poland in the period 2008–2010 represented all of the demographic types here introduced. The regressive types (E, F, G, H), i.e. the ones featuring population number decrease, dominated.They accounted for close to 65% of the analysed settlement units.The remaining 35% of small towns were classified into the progressive types (A, B, C, D), featuring population increase (Tables 10.2 and Figure 10.2). The biggest number of units of the regressive character belonged to type H, in which the negative net migration balance was not compensated by the natural increase. These towns accounted for one in three of the total number of units considered. Natural increase ranged in these units from 0.01‰ to 8.1‰, while the net migration balance – from −0.6‰ to −16‰. The highest numbers of such towns were situated in south-eastern Poland (provinces of Małopolskie, Podkarpackie and Lubelskie), and in north-western and western Poland (provinces of Pomorskie, Zachodniopomorskie and Lubuskie). The demographic situation of these towns is influenced by the respective historical, cultural and economic conditions. Inhabitants of south-eastern part of Poland are characteristic in their strong attachment to religion and family traditions (Kotowska and Giza-Poleszczuk, 2010; Duszczyk et al., 2014; Wiara i religijność Polaków …, 2009). A high percentage share of this population lives within the rural areas, dominated by the agricultural function. In the period when Poland was partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria (1795–1918), this area belonged to two different administrative structures (Galicia, belonging to Austria-Hungary and the so-called Congress Kingdom, belonging to Tsarist Russia), and this fact finds its reflection even nowadays in the demographic phenomena Table 10.2 Changes in Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2008/2010–2015/2017 Demographic types of small towns

2008/2010

2015/2017

Dynamics

Small towns

A B C D progressive types total E F G H regressive types total Grand total

Number

%

Number

%

2008/2010=100

93 51 46 45 235 35 38 139 223 435 670

13.9 7.6 6.9 6.7 35.1 5.2 5.7 20.7 33.3 64.9 100.0

42 24 36 28 130 39 122 254 125 540 670

6.3 3.6 5.4 4.2 19.4 5.8 18.2 37.9 18.7 80.6 100.0

45.2 47.1 78.3 62.2 55.3 111.4 321.1 182.7 56.1 124.1 100.0

Source: Own elaboration based on data from GUS (http://www.stat.gov.pl)

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Figure 10.2 Distribution of Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2008–2010 Source: Own elaboration on the basis of data from GUS (stat.gov.pl)

(Szukalski, 2019; Rosner, 2007).The indicators of fertility and child-bearing in the south-eastern regions of Poland have been, in recent periods, above the respective national averages (Szukalski, 2015).Yet, lack of development perspectives, confirmed by the low socio-economic indicator values, motivate the inhabitants of small towns to migrate out to large urban centres or abroad. The migrating group is clearly dominated by young and active persons. On the other hand, the north-western and western regions of Poland belonged during the partition period to Prussia, and when these territories were incorporated into Poland after the World War II, they were populated by the Polish rural residents from the East (mainly the territories of the present-day Ukraine), replacing the resettled Germans.These forced, post-war migration movements resulted in the relatively young demographic structure, which is still characterised today by birth rates exceeding the national averages (Śleszyński, 2018), still, nevertheless, not compensating for the migration outflow. Towns which were classified in type H displayed high migration outflow indicator values, caused by social and economic conditioning. The relevant studies suggest that the actual migration outflows have been much higher than those provided in the official statistics (Solga, 2013; Śleszyński, 2018). It is indicated by P. Śleszyński (2018) that this resulted primarily from lack of obligatory registering of foreign travel. Higher mobility of the population concerned the northern and western parts of the country, this fact being explained by historical conditioning, including the previously mentioned population of these areas by newcomers immediately following World War II, due to the shift of political boundaries (Śleszyński, 2018). Until today, societal and family ties have remained, making it easier to make a decision to leave a given town.The economic factors, on the other hand, were associated with the situation on the labour market after 1989. Only a few of the small towns were able, after the crisis, caused by systemic transformation, to develop new economic functions and to diversify the labour market. In the mono-functional towns (mainly based on manufacturing), liquidation or restructuring of the enterprise, often constituting the sole significant place of employment, would bring a crisis on the local labour market and an increase in unemployment, which, in turn, motivated many inhabitants to leave this particular town (KantorPietraga et al., 2012). The resulting shrinking of the population (particularly affecting those of productive age) generated other problems, including, for instance, a decrease in municipal revenue (CIT, PIT, local taxes). Economic problems were further aggravated by disadvantageous social phenomena (unemployment, social exclusion, pathologies, etc.) and the lack of interest on the part of potential investors. Small towns, classified in type H, often feature also an inconvenient 145

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location on the regional scale. A decisive majority of them is located within the peripheral areas, at significant distances from the main regional centres and main transport routes (Kwiatek-Sołtys, 2004; Domański and Nowról, 2010; Kamińska and Mularczyk, 2014). Such a location constitutes a factor contributing to disadvantageous demographic structure (Kamińska and Mularczyk, 2014). In the small towns situated in the northern and western territories of Poland, population outflow was also due to the collapse of the state farms. In the period of the centrally managed economy the centres here analysed were being economically activated through the development of industry as the city-forming factor, and fulfilled the service functions with respect to the collectivised agricultural sector as well as the rural population (Jażewicz, 2005). The economic situation of the small towns drastically changed in the period of economic transformation, with the most disadvantageous changes resulting from the liquidation of the state farms, functioning in the vicinity of these towns. Unemployment increased first of all in the centres, which provided service to collectivised agriculture, and this became one of the main reasons for job-related emigration to Germany (Jażewicz, 2005). It should, however, be emphasised that among the towns representing type H, there were also units which economically succeeded in connection with systemic transformation. These units include, in particular, those having tourist, leisure and health resort functions (for instance: Hel, Ustka, Busko-Zdrój, Kartuzy, Muszyna or Szczawnica).According to Pietraga-Kantor et al. (2012), p. 19, such towns are commonly identified (as) friendly for living in them, with possibility of finding a job (…).These (…) positive images and realities lead (…) to the increase of the level of the estate rent (…).This is reflected, in particular, in the high estate prices. Inflow of tourists brings, as well, higher, on the average, prices in the retail trade offer (…).The increase in the significance of the leading leisure and tourism proportionally adds to the popularity and attractiveness (…) of the locality, but also propels the phenomenon of differentiation of prices between this locality and (…) the not too far rural surroundings.The increase in the level of the estate rent causes that such locality is for many persons (…) too expensive to settle there, and for many (…) too expensive to continue living there. A part of residents, professionally associated with this locality, prefer to sell (…) their property and settle down in the neighbouring rural localities. A large group of towns of type H was also located in Śląskie and Opolskie provinces. In this case, a significant factor in the migration outflow was the fact that a definite share of the population was constituted by persons of German or “Silesian” extraction. These ethnic groups had greater possibilities of finding employment in Germany, and hence foreign migrations constituted an important factor in the shrinking of the population resources (Solga, 2013; Jończy et al., 2013). Similar circumstances also existed in some of the towns, located in the mountainous areas of Małopolskie and Podkarpackie provinces, from where an outflow of a part of population to the United States took place (Pietraga-Kantor et al., 2012). The second place in terms of numbers was occupied by the towns representing type G, characterised by the fact that the natural decrease in them was lower than the migration outflow.This means that the decrease in the population number in these towns resulted mainly from migration movements. In this group of towns, net migration balance ranged from −0.37‰ to −15.4‰, while the natural increase indicator ranged between −0.01‰ and −8.1‰. Every fifth small town in Poland belonged to this demographic type.The biggest numbers of such towns were located in Dolnośląskie province (18% of the total number of towns in type G), then in Zachodniopomorskie (10%), Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie (9% each) and in Opolskie (8.6%). In the province of Dolnośląskie small towns of type G were concentrated in Sudety Mts and in the northern part of the region. In Sudety Mts, the process of depopulation was observed 146

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already at the end of the 19th century. In consequence of this process, the outflow of population took place from the mountainous areas to large cities with well-developed industrial functions (Kościk, 1990).The second wave of depopulation of the territory of Sudety Mts was associated with the exchange of population following World War II. The resettled German population was replaced by the incoming Polish population, originating from present-day Ukraine and from south-eastern Poland (Jerkiewicz, 1983).The subsequent phase of depopulation in Sudety Mts took place in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time the post-war settlers, discouraged with regard to farming in mountainous areas, started to leave the locations situated at higher altitudes. Degradation of the unrepaired housing facilities, liquidation of the private craft and industrial workshops, located in rural areas, problems with transport, as well as difficulties associated with residence in the border-adjacent zone, became the reasons for an important outflow of population from the mountainous areas (Latocha, 2013). In some towns (like in Kudowa-Zdrój) even the well-developed tourism functions and non-market services have not stopped migration outflow (Chądzyńska and Iwaszko, 2012). On the other hand, the townships in the northern part of Dolnośląskie province were located at significant distances from the biggest towns of the region and the industrial districts. Their peripheral location was the factor “pushing out” the population from them. In Zachodniopomorskie and Kujawsko-Pomorskie provinces a significant migration outflow from type G centres was mainly caused by the economic factors and the peripheral location. In the case of Zachodniopomorskie province, which is adjacent to the border with Germany, this location facilitated and motivated job-related migration (Horolets et al., 2018).The economic structure of Warmińsko-Mazurskie province had been dominated by the agricultural function, primarily in the form of state farms.The inhabitants of the small urban centres were often employed in these state farms. As an effect of the liquidation of these farms during the 1990s, a large group of employees lost jobs and unemployment soared. The weakly developed networks of bigger towns, problems with access to higher-order service, as well as poor resources on the labour market motivated the inhabitants, and mainly the younger ones, to searching for more attractive places of residence (Horolets et al., 2018). The negative net migration balance in the small towns of type G had its reflection in the natural increase. It was namely so that young women, in the childbearing age, have been characterised by higher mobility. Outflow of this category of inhabitants brought about the decrease in childbearing indicators.This phenomenon was additionally strengthened by the changing cultural patterns, including those concerning fertility (Kurek and Lange, 2013; Szukalski, 2019). Among the progressive types of centres, the biggest group was constituted by the towns of type A, in which natural increase exceeded the negative net migration. The natural increase indicator ranged in this group of small towns from 0.10‰ to 7.4‰, while the net migration balance ranged from −0.03‰ to −6.5‰. This type of town contains 93 units, that is, approximately 14% of the total number of settlement units considered. The biggest number of small towns of type A was situated in Wielkopolskie province (26), then in Małopolskie (11) and in Podkarpackie (11). It can be concluded from the study of small towns in Wielkopolskie that migration outflow took place mainly on the small town–countryside axis (Męczyński et al., 2010).This outflow, however, was so small that it did not exceed the natural increase. In the small towns of Małopolskie and Podkarpackie provinces, as in the rural areas, the traditional family and cultural models persist, resulting from the strong attachment to religion of the society there. In the opinion of Szukalski (2004, 2005), new models of procreation and family reached those regions later than the areas of western Poland, this fact being reflected through the still relatively high indicator values of natural increase. On the other hand, the area analysed is characterised by an economic and housing situation that is worse than the average in the country, and this stimulates the inhabitants to migrate out from their places of residence (Domański and Noworól, 2010).Yet, the balance of natural increase and outflow remains positive. 147

Jerzy Bański et al.

The towns, classified in the remaining demographic types, had decidedly lesser significance. Their shares in the total number of units considered ranged from 5% (types E and F) to 8% (type B).

Changes in the Relation Between the Natural Increase and Net Migration Balance in the Period 2008/2010–2015/2017 In the years 2008/2010–2015/2017 essential changes took place in the structure of the analysed demographic types of small towns in Poland.The share of towns belonging to the regressive types increased from 64.9% to 80.6%. Simultaneously, the share of the demographically progressive settlement units decreased from 35.1% to 19.4% (Figure 10.3). Among the regressive units the biggest number observed was of type G towns, whose share increased in the years 2008/2010–2015/2017 from 20.7% to 37.9%.This means that in a relatively short time the number of towns featuring both natural decrease and negative net migration balance almost doubled. Their biggest numbers were observed in Kujawsko-Pomorskie province (28), in Zachodniopomorskie (23), Warmińsko-Mazurskie (21) and Dolnośląskie (20).Yet, if we consider the percentage share of the type G towns in the overall number of small settlement units, their significance would turn out to be the highest in Kujawsko-Pomorskie (62%), followed by Pomorskie (58%), Świętokrzyskie (58%), Warmińsko-Mazurskie (55%) and Podlaskie (54%). Except for Pomorskie province, all of the others just mentioned are among the less economically developed in the country, this being confirmed, in particular, by the fact that three of them (Świętokrzyskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie and Podlaskie) participate in a special programme of the European Union: Development – Eastern Poland. A lot of social problem areas were identified in the territory of these provinces. The cause of the disadvantageous demographic phenomena in small towns lies, first of all, in the outflow of young people – to a large extent, women – looking for a better life in large agglomerations or, less frequently, abroad.An additional problem is constituted by the fact that the emigrants are usually better educated and more socially and economically active. The share of the settlement units representing type H decreased in the analysed period from 33.3% to 18.7%, this being confirmation of the decrease of significance of the natural processes in the changes of population numbers in small towns to the advantage of migration flows.The values of the indicator of natural increase in these towns ranged from +0.01‰ to 6.8‰, while the net migration balance ranged between −0.8‰ and −16.6‰.The biggest numbers of the centres of this

Figure 10.3 Distribution of Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2015–2017 Source: Own elaboration on the basis of stat.gov.pl

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The Natural and Migration Movements

type were located in eastern and south-eastern Poland (Lubelskie, Podkarpackie and Małopolskie provinces) and in the western part of the country (Wielkopolskie and Lubuskie). In Lubelskie, towns of this type accounted for almost one in three of the total number of small towns in the province, in Małopolskie, for close to 30%, and in Podkarpackie, for 39%.The regions mentioned are the stronghold of traditional family values and religiosity (Religijność Polaków i ocena sytuacji Kościoła katolickiego, 2018).The childbearing indicator values, even though systematically decreasing, are still relatively high against the national background (Szukalski, 2019). In these towns, positive natural increase is observed, despite the long-lasting migration outflow.Then, of the western provinces, in Wielkopolskie province, type H towns accounted for almost 40% of the total number, while in Lubuskie, for 33%. It is suggested by Szukalski (2019) that local societies in western Poland reacted more actively to the introduced social programs (like, e.g. 500+, 300+), and hence the child-bearing indicators in these regions of the country increased beyond the average. The third place, in terms of numbers, was occupied in the period 2015–2017 by the towns of type F, in which the natural decrease exceeded the negative net migration balance. The share of these towns in the entire analysed sample increased more than threefold, from 5.7% to 18.2%. The natural increase indicator values for this type ranged from −0.4‰ to −13.9‰, while the net migration balance indicator values ranged between 0.01‰ and −6.4‰. The biggest share of type F towns was observed in Dolnośląskie province (45%), followed by Łódzkie (36%), Opolskie and Zachodniopomorskie (28% each), and Śląskie (27%).The common feature of the majority of these towns was their peripheral location with respect to the main regional centres. In the first of the provinces mentioned from among 32 towns, classified as belonging to type F in 2017, more than half moved to type G in 2008.This means that an important migration outflow, having taken place in the years preceding the period of analysis, made a disadvantageous impact on the natural processes, this being a confirmation of the earlier indicated statement that it is young persons, of childbearing age, that emigrate most frequently from the small centres. The towns representing the remaining demographic types, were not numerous, with their shares in the total number of units analysed ranging from 3.6% (type B) to 6.3% (type A). In 2008/2010 the demographic type A consisted of 93 small towns and only 18 of them remained in the same type by 2015/017. Among the remaining centres, 11 were classified in other demographic types, yet still in the category of the progressive types (change of type from A to B, C or D). Regarding the other 64 small towns, classified in 2008–2010 in type A, the changes which took place, meant that in 2015/2017 they were classified in the regressive types (E, F, G or H). Concerning the small towns belonging to the progressive type B, their number decreased in the years 2008/2010–2015/2017 from 51 to 10. Of the 41 towns making the difference, 18 were still classified in one of the progressive types, while 23 had moved by the years 2015–2017 to one of the regressive types.Then, in the group of 46 towns classified in 2008/2010 in type C, 6 remained in this type, 26 stayed in one of the progressive types, while the remaining 14 centres had moved by 2015/2017 to one of the regressive types. In the case of 45 towns classified in 2008/2010 in type D, only 9 remained in this type, 5 stayed in some other progressive type, and as many as 31 changed to the regressive type. As far as the small towns are concerned that were included in the regressive types at the beginning of the study period, the changes of types were less significant and consisted, primarily, in the transfers to other types of regressive character.Thus, from among 35 units of type E in 2008/2010, 5 remained in this type, 27 changed the type to another regressive one and only 3 had moved by 2015/2017 to a progressive type. Similar shifts occurred with respect to type F towns. Of 38 units in this type, 15 remained in it, and from among the remaining ones, 20 moved to another regressive type, while 3 moved to a progressive type.The two biggest groups of towns, i.e. those belonging to types G and H, were also characterized by the domination of transfers to other regressive types. Type G consisted of 139 centres in 2008/2010 and during the period of study 149

150

51 46 45 35 38 139 223 670

B C D E F G H

5 10 6 1 0 0 1 1 24

42

B

18 10 6 0 0 0 0 8

A

36

2 6 16 4 0 3 0 5

C

28

4 2 4 9 3 0 3 3

D

130

29 28 32 14 3 3 4 17 39

3 0 2 12 5 6 6 5

Totals for the progressive ones E

122

5 5 3 10 19 15 52 13

F

Numbers of towns according to demographic types in 2015/2017

Source: Own elaboration on the basis of stat.gov.pl

93

Number of towns

A

2008/2010

Demographic types

254

25 9 5 7 7 12 71 118

G

125

31 9 4 2 1 2 6 70

H

Table 10.3 Changes of the Demographic Types of Small Towns in Poland in the Period 2008/2010–2015/2017

540

64 23 14 31 32 35 135 206

Totals for the regressive ones

Jerzy Bański et al.

The Natural and Migration Movements

71 units remained in this type, 61 moved to another regressive type and only 3 changed the type to a progressive one. Finally, out of 223 towns, classified in type H in 2008/2010, 70 remained in this type, 136 moved to another regressive type, while 17 were classified in 2015/2017 in the progressive types B or D. Analysis of changes as to the demographic types of small towns in the period 2008/2010– 2015/2017 showed quite clearly the prevalence of the negative phenomena regarding the natural increase and net migration balance.The share of the settlement units with the negative net migration balance increased from 74% to 81%, and in the case of natural decrease, from 38% to 66%.There was also a more than twofold increase (from 26% to 56%) of the share of small towns, featuring at the same time negative net migration balance and natural decrease. Simultaneously, there was a distinct decrease (from 15% to 9%) of the share of small towns, in which both these quantities were positive.

Process of Ageing of Inhabitants of Small Towns in the years 2008/2010–2015/2017 – Classifcation and Conditioning In the period between 2008/2010 and 2015/2017 in almost all small towns in Poland the phenomenon of population ageing has been observed (Figure 10.4). This has been a persistent tendency since the turn of the 21st century (Kwiatek-Sołtys, 2006).The average value of the indicator of demographic ageing (WSD) for the entire set of the towns considered was equal to 5.6, reaching in some selected cases from between 10.4 and 16.1.

Figure 10.4 Distribution of Small Towns According to the Rates of Ageing of Inhabitants in the Years 2008/2010–2015/2017. Provinces: 1. Dolnośląskie, 2. Kujawsko-Pomorskie, 3. Lubelskie, 4. Lubuskie, 5. Łódzkie, 6. Małopolskie, 7. Mazowieckie, 8. Opolskie, 9. Podkarpackie, 10. Podlaskie, 11. Pomorskie, 12. Śląskie, 13. Świętokrzyskie, 14. Warmińsko-Mazurskie, 15.Wielkopolskie, 16. Zachodniopomorskie Source: Own elaboration on the basis of stat.gov.pl

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Group Y, with the rejuvenating age structure of the inhabitants, consists of only 10 towns (1.5% of the total number of units considered).They belong to six provinces, and so one can hardly speak of any conditioning related to regional differences. Five of these towns are situated in the zones of influence of large cities. It can therefore be assumed that the development of these five units is significantly influenced by the suburbanisation and gentrification processes.They are the destinations of young people or young families, originating both from the regional centres and from rural areas (Zborowski and Raźniak, 2013).Those people look for lower costs of living than in a large city and, at the same time, for better housing conditions. In the majority of the small towns situated in the vicinity of the regional centres, a dynamic development of family housing has been observed since the 1990s.The increase in the number of private cars and the improvement in the transport infrastructure, as well as in transport services, establish convenient conditions for the daily job-related pendulum migrations. Besides, the flow of migrants in the mobile productive age is being attracted to small towns by the offer of relatively cheaper space for business activity, lower costs of municipal services, and the positive attitude of the local authorities towards entrepreneurship (Śleszyński, 2009).The synergy of all the factors mentioned allows for the maintenance of the young demographic structure of these settlement units.The remaining five centres from group Y are the towns with health resorts and industrial and transport functions.These towns attract young people with the ample offers of the labour market and the convenient road connections to large cities. A vast majority, namely 660 of the small towns (i.e. 98.5%), are characterised by the population ageing processes, taking place at varying rates. In group A1, in which ageing is slower than on average, 80 centres are classified (some 12% of the overall number of units considered).This kind of town had the biggest shares in the following provinces: Śląskie, 32.4%, Podlaskie, 25% and Podkarpackie, 22.2%. Considering the conditioning of the slow ageing of the local populations, one can distinguish in this group three categories of towns.The first of these includes the settlement units which are situated in the shade of the large urban centres of supra-regional significance (e.g. Puszczykowo and Kórnik near Poznan, Milanówek, Sulejówek and Brwinów near Warsaw, or Świątniki Górne near Cracow). Location rent and functional links to the large urban centres, providing a rich offer on the labour market, contributed to the limitation of the negative changes in the demographic structures.These towns were characterised by domination of immigration over emigration, and the immigrants, as the persons of mobile productive age, slowed down the processes of the ageing of society.The faster rate of ageing than in group Y was due to the lower birth rates. According to the study by Kurek and Lange (2013), the inhabitants of the suburban areas were taking over the new procreation and family models earlier than in the areas situated farther away from the main economic centres, and this had a bearing on the birth rates, leading to their decline.The second category of towns in group A1 was constituted by the units situated in the areas featuring positive birth rate levels, with traditions of families having many children, and with strong attachment of the population to religious values.These are the towns located in Podkarpackie province (Pilzno), in Małopolskie (Nowy Wiśnicz, Czchów, Skała, Grybów), in Śląskie (Wilamowice, Strumień) and in Podlaskie (Tykocin).The relatively slower rate of ageing of the population was mainly due to natural increase and the childbearing indicators having values beyond the average. In only a few towns (Czchów,Wilamowice, Strumień, Nowy Wiśnicz) was natural increase accompanied by a positive net migration balance, resulting from the well-developed labour market and convenient location with respect to transport routes, enabling daily pendulum migrations.The third category was constituted by the settlement units situated far from the regional urban centres, often within the peripheries of the regions, but featuring dynamic economic development and a well-developed settlement network as well as transport infrastructure.The possibility of pendulum migrations (commuting) and good living conditions made way for high birth rates.The biggest number of towns in this category was identified in Wielkopolskie province (e.g. Opalenica, Śmigiel, Krzywin, Poniec, Pogorzela, Zduny,Tuliszków). More than 70% of the towns analysed were characterised by the approximately average rate of population ageing (group A2) (see Table 10.4) and the value of the demographic ageing indicator 152

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2.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.3 3.3 10.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.9 0.0 0.0 1.1 0.0 1.5

3 3 1 1 0 13 7 3 8 7 3 11 4 0 13 2 80

4.2 6.7 3.2 2.8 0.0 29.5 11.7 10.3 22.2 25.0 12.5 32.4 15.4 0.0 14.6 3.9 11.9

Number of towns % share

Number of towns % share

2 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 10

Group A1 – low rate of ageing

Group Y – rejuvenation

Source: Own elaboration on the basis of stat.gov.pl

Dolnośląskie Kujawsko-Pomorskie Lubelskie Lubuskie Łódzkie Małopolskie Mazowieckie Opolskie Podkarpackie Podlaskie Pomorskie Śląskie Świętokrzyskie Warmińsko-Mazurskie Wielkopolskie Zachodniopomorskie Totals

Province

56 40 20 26 25 57 42 21 24 18 14 21 13 38 70 29 485

78.9 88.9 64.5 72.2 89.3 65.9 70.0 72.4 66.7 64.3 58.3 61.8 50.0 100.0 78.7 56.9 72.4

Number of towns % share

Group A2 – average rate of ageing

10 2 10 9 3 1 9 2 4 3 7 1 9 0 5 20 95

14.1 4.4 32.3 25.0 10.7 2.3 15.0 6.9 11.1 10.7 29.2 2.9 34.6 0.0 5.6 39.2 14.2

Number of towns % share

Group A3 – high rate of ageing

71 45 31 36 28 44 60 29 36 28 24 34 26 38 89 51 670

Total numbers of towns

Table 10.4 The Numbers and the Shares of Small Towns According to Changes in the Demographic Ageing Indicator Value in the period 2008/2010–2015/2017 in Particular Provinces of Poland

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ranged in them from 3.2 to 7.98. As in the group A1, one can distinguish here several categories in terms of the conditions shaping the population ageing processes in these units.The first of these categories consists of the towns which are characterised both by the low birth rates and the excess population outflow. They accounted for 56% (268 units) of the total number of towns in group A2. A large number of towns in this category are located in the so-called problem areas, where population potential is shrinking and, at the same time, economic development is lagging behind (Eberhardt, 1989; Bański, 2002). Ageing of the population had already been observed there in the period of the centrally planned economy, and after transformation it became even more intensive. The second category was constituted by the towns (125 of them), which were characterised in the period 2008 to 2017 by only one of the two negative phenomena (natural decrease or negative net migration balance), but the observed phenomena were very intensive.These units are located in the transitory zones between the large urban centres and the peripheries of provinces. Population losses were associated here primarily with the economic crisis, that is, with liquidation or restructuring of the local production facilities. Liquidation of jobs entailed increased unemployment, which, in turn, stimulated the inhabitants to migrate. Only in some of these units have production functions been preserved, but even there the scale of employment in the local enterprises would most often get smaller. Similar tendencies have also been observed in other post-socialist countries of Central Europe (Pirisi and Trócsányi, 2014). In the third category of towns, the net migration balance was positive and the population number increased, but, nevertheless, population ageing was taking place there.This category included, first of all, towns with developed tourist functions. Such towns were frequently chosen as the place of residence by elderly persons. An attractive natural environment and well-developed health care services were the factors attracting older persons. Group A3, characterised by the rate of ageing beyond the average, was composed of 95 small towns.These towns are mainly located in the north-western part of Poland (in Pomorskie province, 29% of small towns, in Zachodniopomorskie, 39% and in Lubuskie, 25%), and in eastern Poland (32% of small towns in Lubelskie and 35% in Świętokrzyskie).They are also relatively numerous in Mazowieckie and in Dolnośląskie. In the case of the north-western regions population ageing was due both to migration outflow and to low birth rates.These areas have been treated during several post-war decades as demographically young (Kurek, 2007), but already at the end of the 20th century Eberhardt (1989) classified these areas among those featuring excess migration outflow. Migrations intensified after the crisis in the agricultural sector, caused by the collapse of the state farms, and then after Poland joined the EU. Even the very high tourist attractiveness and coastal location of some of these small towns have not alleviated the demographic problems. Thus, such towns as Hel, Krynica Morska, Ustka or Dziwnów, with the well-known tourist and spa qualities, featured natural decrease and migration outflow. Regarding the towns from eastern and central Poland, the fundamental factor in population ageing was the very high migration outflow.The respective areas are situated in the farming surroundings, with poorly developed urban network and low levels of transport-wise accessibility.The disadvantageous demographic processes have been taking place there for a long time (an increase in the share of population of post-productive age and the disturbed sex structure of the population, resulting from the outflow of young women), which is why they are classified as demographic problem areas (Bański, 2002). On the other hand, in Dolnośląskie province, the towns with high WSD indicator values are situated in Sudety Mts and are characterised by long-lasting depopulation, resulting in the disturbed age structure of the resident population.The attractive location in the mountains, health-resort type of qualities, as well as dynamically developing tourism, has not stopped the negative population changes. Towns like Bystrzyca Kłodzka, Duszniki-Zdrój, LądekZdrój, Stronie Śląskie or Lwówek Śląski featured negative net migration balance and very high values of the WSD indicator. The identified spatial regularities are in agreement with the results of investigations of S. Kurek (2007). According to this author, there are distinct tendencies of disappearance of the differences 154

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between the population of north-western Poland, which, until quite recently, has been relatively young, and the older population of central-eastern Poland. It can therefore be concluded that the historical factors, linked with the settling of the so-called “regained territories”,6 lose their significance in the formation of the contemporary demographic structures in small towns. It should be expected that nowadays the decisive factors in shaping the ageing processes taking place in the small towns of Poland are mainly constituted by social changes, which are referred to in the concept of the second demographic transition, amplified by the change in the cultural models followed.

Interrelations of Demographic Phenomena Occurring in Small Towns Conforming to the prerequisites of the theory of the second demographic transition, the influence on the rate of ageing of the societies is exerted, first of all, by the socially and technologically regulated fertility-related and migration-oriented behaviours of the population, along with the decrease in mortality. It was assumed in the study here reported that the diagnosed demographic situation of small towns at the beginning of the period considered (i.e. in 2008) shaped the rate of ageing of their inhabitants over the years 2008/2010–2015/2017.The values of the Pearson linear correlation coefficient for the entire set of 670 units between the natural increase and the indicator of the rate of population ageing was at −0.075 (for the significance level p = 0.05).This means that the rate of ageing of the inhabitants was not correlated with the natural increase values. On the other hand, the value of Pearson linear correlation coefficient between the net migration balance and the rate of ageing of the population was equal to −0,480 and was statistically significant (p = 0.05). It can therefore be stated that the rate of ageing of the populations in small towns in the years 2008/2010–2015/2017 was correlated with the net migration balance.The bigger the migration outflow, the higher the rate of ageing of the local population. The statistical analyses carried out allow for stating that the main element in the group of demographic phenomena shaping the rate of ageing of the population in Polish small towns is the net migration balance.

Summary and Conclusions In the period between 2008/2010 and 2015/2017 the share of small towns, classified in the regressive demographic types, increased from 65% to more than 80%.The dominating type in 2008/2010 was type H, in which the negative net migration balance was not compensated by the positive natural increase. In 2015/2017, the highest share in the structure of small towns was taken by the towns of type G, constituted by those towns in which natural decrease is lower than migration outflow.The analyses performed make it possible to state that in the years 2008/2010–2015/2017 the natural increase lost in significance as the element shaping the magnitude of the population potential in the settlement units considered. In 2008/2010 the positive natural increase occurred in close to 62% of the small towns, while in 2015/2017 natural decrease dominated, with positive increase observed only in roughly 33% of small towns.The primary factor determining potential population changes was migration.At the beginning of the analysed period net migration outflow was observed in 74% of the small towns, while by 2015/2017 this share increased to 81%. The population trends analysed have a negative character, and their effect consisted in depopulation. The process of population ageing took place in the years 2008/2010–2015/2017 in almost all of the small towns in Poland. It was only in 10 towns that the age structure of the resident population got younger. In the remaining 660 small towns, ageing of the population was proceeding at various rates.The biggest changes occurred in the small towns located in north-western and centraleastern parts of Poland. These units were primarily characterised by net migration outflow. The lowest rates of ageing were observed in the small centres, situated in the southern belt of provinces from Śląskie through Małopolskie to Podkarpackie. 155

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The results of this study confirm that the processes of ageing of the populations in small towns in Poland become increasingly intensive and widespread. The trends concerning these processes, described by various authors, are intensifying (see Kantor-Pietraga, 2014; Kantor-Pietraga et al., 2012; Długosz et al., 2011; Kurek, 2007).The ageing of the population of small towns will, in the future, have a negative influence on the state of their economies and the functioning of social structures.The study by W. Kamińska (2006) shows that new businesses are primarily being established by young people, who are the main group, migrating out of the small centres.Ageing of the population means also an intensive erosion of the quality of the resources of the labour force and of social capital in small towns. The analysis of interrelations between natural increase, net migration and ageing of the inhabitant populations allowed for stating that the phenomenon of ageing depends primarily on the contemporary directions of migrations. On the other hand, no significant interdependences were identified between the natural increase and the rate of ageing of the populations. Intensification of the negative migration processes is commonly indicated as one of the most important factors contributing to the demographic crisis of the regions (Hoekveld, 2012; Haase et al., 2013; Pirisi and Trócsányi, 2014). The negative consequence of emigration is constituted by the decrease of demand for goods and services, which leads to shrinking of entrepreneurship and of the degree of use of the social and economic infrastructure, being conducive, thereby, to the liquidation of particular businesses and organisations.The situation, having thus arisen, leads to a decrease in job creation and an increase in unemployment, triggering subsequent waves of emigration. Breaking away from this vicious cycle is a true challenge for the self-governmental authorities, since persistence of the significant outflow from small towns entails yet further negative consequences, both social and economic.These consequences concern, of course, not only the small urban centres, but also the associated, neighbouring rural surroundings. It becomes necessary to turn the attention of the self-governmental authorities to the need for designing and implementing appropriate policies, aiming at the limitation of the negative effects of the losses in and ageing of the population in the small towns of Poland. Given the number of these localities, their significance for the structure of the settlement network and spatial organisation of the country is truly high. The disadvantageous changes of the population potential occurring in these towns may have consequences for the entire region. Demographic losses and ageing of the population are, namely, the most evident symptoms of the economic crisis.

Notes 1 In view of the availability of the statistical material and the timing of the study (2017), the analysis, reported here, concerns 670 small towns. 2 Various lower age limits, defining the elderly population, are being adopted in the studies of the ageing processes, primarily either 60 or 65 years. In view of increasing life expectancy, it is increasingly frequent in the EU to assume that the seniors are the persons in the age of 65+ (see 2018 Ageing Report: Policy challenges for ageing societies. European Commission, Brussels). It is usual in Poland to adopt the formal definition of the so-called post-productive age population, meaning the persons who can retire according to law, that is, women above 59 years of age and men above 64 years of age. In the present study the limit of 65+ was adopted, irrespective of sex. 3 The division into four groups was adopted on the basis of the mean value of WSD = 5.59 and the standard deviation of the indicator values, equal 2.40. 4 The most common criterion for distinguishing small towns is the population number. It is usually assumed in Poland that small towns are the settlement units, having urban rights and up to 20,000 inhabitants (see Wełpa, 1982; Kwiatek-Sołtys, 2004; Szymańska and Grzelak-Kostulska, 2005; Heffner and Halama, 2012). Some authors (see Szlachta, 1980) consider that small towns have up to 10,000 inhabitants. In Czechia and France, it is assumed that small towns are the units having between 2,000 and 20,000 inhabitants (see Vaishar and Zapletalová, 2009; Kwiatek-Sołtys and Mainet, 2014). 5 A province (voivodship) is an administrative unit of NUTS 2 level.There are 16 provinces in Poland.

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11 PERFORMANCE OF SMALL TOWNS IN AN ECONOMICALLY LAGGING REGION A Case Study of the Spiš Region, Slovakia Ladislav Novotný, Marián Kulla, Janetta Nestorová Dická, Loránt Pregi, and Stela Csachová

Introduction Although having been neglected for long in the research, more and more studies interested in small towns as micro-regional centres, centres of rural areas, and as municipalities in which a significant part of European population lives, have emerged recently (Valtenbergs et al., 2015; Steinführer et al., 2016;Atkinson, 2019; Novotný et al., 2019). A small town, by its very nature, forms an interface between what is generally perceived as urban and what rural.The key criterion for defining small towns is usually connected with various thresholds of population size. Small towns might have had a stable population for a long time, but a village may become a small town due to an increase in population, or, conversely, a larger town may degrade to a small one due to population decline, if only population size is considered (Novotný et al., 2016). However, Kwiatek-Sołtys and Mainet (2018) emphasise the importance of the perception of small towns’ inhabitants, their identification with being ‘urban’ or ‘rural’ or ‘inbetween’, which can, to some extent, affect the performance of the town. Findings from other studies and a case study from New Zealand (Lovell et al., 2018) state that the economic transformation associated with market liberalisation in recent decades has primarily resulted in changes in economic performance and the economic decline of small towns.They also point out that it indirectly influenced some other aspects, from trust in local institutions and the community to changes in the perception of one’s own local or regional identity. And this can be reflected in the attitude (or degree of satisfaction) with the availability and quality of various types of commercial or public services in a small town. The study presented in this chapter is aimed at assessing and comparing the performance of various categories of small towns in economically lagging regions by the use of the statistical analysis of the number of inhabitants, selected types of amenities, and infrastructure, and to confront the findings with the results of a questionnaire survey on the inhabitants’ perception of amenities and chosen ‘urban’ attributes. It uses the case study of the Spiš historical region situated in north-eastern Slovakia (Figure 11.1), where a number of small towns having various historical backgrounds, structures of economic base or present administrative positions, are located.

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Figure 11.1 Slovak Part of the Spiš region and Classification of Municipalities Source: Own compilation based on data by SOSR (2017, 2019), SCSTI (2019), OC155 (2020), FASR (2020), COLSAF (2020ab), MISR (2020), SP (2020)

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Theoretical Background Small towns can play various roles in a settlement system.Their performance is often determined by their relative location. Small towns located in the proximity of larger towns or cities can be attractive for suburbanisers but their economic performance and importance as sub-regional centres is often overshadowed by the nearby city. On the other hand, small towns beyond suburban zones of larger urban centres can play an important role as economic and service-providing subregional centres (cf.Vaishar, 2012, Fertner et al., 2015; Czapiewski et al., 2016; Novotný et al., 2016). The spatial context of small towns is also addressed in Fertner et al. (2015). When population concentrates to metropolitan areas, small towns outside them suffer from population loss and reduction of service functions, and generally stated, they economically lag behind small towns inside metropolitan areas. This is particularly because small towns were considerably affected by deindustrialisation and a knowledge economy is not being developed in them. Especially those with a peripheral location are not developing significantly enough to compensate the loss from deindustrialisation. Authors however conclude these general trends do not necessarily have to affect small towns and even small towns in peripheral areas may perform positive or at least stable development. In this chapter, we use the term performance to express the ability of the municipality to meet the demand of the population for infrastructure and amenities, which is expressed by their present number and perception by its population.The performance of a town is largely determined by its population size, which is at the same time the most traditional criterion for its definition. However, with differences in settlement systems, the population-size structures of municipalities in various countries and regions release substantial variability in defining the term ‘small town’. In European countries the minimum population is usually between 5,000 and 20,000 inhabitants. Whereas in sparsely populated regions (e.g. Scandinavian countries) the upper limit is 5,000 inhabitants, in densely populated countries (e.g. the Netherlands) the minimum population for a municipality to be considered a small town is 20,000 (Kwiatek-Sołtys and Mainet, 2018; Porsche et al., 2019).The population of 5,000 inhabitants is also used in the definition of a town (or suburb) by the OECD and European Commission classification. The term ‘town’ varies in definition, and the term ‘small town’ is even more ambiguous for researchers. For a comprehensive insight of approaches to these terms see Pirisi et al. (2015) for post-socialist Central European countries or Novotný et al. (2016) specifically for Slovakia. Since the 1990s, municipalities in Slovakia have been able to obtain the status of a town if they meet certain criteria appointed by law (NCSR 1990 – Act no. 369/1990).The criteria, although vaguely defined, include a degree of centrality with regard to the economy, the provision of services or transport, as well as the urban physiognomy at least in part of the territory. The only criterion exactly stated is a population size of at least 5,000 inhabitants. Population thershold is irrelevant if other criteria are fulfilled, and there are cases in which the status of a town was granted to municipalities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants.This opens up a question of the justification for awarding a municipality the status of a town, albeit with population markedly smaller than in many rural municipalities.Thus, the municipal act defines only statutory towns; the terms of a small town are not defined. However, in the past, there was a defined category of small town in the settlement hierarchy. In the 1961 population census, a precise categorization of municipalities was employed in Czechoslovakia with categories such as town, small town, agglomerated village, and rural village. For a category of small town, besides criteria regarding population density, structure of economy, infrastructure, and civil facilities, the number of inhabitants in the municipality was set between 2,000 and 5,000.A similar categorisation was adopted at the 1970 census, but was not retained later. The approach of previous decades shows that, if specified, small towns were not perceived as a subset of the category of towns, but were a special category of municipalities with smaller population and smaller availability of infrastructure and amenities than towns and even larger than vil162

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lages.The specification of small towns may change over time even within a country.Therefore, for scientific inquiry, it is beneficial to work with classification which does not necessarily stem from the current definition of a town in a particular country. Ira and Andráško (2010) evaluate a set of municipalities and profiles of selected regions in Slovakia to show the availability of amenities and infrastructure as a very important feature differentiating urban and rural municipalities. Considerable differentiation is evidenced not only by assessing hard data on available amenities and infrastructure but also by perception of population.The study shows that most small towns had good infrastructure and amenities, even in the Spiš region, which on one hand lags behind the largest towns in the region, but maintains more or less significant advantage over other rural municipalities, on the other. However, the sample of respondents interviewed (601) in 120 municipalities is sufficient to indicate some general regional features but not adequate to make any conclusions or generalisations for small towns separately. Populations’ perception as an indicator of ‘urbanity’ and of performance of small towns are addressed in studies by Kwiatek-Soltys and Mainet (2014, 2018), who focus on the performance and attractiveness of small towns in Poland and France. They evidence that while accessibility of basic shopping opportunities (grocery stores, pharmacies) and primary education is perceived very well or well and contributed to the attractiveness of small towns, accessibility of medical services is perceived much worse in both countries. Satisfaction with accessibility of public administration services was also low in Poland, while in France, the worst perceived area of services was culture. Studies by Kwiatek-Soltys and Mainet (2014, 2018), and Ira and Andráško (2010) show certain discrepancies between the population size of small towns, their present infrastructure, and amenities, on one hand, and the perception of their availability by the population, on the other. In this sense, this study is aimed at examining, assessing, and explaining these discrepancies at the level of several categories of small towns and filling a research gap therein.

Study Area and Research Sample The Spiš region (Figure 11.1) is located in the north-western part of East Slovakia with a very small northern part in southern Poland (Polish part is not examined in this study, as it does not include small towns in terms of the methodology used). It used to be an administrative county in Hungarian Kingdom from the 11th until the 20th century.The region was historically characterised by a multi-ethnic and even multi-confessional population (Šoltés, 2009; Benža et al., 2015), which contributed to a strong regional identity that still remains preserved, although the region has not been an individual territorial administrative unit since the establishment of Czechoslovakia after World War I.The region is also characterised by a unique multi-layer structure of territorial administration (several spatially overlapping administrative divisions including a group of towns pawned by the Hungarian Kingdom to Poland for 360 years), which led to the development of a complex hierarchy in the regional settlement system.This is mirrored even today, as it is the region with the highest number of municipalities with a population between 2,000 and 5,000 that have been formally granted the status of town (5 out of 18 in Slovakia in the 2011 population census). On the other hand, there are many communities with a comparable or even higher number of inhabitants that are considered rural since they have not been granted the status of town, including the largest rural municipality in Slovakia with a population approaching 9,000 (Smižany). Economic development of the whole region and certain towns in particular (Gelnica, Smolník, Krompachy, Rudňany, Spišská Nová Ves, Nálepkovo, and Mníšek nad Hnilcom) thrived thanks to mining and mining-related industries. However, by the end of the 19th century, depletion of mineral (predominantly ore) deposits led to the closure of mines and a downturn of mining-related industries.This process was more intensive after the breakdown of Hungary, which led to the loss of traditional markets for industrial enterprises and trade centres in the territory of today’s Hungary 163

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and southern Poland (Spišiak and Kulla, 2009; Jančura, 2012). Development of other industries depended mostly on the socialist industrialisation after World War II. Thanks to generous state subsidies, some towns experienced a mining revival.Within the region, most socialist enterprises were located in the largest towns of Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves, but some were located even in smaller municipalities, particularly in those which had a tradition of ore processing. These municipalities became important industrial hubs, and had improved infrastructure and amenities, but their economic base was built on the small number (often only one) of large industrial enterprises. In the period of post-socialist transformation, as a result of unsuccessful restructuring, several companies ceased to exist, which, together with a further decline in ore mining and processing, has resulted in a rapid growth of unemployment. In this study we examined all municipalities of between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants and all smaller municipalities which have been granted the status of town.We also added those which were historically granted a status of town, or played an important economic role and could fulfil the criteria for classification as a small town as specified in the 1961 and 1970 censuses.We attach the label term ‘a small town’ to all these municipalities regardless of the fact that some of them do not have the status of town at present. However, in the analysis and interpretation of results, the formal status of town is taken into account. From a total of 205 municipalities in the Slovak territory of Spiš, 25 municipalities were identified as small towns and underwent detailed analysis and a questionnaire survey. The population of these towns ranges from over 1,000 to almost 9,000. On the other hand, five towns exceeding 10,000 inhabitants were not surveyed. Several municipalities with 3,000 to 5,000 inhabitants were also excluded, because they were considerably less well equipped with infrastructure and amenities compared to other municipalities included in the detailed analysis, and they clearly would not even meet the other criteria for classification as a small town as specified in the 1961 and 1970 censuses. The town of Vysoké Tatry was also excluded because it was founded in the period of socialism by the formal merging of a number of alpine and foothill settlements and today it is one of the main centres of tourism and healthcare (climatic spas) in Slovakia. Although it falls into the population threshold (over 4,000 inhabitants), its settlement and functional character might deflect the research results.

Data and Methods We analysed all 205 municipalities of the Spiš region by the use of datasets on the number of inhabitants, economy, infrastructure, and amenities. Afterwards, several rankings were compiled: first, a ranking of municipalities according to number of inhabitants in 2017 based on data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic (SOSR, 2017); second, a ranking based on results of factor analysis, with input data on the infrastructure and amenities of municipalities in several areas – the area of education (total 7 attributes, e.g. number of kindergartens, primary schools, various kinds of secondary schools; SCSTI, 2019), health care (total 10 attributes, e.g. number of hospitals, medical practitioners’ ambulances, specialist ambulances, emergency ambulances, pharmacies; SOSR, 2019; OC155, 2020), public administration offices (total 7 attributes, e.g. number of post offices, registry offices, branches of tax office, customs office, office of labour, social affairs and family; FASR, 2020; COLSAF, 2020a, SP, 2020), and social services (total 13 attributes, e.g. numbers of social facilities for seniors, children, adults, etc.; COLSAF, 2020b).With the use of multivariate methods of factor analysis, we computed the ranking index. To extract the most significant factors we opt for principal component analysis.The concept of ranking in the form of ranking index is defined by the final subset of four variables comprising 37 attributes of education, health, social services, and public administration offices.The selection of variables is supposed to indicate ranking of municipalities by infrastructure and amenities.The significance of Bartlett’s test (p < 0.001) and high KMO value (0.81) support the adequacy of 164

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the factor analysis conducted to replicate the ranking index by using data from 2018.The loadings for each of the four variables derived from the first principal component were then used as weighting criteria in an algebraic equation to calculate index score for each municipality in the Spiš region in 2018. Only factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0 were extracted for this study. The result of factor analysis is only one factor with 89.5% of the total variability in the data set. The higher the score of ranking index, the better equipment with amenities and infrastructure it indicates. The rankings were made to appoint a list of small towns in which the field survey was later conducted.With the huge support of geography students, the field questionnaire survey was realised within a mapping course from Human Geography in the years 2017 and 2018.The sample is considered representative. In municipalities with less than 2,000 inhabitants the number of respondents was at least 5% of the total population, in municipalities with 2,000 to 5,000 inhabitants, 3% and municipalities with over 5,000 inhabitants, at least 2%.We particularly kept a relative equal number of representation of men and women, of different ages, and of ethnic structure in the municipality population. Respondents were interviewed in person, but if interested, they could have kept the questionnaire for a while to think over the answers. The questionnaire also included control questions. Questionnaires with contradictory responses were finally excluded. Eventually, 1,840 questionnaire sheets out of more than 2,000 were evaluated. Respondents were presented with 12 questions.The first five questions concerned basic information about the respondent – age, sex, educational attainment, place of residence, and occupation.The next three questions were focused on features indicating perception of the municipality as urban or rural and its amenities. In the next two questions, respondents were required to rate the availability and quality of schools, health care, commercial and social services, public transport, accommodation, sports and culture, job opportunities, transport infrastructure, the real estate market, and housing conditions in the municipality.They responded using scales from 0 to 5; the higher the number, the better the rating. The following questions contained several open-ended statements about the municipality with multiple choice to complete each statement.The final four open questions were meant to express what respondents are most satisfied with in the municipality, and what the biggest barriers and prospects for its development are. To achieve comparability and better interpretability of the results, we rescaled the ranking index and the results of the questionnaire survey to the interval 0 to 1. Rescaled values (as rescaled ranking index and rescaled perception index) are also employed for graphical visualisations.

Results and Discussion Comparison of population size, on the one hand, and infrastructure and amenities expressed by ranking index, on the other, show the five largest towns in the region (over 10,000 inhabitants) are best equipped, followed by the town of Vysoké Tatry. However, there is a significant differentiation between the ranking according to population size and ranking according to amenities among smaller towns. It reflects that the selection of a research sample (municipalities with less than 10,000 inhabitants) is appropriate. The results of factor analysis were the basis on which to execute the classification of municipalities. The limit points between intervals of ranking index were set where the largest relative gaps between values were identified.A town status was an additional criterion.This way, four categories were designed.The first contains municipalities with the highest-ranking index values, and all of them are towns by status. The fourth category contains municipalities with the lowest-ranking index values among a chosen set of municipalities, and by coincidence none of them is a town by status. Municipalities with in-between values are divided according to the status of town. All municipalities in the second category have a status of town, unlike the third category where no municipality has the status of town (Figure 11.1). Such classification allows, inter alia, assessing jus165

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tification of granting the status of town to municipalities that do not meet the population criterion of 5,000 inhabitants. The best-equipped small town with amenities and infrastructure is Gelnica (Figure 11.2).Although only the fifth largest by population, it is the only seat of the district among the surveyed small towns. It is the natural and historical centre of the peripheral (Halás, 2014) southernmost part of the Spiš region. Apart from being a seat of some regional administration authorities, it also provides public and commercial services for inhabitants of the relatively large surrounding area.The most populous small town, Krompachy, follows Gelnica with a negligible lag in ranking index value.These towns, together with Svit, represent the first category of small towns according to amenities and take significant advantage from it. Krompachy and Gelnica are historically important mining and industrial towns. In both of them there are hospitals and together with Svit and Spišská Stará Ves, Podolínec and Prakovce are the only small towns which provide secondary education. Svit was founded by the Bata corporation as a settlement near a newly established plant for the production of artificial fibres in the 1930s and became an independent municipality as late as the 1960s. Although Svit is located in close proximity to the largest city in the region – Poprad – it is still an important industrial centre with amenities. However, this is not the case for Smižany (the second largest by population) and Spišská Belá (the fourth largest), which seem to be served with amenities by the nearby larger towns of Spišská Nová Ves and Kežmarok respectively. Similar conditions are shown by other small towns in the proximity of larger towns (Ľubica, Huncovce,Veľká Lomnica, Hniezdne, Spišský Štvrtok). In the period of socialism, when there was an effort to increase the rate of urbanisation by municipalities merging, Smižany and Ľubica were, for some time, merged with their neighbouring towns.After the fall of socialism, these municipalities regained autonomy, but obviously they form a continuously built-up area with their neighbouring towns. However, this does not seem to be a crucial aspect of their performance, which in many respects is similar to other small towns located nearby and with good accessibility to larger towns. The ranking index value for Spišská Belá is similar or even smaller than for other small towns in the second category, even though their populations are considerably smaller. Spišská Belá, as a small town with that status, is a significant exception, because almost all others towns within the same category have better amenities and infrastructure than its population size indicates (Figure 11.2).

Figure 11.2 Discrepancies Between Population Size, Present Amenities, and Their Perception Source: Own compilation based on data by SOSR (2017, 2019), SCSTI (2019), OC155 (2020), FASR (2020), COLSAF (2020ab), MISR (2020), SP (2020), and own public survey

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Spišská Stará Ves, the smallest of the municipalities with the status of town in the region (second category) shows a certain resemblance to Gelnica. The former seat of the district, part of which belongs currently to Poland, became the centre of the territory with cumulated peripherality (Halás, 2014).Although it has just over 2,000 inhabitants, it provides primary and secondary education, basic health care, and branches of certain regional administration offices also for inhabitants of nearby rural municipalities. The specific situation of Spišská Stará Ves is also addressed in Novotný et al. (2016). Although the town provides a relatively small number of jobs, it is the smallest town in Slovakia that creates its own functional urban region as delimited by Bezák (2000, 2014).This means that as a regional core it constitutes, together with an adjacent ring, a relatively enclosed and internally coherent area of daily commuting. Another small town with its own functional urban region is Gelnica. Other such towns in the Spiš region are many times larger in population (Poprad and Spišská Nová Ves). This is in accordance with the findings of Czapiewski et al. (2016) who state that small towns in areas remote from larger towns or cities tend to play an important role as economic and serviceproviding sub-regional centres while the performance of small towns located in the proximity of larger towns is often overshadowed by them. Having its own hinterland is very important for a small town; the increasing number of people using the local amenities in it ensures development and this distinguishes it from small towns which have no hinterland (cf. Fertner et al., 2015). Among small towns without the formal status of town (third and fourth categories), better amenities than expected based on population size were only recorded in Štrba (an important touristic destination in Vysoké Tatry area), Prakovce, Mníšek nad Hnilcom, and Smolník (all historic mining and industrial centres in the Gelnica area, which, however, declined during the postsocialist transformation), and Margecany (an important railway junction connecting the Gelnica area to the main railway corridor). Most small towns without the status of town have a ranking index reflecting their amenities as being lower than expected by population. A good example is the distinctive mountain municipality of Lendak, in which the ranking index value is close to zero even though the population exceeds 5,000 inhabitants. Lendak is not historically a town, but it has recorded significant population rise and construction development recently. However, the assumption that such development is accompanied by an increase in the availability of equipment has not yet been confirmed. Ranking index values for small towns with the status of town on the one hand, and without it, on the other, indicate that granting the status of town to municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants may be relevant in specific cases. However, the performance of a town does not necessarily have to associate with its population’s perception.The best perception of infrastructure and amenities was recorded in already-mentioned Štrba (Figure 11.2), where one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Slovakia – Štrbské Pleso (Štrba tarn) in the High Tatras – is situated. However, in the period of socialism, the lake area was administratively separated from the municipality and rejoined it by a decision of the Supreme Court in 2007. As a part of Štrba, it supports tourism which could positively affect population’s perception. A very specific pattern is shown by the five most populous small towns in the region. Perception of amenities and infrastructure is significantly worse than indicated by the ranking index in all towns of the first category. It is the only category of small towns where such negative perception was recorded. On the contrary, the rest of the more populous small towns show a much better perception of amenities and infrastructure than the real state is.Tentative explanation is that the towns of the first category, as important industrial towns, were favoured during the period of socialist industrialisation and during the post-socialist period they recorded economic decline and loss of amenities, including cancellation of branches of some state and public administration authorities, cancellation or amalgamation of schools, closure of many wards in hospitals or medical centres etc. This can be a situation of negative perception, as in Rudňany, which was an important mining cen167

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tre until the beginning of the post-socialist transformation and subsequently experienced a sharp economic decline (Novotný et al., 2019). On the other hand, Spišská Belá shows a pattern similar to Smižany and many other small towns with no formal status of town (third and fourth categories), in which amenities are much better perceived than actually represented. Unlike the first-category towns, local inhabitants’ perceptions do not reflect a decline as better amenities had not been represented in these municipalities earlier. Better perception in towns (third and fourth categories, e.g. Smižany, Ľubica, Hniezdne, Veľká Lomnica, Huncovce) located in close proximity to larger towns, or located at important traffic junctions (e.g., Margecany, Spišský Štvrtok) with good access to even more than one larger town, indicates that local inhabitants even appreciate amenities in other municipalities if they are easily accessible. Regarding the Spiš region, another feature needs to be articulated. It is one of the regions with the largest concentration of Roma population in Slovakia (Kandráčová, 2010). A large proportion lives in segregated settlements with poor living conditions (Mušinka et al., 2014; MISR, 2019) and is associated with socio-pathogenic phenomena, what can lead to a negative perception by the majority in society (Kandráčová, 2010; Matlovičová et al., 2012). Especially in many towns in the Spiš region, where a large community of Carpathian Germans lived, Roma people were moved to vacant houses after their expulsion from territory in Slovakia after World War II (Šuvada, 2015). Small towns we studied have a share of the Roma population, according to the Atlas of Roma Communities (MISR, 2019), exceeding 50% in six municipalities (Markušovce, Rudňany, Nálepkovo, Hranovnica, Mníšek nad Hnilcom, Veľká Lomnica), with a maximum of 65% in Markušovce. The presence of such communities is generally negatively perceived by the rest of the population and in the questionnaire survey, the respondents repeatedly mentioned the Roma ethnic group as the main obstacle for the development of the municipality. However, this is not likely to affect the perception of amenities in all small towns negatively; only in Rudňany and Markušovce does it seem to be reflected negatively (Figure 11.2). An increasing proportion of Roma may here be associated with the economic decline of municipalities in the post-socialist period rather than with the presence of the Roma community as such. The best-rated features of amenities and infrastructure are four: availability of primary schools, kindergartens, daily shopping opportunities, and basic health care represented by medical practitioners (Figure 11.3).These features may be considered as basic attributes of sub-regional centres. Except for kindergartens, availability of which is perceived better in smaller small towns and worse in the first category of small towns, there is no significant differentiation of perception among the four categories of small towns.

Figure 11.3 Perception of Chosen Features by Category of Small Town Source: Own elaboration based on data from public survey

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The lowest ranking was recorded in the availability of higher levels of education, job opportunities, special healthcare services, large occasional shopping opportunities, and cultural and social events. These are rather features of higher-level regional centres. The towns of the first category recorded significantly above-average perception rating in higher levels of education and higher levels of health care amenities as well as extensive occasional shopping opportunities. It reflects present amenities, as there are hospitals (Krompachy and Gelnica) and medical centres (Svit), secondary schools, and supermarkets to serve wider regions in all these towns. Generally, perception of amenities in small towns of the Spiš region shows considerable similarity with findings by Kwiatek-Soltys and Mainet (2018) from Auvergne in France and Malopolska in Poland, where basic shopping opportunities and primary education were among the best perceived attributes that contributed to the attractiveness of small towns. However, health care (basic and even advanced in the first category of small towns) in small towns in Spiš seems to be perceived much better than in Auvergne and Malopolska. Similarly, in Auvergne, culture is among the worst perceived features. The first category of small towns, to a greater extent, have the amenities similar to higher regional centres, but their populations perceive them as of local importance (Figure 11.4). Surprisingly, the proportion of respondents who perceive their small town as a centre of regional importance is

Figure 11.4 The Attitude of Respondents to Selected Characteristics of Small Towns According to Their Categories Source: Own compilation based on data from public survey

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largest (43%) in smaller municipalities with the status of town (second category). This could also be a result of economic decline and even shrinkage of commuting zones of larger small towns (cf. Novotný et al., 2019), which with regard to reduction of amenities, negatively affects the perception of locals. This explanation would also correspond with the conclusions of Gray and Bocher (2018) that economic decline can indirectly negatively affect the level of satisfaction of the population with available facilities, or even be reflected in a change in the local identity of individuals. Among all categories of small towns, decline is most strongly perceived in the first category and least strongly in the second category (Figure 11.4).The development is very positively perceived in the fourth category of small towns. Even though some of these small towns experienced economic decline, the majority is located in proximity to, or in some cases form a continuous built-up area with, larger towns. These small towns are therefore locations of suburbanisation migration flows, experiencing an increase in population. Although this is not reflected in the significant improvement of local amenities, local communities can perceive increased immigration as a feature of development. Even though the sharpest fall in jobs in small, and particularly larger, towns, occurred in industry (Novotný et al., 2019), it is in the first category of small towns that most respondents chose industry as the sector in which they saw the greatest development potential for the municipality (Figure 11.4). In all other categories, particularly in the second category, retail and services were much more trusted as a sector with development potential. It was followed by education and health care in the second category. Although it is not explicitly a knowledge economy as discussed by Fertner et al. (2015), the confidence of the population in the development of these sectors can also be perceived as a positive signal for the future development of these small towns. The most trust was put into agriculture in the fourth category. This also addresses the influence of economic transformation on the formation of the identity and attitudes of the local population (cf. Gray and Bocher, 2018).The economic base of the first category of small towns in the Spiš region was based on industry during the socialist era, and at the same time they were well equipped with public and even commercial, albeit state-controlled, services. Smaller cities had much smaller economic bases.Their economies were mostly based on industry or agriculture, and public or commercial services were represented much less (Novotný et al., 2019). During the post-socialist transformation, there was a sharp drop in industrial employment in industrial centres, and although employment increased in the commercial and public services sectors, this increase was unable to compensate the loss of jobs in industry. On the contrary, with the growth of the purchasing power of the population after the year 2000, various services developed in smaller towns, which, compared to larger towns, had not been there before (Novotný et al., 2019).The different attitudes of the respondents can thus be explained not only by the appetite for job opportunities in industry in larger small towns but also by the vision of further development of services in smaller small towns. The inhabitants of the first-category towns perceive the feature of culture and social events as more urban than rural. In other categories, the proportion of respondents who see it conversely is increasing. Generally, small towns were denoted as a good place to live by a considerable majority of all respondents. Significantly, the largest share of positive evaluations was recorded in the small towns of the second category.This may be based on the assumption they combine the advantages of rural development on one hand and relatively good commercial and civic amenities on the other.

Conclusions Small towns (up to 10,000 inhabitants) in the Spiš region imply relatively big discrepancies between population size, their amenities, and inhabitants’ perception on amenities. We used indexes to examine and assess the sample of 25 municipalities with features of small towns 170

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and we compared and visualised these relations. We classified small towns into four categories. Statistical analysis, factor analysis, and perception survey have launched a diverse mosaic of data in which certain similarities and patterns are observed to understand the performance of small towns. The largest small towns are obviously supposed to be best equipped with amenities. However, within the sample, only three out of six small towns with more than 5,000 inhabitants have amenities above average. They have different historical backgrounds but what they have in common is that they were strongly industrialised during socialism and have the formal status of town. The rest three larger small towns are equipped with amenities on average or strongly below it. They are characterised by location in close proximity to, or even form a continuous built-up area with, larger towns and only one has the status of town. It can be assumed that the proximity to larger towns is a reason why the demand for amenities by local inhabitants of small towns is not so high as their demands are met in neighbouring larger towns. Inhabitants of these towns highly positively perceive the availability of amenities despite their present shortage, which also indicates that their demands are satisfied from elsewhere. This assumption is also confirmed by the fact that those small towns (up to 5,000 inhabitants) which are situated further from larger towns are much better equipped with amenities than small towns in the proximity of larger towns. Equipment with amenities considerably differentiates in small towns. From the sample, the towns of Gelnica (6,200 inhabitants) and Spišská Stará Ves (2,200 inhabitants) are remarkable in some aspects.They are located in the most peripheral and economically lagging areas of the Spiš region, but with above-average amenities they can be denoted as real regional centres of smaller but relatively isolated regions.These two regions have also designated their own functional urban regions (Bezák, 2014) and are the cores of relatively closed commuting regions. Other small towns with the status of town (below 5,000 inhabitants) experienced a similar, although not so intensive, pattern. Small towns which do not have the status of town are poorly equipped with amenities, even though their populations are higher. Many of them are municipalities situated in the close proximity of a larger town, as has already been mentioned.This suggests that granting the status of town may be justified in some cases, especially if these towns do not meet the statutory population size of 5,000 inhabitants. The common feature of the three most-equipped small towns is that their inhabitants perceive the amenities more critically than in less-equipped small towns. The rate of respondents who perceive their town as a centre of regional importance (contrary to those who perceive it as a centre of local importance) is lower than in smaller small towns. It can lead to the assumption that the perception of amenities is closely associated with trends in the economy and in population development, much more than their equipment really is. Populations in larger towns have supposedly higher demands for amenities. In this sense the amenities in smaller towns are perceived more positively as they really are, except for those small towns which have struggled with recent economic decline. Our results show the trends of economic development affect not only perception but an overall local identity and the ideas of the population about their town’s further development.

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12 SMALL TOWNS IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION ERA Local Drivers for Climate Change Adaptation? Francesca Poggi, Ana Firmino†, and Miguel Amado

Introduction If climate change is one of the most significant concerns of the modern society, the energy transition seems to be the more politically effective, economically efficient, and strategically adaptable process to mitigate its present and future impacts. This assumption, however, shares two primary domains of interventions that are both involved in answering the questions of “where”,“who” and “when”: policymaking, concerned with elaborating strategies; and identifying target sectors and spatial planning which orients and implements future development, placing interventions within a specific context (economic, social, political, and power), place, time, and scale (Albrechts, 2004). On the one hand, it is fairly clear how policymaking on climate change at present has tended to emphasize the technological aspects of sociotechnical transitions at the expense of social innovation, movements, and actors (Seyfang & Haxeltine, 2012). However, the widespread faith in the capacity of technology to make a smarter world in the future has to be prepared with rigour and coherence, or the subsequent result will lead energy transition to become an energy odyssey. On the other hand, planning concerns with climate change have been associated with the development of national plans, following the themes, guidance, and elements relevant to adaptation planning mentioned in Article 7 of the Paris Agreement (2015) (Morgan et al., 2019). The results show as, despite a consistent rise of renewables (BP, 2019) and considerable improvements in energy efficiency, especially in the buildings sector (Economidou et al., 2020), global energy transition readiness emerges as a process whose development presents profound asymmetries (Neofytou et al., 2020). The paradigm shift towards a self-sufficient energy system is still in its early stages, if considering the vision of a society that relies on low carbon energy sources to produce as much energy as it uses and in which electric vehicles will soon make up a large portion of the global car fleet. The move towards an energy transition away from fossil fuels is a process that tends to be problematic in its formulation and still more complex in its implementation (Gundlach & Gerrard, 2019). Indeed, the energy transition is a country-driven process that has profound implications: from the environmental, political, economic and social aspects to the structural changes in urban and rural regions (Poggi et al., 2018). Interestingly enough, the Energy-Cities nexus represents one of the most significant concerns and a central debate on the political and research agenda. However, rural regions and low-density territories emerge paradoxically as marginal or compensatory spaces, in contrast to their crucial 174

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role in providing the potentialities and resources necessary to cope with the opportunities and challenges of the energy transition (Balest et al., 2019). In this vein,Young and Brans (2020) advocate, as the focus on energy transitions has recently shifted from the national level to cities, and there are now calls to focus on even smaller scales. This framework leads to open new debates on how energy transition could be articulated with the different components of territories, exploring the theoretical and practical appropriateness of current policymaking and planning approaches. Here, the paradigm shift towards a decentralized energy system leads to rethinking the traditional functions and activities associated with small towns and local development, adapting them to new opportunities and challenges. This perspective suggests the idea of small towns as drivers for climate change adaptation, as they can foster sustainable energy transition process in light of a new smart specialization associated with energy efficiency in the built environment and renewable energy sources in rural areas (Poggi et al., 2017b; Desdemoustier et al., 2018). However, how can energy transition be led by small towns and go deeper than a simple adaptation of the current approaches elaborated for cities and urban areas? There is a range of arguments that point to the existence of some critical place-based barriers, such as spatial injustices (O’Sullivan et al., 2020) and geographical inequalities (Naumann & Rudolph, 2020) that demonstrate that energy transition is currently an urban-bounded process that has isolated the local scale and the rural spaces from the whole. As such, a comprehensive energy transition beyond the urban emerges as a coherent and relevant challenge that lies in a new understanding of the synergies that deeply tie small towns with the sustainable energy development of the surrounding rural areas. This brief introduction lets us trace a framework on the scale at which energy transition may occur and shows the value of giving more relevance to small towns, dealing with the adaptation of these territories according to their structure, functioning, and change. The revision of the Local Development Plan of a municipality in Portugal provides a valuable case study for the discussion on aspirations, opportunities and possible pathways to orient and respond to energy transition challenges at the local scale.

Energy Transition: A Compromise Between Rural Renaissance and Glocalization Although the energy transition has traditionally received more consideration in the urban governance literature, small towns are emerging in recent years as new drivers in the promotion of synergies associated with clean energy policy (Bayulgen, 2020). In this vein, the recognition of a smart specialization of small towns and rural areas, based on sustainable energy development, places them in new scientific, technological and practical challenges. Scientific, because the development of a smart specialization has to be supported by empirical and theoretical foundations, addressing an adequate place-based approach to regional policy and employing local knowledge (Polido et al., 2019). Technological, because the implementation of renewable energy sources, electric grids and energy efficiency solutions involves complex synergies between the aspirations of the public sector and its effective capacity in defining the prioritization of innovative and sustainable projects (Veldhuizen, 2020). Practical, because the cycle of energy production, consumption and distribution is associated with spatial and functional specificities which lay the need for shared visions of an energy future, as well as for decision-support processes capable of planning and implementing them at various geographical scales (Calvert, 2015). Here, sustainable development goals and the vision of a zero-carbon society must necessarily progress together, bringing about the desired transition towards efficient energy use and the switch to renewables (Hopkins, 2008; García-Álvarez et al., 2016). 175

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This framework opens to a new “think-smart, plan-local, act-rural” perspective, shifting the focus on energy transition from cities to small towns and rural areas and their existing assets, such as low population densities, diversity of renewable energy resources and aspirations for economic growth (Poggi et al., 2017b).The emergence of a new rural energy renascence is already ongoing, but its nature is not fully understood. Indeed, a strategic framework for the energy transition in rural areas has to be supported by appropriate local governance led by the small towns as a place of decision-making over the adequate siting of renewable energy developments and the elaboration of regulation for energy efficiency measures in the built environment. The examples of Denmark and Scotland, described by Clausen and Rudolph (2020) have shown that the implementation of renewable energy large-scale development in rural areas is locally desired and possible but requires a policy framework that sets supportive conditions at both national and international levels. The central insight then lies in understanding to what extent energy transition could be interpreted as a glocal issue.The analogy with the idea of glocalization that the sociologists Featherstone et al., (1995:29) describe as the claim of “a world of local assertions against globalizing trend”, is the starting point. Emphasizing the global concerns which tie together the challenge of energy transition and the need for an urgent response to climate change, leads small towns to play a crucial role as active agents in elaborating sustainable energy place-based policies and planning interventions.This perspective could be expanded to a process of glocalization of the energy transition as it revolves around smaller-scale interventions and decentralized efforts in the promotion of both renewable energy production and energy savings. In this regard, the growing urban anxiety about energy consumption results precisely from the recognition that cities have been constructed following some globalization trends that are no longer viable.The increase of attention to urban energy problems by scholarly and public administrations has provided valuable advances in rethinking global urbanism in the face of the climate crisis and its planning imperatives (Keith et al., 2020), as well as promoting the emergence of technological solutions towards the implementation of new models for future cities (McClellan et al., 2018;Alizadeh & Iveson, 2020). On the other hand, there is a substantial expansion of renewable power plants within rural areas which is a substantial contribution in terms of the energy transition. However, this trend poses significant environmental and social concerns about to what extent is acceptable such development on a large scale (Poggi et al., 2018). In this contemporary dichotomy between the urban, as a space of consumption and the rural, as a place of green energy production, small towns are at the crossroads, becoming the potential nexus in the global transition arenas. Ultimately then, a rural energy renascence associated with a glocal approach creates a strategic framework that underpins the promotion of energy transition to each council in small towns. Municipalities are already on the front lines in addressing the impacts of climate change (Baynham & Stevens, 2014) and they are in the first line in integrating sustainable energy dimensions in the Municipal Masterplan review.

Theoretical and Practical Directions in a Changing Energy Transition Era In response to the urgent need for climate change adaptation, many countries around the world are promoting structural changes towards a more sustainable energy development (Kempenaar et al., 2020). It is within this changing scenario that society is witnessing a new Energy Transition Era which manifests itself across a range of different geographical contexts and overlapping spatial scales. Within this perspective, a comparative analysis of European countries shows a decreasing linear trend in the relationship between the share of energy from renewable sources and the predominantly rural areas (Figure 12.1). 176

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Figure 12.1 Trends of the Share of Energy from Renewable Sources and the Incidence of Predominantly Rural Areas Data sources: Eurostat, 2020a, 2020b

These trends reveal that countries with a higher incidence of predominantly rural areas and a concrete policy direction for energy transition could achieve significant results and take a different development path. Nevertheless, this analysis is, of course, highly simplified as it aims to disclose how the geographical head start is a significant factor that determines the differences in the speed and motivation among the Member States. Indeed, what it has to be asking in comparing these differences goes through a range of multiple factors that include, among others, the different levels of technological development, historical view of the environmental concerns, and the focus on economic interests of each country.These arguments chime closely with those of Mata Pérez et al. (2019) who argue that divergent energy security perceptions and priorities among the EU Member States essentially create two clusters of countries: those that focus on renewable energy, considering it an industrial opportunity (Northern and Western Europe) and a way to lower import dependence (Southern Europe), and those that prioritize reliable supplies and perceive renewables as too volatile and expensive to replace fossil fuels (Central and Eastern Europe). In this framework, Portugal is characterized by 72.2 % of predominantly rural areas and a share of 31% of energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption, occupying the sixth place in the European ranking. Like Spain and Italy, Portugal clearly has security of supply as one of the main energy priorities, due to high import dependence, and because of its potential for endogenous resources, it considers renewable energy as an industrial opportunity (Mata Pérez et al., 2019). The Portuguese approach to energy transition is oriented by two key programming instruments: the National Energy and Climate Plan 2021–2030 (NECP) and the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2050 (RNC2050). Because of the availability of endogenous renewable resources and the strong investment which should be the subject of major developments in the next decade, the energy system and electricity sector are considered two of the more effective drivers towards carbon neutrality. Nevertheless, the energy transition is a place-based process, and its implementation must be carried out by local agents leading it to be a central aspect both in terms of policies and planning. Shifting from the national context to the local level, municipalities play a key role in determining resources use, as well as shaping the appropriate future development of their territories. 177

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However, the integration of energy transition into local policies is not uniform across the different municipalities.This reflects the fact that the main planning instrument capable of addressing new challenges is the Municipal Master Plan (MMP), which is reviewed by the local councils every ten years. As part of the decarbonizing process promoted by the national energy policy outlook, the integration of energy transition into the review process of MMP is a unique opportunity, which should be further developed to capture the potential and prospects of each geographical context. According to the CORINE Land Cover 2018, agricultural areas, forest, and semi-natural areas in Portugal account for about 48% and 49% respectively, which means 97% of the total surface area of the country (Copernicus, 2020).This data leads to understanding that renewable energy potential in the Portuguese territories is higher than in other countries with more dense and sprawling urbanization phenomena. In this vein, it is clear that the municipalities with predominantly rural areas are theoretically in a privileged condition to foster the energy transition. Furthermore, the role of small towns in these territories, still recalling a rural nature associated with agriculture activities, have assumed urban aspirations, assuming an opportunity dimension for smart specializations, innovation, and competitiveness. Here, the goal of identifying adequate sites for the development of large-scale renewable power plants has to be coupled with the reinforcement of energy efficiency in the built environment.This means that there is a need for an integrated approach to zoning and regulations with a focus on sustainable energy development at the local scale. In the case of solar, wind, and biomass power plants, zoning should be applied to rural areas, looking for the sites with higher potential of endogenous resources and, at the same time, avoiding impacting landscapes and the utilization of lands with agriculture production or natural values. Concerning energy efficiency, the main challenge relies on identifying specific measures for the rehabilitation of the existing buildings and the construction of new ones. This discourse leads to the formulation of the following research hypotheses: • • •

Could small towns and their rural areas be considered as a system that should take on a balance between energy production and consumption? Is the municipality on an adequate and coherent geographic scale to design and implement policies that may foster energy transition at a local scale? What instruments ensure the concretization of such policies and provide an alignment between the different levels of intervention?

The answer to these questions is directly associated with the research objective of the study to look forward with the development of new visions and the creation of theoretical foundations to support decision-making and planning related to the sustainable integration of energy transition into specific rural contexts. A key issue to consider here is the uncertainty associated with a changing Energy Transition Era, which calls for experiments to explore and test desirable futures (Meadowcroft, 2009). Given the exploratory nature of this approach, the methodology adopted is qualitative.As such, a case study is used to describe the real experience of implementing an energy transition vision within the review process of an MMP. The focus is on the expectations and ambitions of the leading local actors about strategically promoting energy transition at the municipal scale. The vision for a new energy paradigm was constructed around a systemic conceptualization of the potential of local renewable energy resources, the existing small-towns network, and the predominantly rural nature of land-uses and landscapes. 178

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As a result, a set of structuring strategies, associated with sustainability criteria and key topics has been developed to be introduced into the MMP regulation.

Case Study: Planning for Energy Transition in a Portuguese Rural Municipality The municipality of Arraiolos, located in Alentejo Region, was chosen as a representative case study to explore the practical directions adopted by the local council in the design and implementation of an energy transition vision within the review process of the MMP. It should be said that in Portugal there is a gradual, although far from linear, movement to incorporate energy transition considerations into the revision of the MMP. The integration of energy issues is not mandatory so the decision about its integration depends on local administrations. Generally, municipalities which have innovated their MMP focused mostly on the energy challenge in the built environment, as they are characterized by a high incidence of cities and urban areas. In this way,Arraiolos is a representative case study because of its rural nature. In such municipalities, located in the interior regions of the country, far from the main metropolitan areas of Porto and Lisbon and the more urbanized coastline zones, the energy transition is not always a concern. It is in this perspective that Arraiolos has to be considered a pioneer case and thus a lesson and inspiration for the other municipalities. Arraiolos accounts for 683.75 km² and is characterized by the prevalence of agricultural areas and a polycentric model of two small towns and villages, where the population of 7,363 inhabitants is concentrated (Figure 12.2). In this context, the two small towns of Arraiolos, which is the seat of the local government, and Vimieiro play a central role in the municipality, not only as larger urban areas but also as main poles of economic attractiveness.The remaining villages and buildings appear in a dispersed form, according to a model of low-density territory.Agriculture, with an emphasis on vineyard activities, rainfed crops, holm oak and cork oak, horticultural and oilseed crops constitutes the main economic activity of the municipality. The review of the MMP of Arraiolos, started in 2015, represents a significant challenge and an opportunity to plan for energy transition at the local scale.The first step in this dynamic process was the construction of a strategic vision for the future development of the municipal territory. Due to the energy inefficiency of the existing building stock and the high solar potential in the region, the local authority defined three strategic objectives, with a specific focus on energy development, to guide the MMP review: 1. Fostering the integration of solar energy into buildings’ rooftops; 2. Promoting the creation of a cluster in the field of solar power plants; 3. Improving energy efficiency in the existing building stock.

What emerges is the determination and ambition of local public administration in shaping a new territorial model that aims to valorize endogenous energy sources and reinforces energy efficiency, in a logic of competitiveness, innovation, and sustainability. In this vein,Arraiolos could be considered an example that the socio-institutional landscape towards sustainability transitions in Portugal is changing (Morais Mourato & Bussler, 2019). From a theoretical perspective, the planning for a “Solar Municipality”, supported on a placebased approach, is the first structuring component of the new territorial model. Recent works in solar communities have been based on promoting energy performance from the small scale of the building (Hachem-Vermette, 2015) to larger and more complex contexts such as the neighbourhood (Amado & Poggi, 2012) and the district level (Koutra et al., 2018). Concerning solar energy production, these approaches generally deal with the installation of photovoltaic systems in the rooftops (Schunder et al., 2020) and façades (Freitas & Brito, 2019) of 179

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Figure 12.2 Municipality of Arraiolos: Location and Spatial Organization Model

buildings.Together, these studies provide a significant contribution in cities, but more outstanding efforts are required, and broader spatial scales have to be involved in addressing an integrated transposition of energy transition challenges into the fields of policies and planning. In line with this assumption, the vision of a Solar Municipality aims to promote a place-based approach through underlying changes in the decision-making process towards more sustainable energy development that respects both the nature of the small towns and rural areas. This challenge aligns with the strategic framework established by Regional Land Use Planning within the territory of Alentejo which aims for the promotion of solar energy and the development of the emerging cluster (Jaegersberg & Ure, 2011). In this vein, the promotion of solar energy in Arraiolos is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and the need to accommodate the economic opportunities and environmental threats associated with this resource. That said, fostering solar energy is related to the installation of photovoltaic and thermal systems. In turn, the technological aspect must be aligned with the sustainability criteria in its three aspects: environmental, economic, and social. 180

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The concretization of the Solar Municipality model in Arraiolos is based on three structuring strategies (SS), which are associated with sustainability criteria, key topics to be introduced into the MMP regulation and the objectives to be achieved. The above framework suggests how fostering energy transition within the rural areas and small towns of the municipality should be ideally spread across several different spatial scales and interventions.This highlights the potential opportunity of the MMP review, which could diversify policies and regulations to stimulate the structural changes required in the promotion of solar energy at the local scale.The elaboration of these three strategies is supported on a place-based approach to fit well in the geographical context of the municipality and its natural and physical assets which are reimagined towards solar energy generation. In this vein, it provides the basis to inform the MMP review process, outlining the expected results of the implementation of each strategy.This means recognizing all the assets and challenges involved in the development of a Solar Municipality and identifying the spatial scales of energy transition and its impacts on territories and landscapes. In Arraiolos, the built environment and the idle lands across the municipal territory, represent the three main operational scales of regulation and intervention. The first is the existing built environment in small towns and villages, which are characterized by different building types with characteristics in terms of spatial incidence, use, architectural form and design, build period, materials. The rooftops of existing residential buildings, industrial areas, car parking, and equipment offer a unique opportunity to integrate photovoltaic systems and solar collectors in a sustainable way. Residential buildings constructed before the 1960s are predominant among the total municipal building stock (Poggi et al., 2017a). Here, rehabilitation is generally the most appropriate approach for integrating solar systems as it could preserve the technical, cultural, and institutional values that exist (Kandt et al., 2011). On the other hand, the installation of photovoltaic systems on rooftops in industrial areas, car parking shading, or public equipment, such as sports complex, schools, and health centres, revolves around interventions which are technically less complex and economically more attractive.These types of buildings present a larger suitable flat area, a lower degree of overshadowing from surrounding buildings, and generally do not provide significant visual impacts in landscapes. Nevertheless, interventions in the types of buildings described above are mostly associated with voluntary private decisions and investments. At the same time, the MMP regulation is limited to information about guidelines and municipal incentives to encourage the improvement of energy efficiency and installation of solar systems. In contrast, the second operational scale is the new construction which brings along with it a higher level of control and mandatory compliance in the integration of solar systems as it has to be aligned with the requirements for the near-zero energy building established by the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2018/844/EC), as well as the energy performance rules introduced into the Portuguese building codes (Vaquero, 2020). Finally, the third operational scale of intervention focuses on the idle areas which could be used for installing large-scale solar power plants. Indeed, the transformation of inactive quarries and abandoned industrial facilities, farmland, and shelters into sites for solar production could reduce the need for land with higher aesthetic values or agricultural productivity (Figure 12.3). Here, the MMP regulation emerges as the key instrument to identify the specific sites and integrate them into the municipal zoning plan defined by the local decision-making authority. Nevertheless, the promotion of solar energy is just a component of a broader vision towards fostering energy transition at the local scale. Ideally, the reinforcement of energy efficiency is the second main driver of the energy transition in small towns not only because of the direct relationship with the reduction of the consumption but also for the social, economic, and cultural aspects that are all involved in this process.Within this perspective, a dichotomy between urban and rural 181

Francesca Poggi et al. Table 12.1 Solar Municipality: Structuring Strategies (SS) SS1 Sustainability Criteria

MMP Regulation

Objectives to be achieved

SS2

Sustainability Criteria

MMP Regulation

INSTALLATION OF PHOTOVOLTAIC AND SOLAR THERMAL SYSTEMS IN RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS • Install photovoltaic and solar thermal systems in the rooftops and facades of buildings, avoiding negative effects on small towns and villages landscapes and their cultural-heritage values; • Reduce the demand for energy from non-renewable sources; • Adopt bioclimatic principles in urban and architectural design; • Planning future developments, according to the potential balance between energy production and consumption in the new buildings; • The urban design of new development has to ensure that the main orientation of the residential buildings maximizes southern exposure, promoting solar energy production, natural lighting, and thermal comfort; • Define parameters for roads and public space design that provide adequate spacing and alignments between buildings, in order to avoid shading effects; • The project of buildings should include the possibility of installing photovoltaic systems and solar collectors into the rooftop or elements of the envelope, such as facades, shading devices, or balconies; • In the case of rehabilitation of buildings in historical centres, technical, economic, and aesthetic conditions should always be evaluated before any installation of photovoltaic systems or solar collectors, to avoid visual impacts on architectural elements with cultural-heritage values; • In the case of rehabilitation of buildings in consolidated areas, whenever there is technical and economic feasibility, photovoltaic systems and solar collectors should be installed; • Reduction of needs for lighting, cooling, and heating of buildings; • Increase solar electricity self-consumption and solar water heating in the residential sector; • Substitution of traditional meters with smart monitoring and management systems; • Strengthen the research and innovation in the areas of technological development associated with solar energy such as, for example, highefficient photovoltaic and solar collector systems; • Create an attractive context to stimulate investments in the area of solar energy; • Promote the photovoltaic and thermal solar market and create jobs on a local scale; • Contribute to the emerging Solar Cluster in the Alentejo region, taking advantage of the natural potential of the municipality. INSTALLATION OF LARGE-SCALE PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS IN INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS, PARKING AREAS, AND MUNICIPAL EQUIPMENT • Preservation of land with agricultural and ecological values; • Mitigation of visual impacts on the rural landscape; • Reduction of the global energy demand of high energy-intensity buildings; • Promote the installation of photovoltaic systems in industrial areas; • Prioritize the permit process for the installation of large-scale photovoltaic systems into rooftops for self-consumption, whose financing and responsibility for the exploration rests with the private promoter; (Continued )

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Small Towns in the Energy Transition Era Table 12.1 Continued Objectives to be achieved

SS3 Sustainability Criteria

MMP Regulation

Objectives to be achieved

• Promote self-consumption in economic activities with high energyconsumption patterns such as the industry sector; • Expedite the permit process for the installation of photovoltaic systems into rooftops; • Involve private and public entities in financing projects associated with local energy transition; • Promote research and innovation in the areas of technological development, in particular in the framework of smart grids at the level of buildings and electric vehicles; • Create an attractive context to stimulate individual and collective private investments towards the creation of solar communities’ networks. INSTALLATION OF SOLAR POWER PLANTS ON IDLE LAND • Preservation of land with agricultural and ecological values; • Mitigation of visual impacts on the rural landscape; • Reduction of greenhouse gases, contributing to local economies; • Promote the installation of solar power plants on idle land such as old quarries, contaminated soils, or remote zones without landscape or natural values; • Delimitation of lands for installation of solar power plants in municipal zoning; • Definition of construction recommendations; • Providing local economy with new employment; • Promoting research and innovation in the areas of technological development, in particular, focusing on floating solar panels; • Creating an attractive context to stimulate private investment; • A stimulus to the creation of Solar Communities.

Figure 12.3 Example of Idle Areas in Arraiolos: (a) Inactive Granite Quarry; (b) Abandoned Industrial Facilities

populations emerges in association with the demographic structures, quality of life, employment, and health. The 32% of the population in the municipality older than 55 is characterized by low levels of education and low-income, aspects which have a substantial impact when related to investments in residential energy efficiency measures.The understanding that costs are offset by the reduction in consumption and the improvement of indoor thermal comfort in the short term are arguments that do not always encourage older people. 183

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On the other hand, the urban population which is generally younger and of working age is always more open to the idea of investing in energy efficiency measures due to their knowledge about the benefits in terms of comfort, costs saving, and environment. It should be noted that these premises place the population as a determining factor for the sustainable energy development of the municipality, making clear the need to create dedicated policies and programmes to reduce social energy vulnerabilities and inequities. The model of the Solar Municipality of Arraiolos aims to shape and orient the future energy development of the municipality, explaining its development strategies, namely about solar energy production and the reduction of energy consumption in the built environment. Given the national policy framework that integrates the issues of sustainable energy in a more holistic perspective, the review of the Arraiolos MMP represents a vision exercise to show the potential of local interventions at different operational scales and, in turn, identify its main opportunities and barriers.

Conclusions In an increasingly urbanized and resource-hungry world, the energy transition is becoming one of the most effective processes to foster climate change adaptation. Cities are often considered the main driver for sustainable energy development, but this perspective misses highlighting the key role that other spatial contexts, such as small towns and rural areas, can play in this process. Reinterpreting the dichotomy between rural and urban areas in a climate change adaptation perspective leads to the understanding that small towns and rural areas need to shift from their traditional activities such as agriculture and food production to innovative opportunities and challenges associated with energy transition. Municipalities with a predominance of rural areas emerge as a unique operational space for planning and managing the overall transition process. Here, the role of small towns is twofold. First, their physical nature leads to a delimitation of them as spatial cells of energy consumption across the rural territory. As such, they represent the places for identifying relations and strategies to reshape and transform the local economy and community development, especially in light of energy efficiency reinforcement in the built environment. Second, the social nature of small towns is strictly bounded by the local governance dimension. A more direct engagement with renewable energy production has to be associated with social involvement and acceptance to expedite decision-making processes and strategic investments. On the other hand, environment and energy development policymaking has to connect renewable energy into rural economic development. Renewable energy production mostly takes place in rural areas, becoming a factor of pressures on land-use and landscapes. These issues are the theoretical basis from which to advocate that fostering the energy transition needs to combine small towns with their rural areas as a system that should take on a balance between energy production and consumption. This framework leads to the concept of self-sufficient energy development, which can be locally planned and incrementally implemented. Energy transition falls within the scope of a smart specialization in which the municipalities can be considered as spatial systems, planned to converge on a balance between energy production in rural areas and energy consumption in small towns. It is according to this concept that the case study of Arraiolos is presented as an example to describe the theoretical and practical significance of shaping an energy transition vision, grounded in a place-based approach that aims to integrate the development strategies and sustainability objectives into the review process of the MMP. As a result, the spatialization of this vision leads to conceptualizing a model of Solar Municipality which represents the theoretical starting point to orient policymaking and spatial planning in tar184

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geting multiple operational scales. From a practical perspective, this model realizes the potential of a place-based approach that reimagines local assets and links them to local authority aspirations. Furthermore, following the logic of this self-sufficient energy development, several opportunities, challenges, and barriers emerge. The implementation of a Solar Municipality has to be envisaged as an incremental process that will depend on coordination and cooperation between various entities and the development of programmes with territorial, regulatory, and energy impact, which promote balanced economic and financial mechanisms.The novelty of this model is in addressing both solar energy production and energy efficiency challenges, within a unique municipal initiative which combines policymaking, planning, and regulation. The promotion of solar energy production and energy efficiency in the built environment may evolve over the long term due to a range of barriers whose complexity is directly proportional to social and economic factors. On the other hand, the implementation of large-scale solar power plants needs specific regulations and zoning to avoid conflicts with rural land-use and preserve landscapes from irreversible impacts. At the same time, if local idle areas are reimagined towards green energy generation, it has the potential to provide significant contributions and positive effects on the environment in the short term. Given the relevance of fostering energy transition involving small towns and rural areas, public decisions-makers and planners should review the MMP in light of a place-based approach and innovative strategic visions.The challenge is thus to focus on local energy transition as not only a driver for sustainable development but also a compromise able to concentrate and valorize local efforts to then provide global benefits.

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(2020).The future of the future city? The new urban sciences and a PEAK Urban interdisciplinary disposition. Cities, 105, 102820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.20 20.102820 Kempenaar, A., Puerari, E., Pleijte, M., & Buuren van, M. (2020). Regional design ateliers on ‘energy and space’: Systemic transition arenas in energy transition processes. European Planning Studies, 1–17. https://do i.org/10.1080/09654313.2020.1781792 Koutra, S., Becue,V., Gallas, M.-A., & Ioakimidis, C.S. (2018).Towards the development of a net-zero energy district evaluation approach:A review of sustainable approaches and assessment tools. Sustainable Cities and Society, 39, 784–800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.03.011 Mata Pérez, M., de la, E., Scholten, D., & Smith Stegen, K. (2019). The multi-speed energy transition in Europe: Opportunities and challenges for EU energy security. Energy Strategy Reviews, 26, 100415. https:/ /doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2019.100415 McClellan, S., Jimenez, J., & Koutitas, G. 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13 CONTEMPORARY STATUS OF SMALL TOWNS IN BULGARIA Functions and Role in the Development of Rural Regions Boian Koulov and Chavdar Mladenov

Introduction The functional interdependence between urban and rural is best illustrated in the interrelations between small towns and their rural regions. Small towns, as the fundamental elements of the urban settlement system, are, at the same time, geographically and functionally the closest link to the rural hinterland.The main goal of this investigation is to study the functions of small towns in Bulgaria and their role in the development of its rural regions. The study posits that small towns should serve as focal points and transmissions – administrative, informational, socio-economic, logistic, and infrastructural – in the “small towns–rural regions” relations and mutual interdependences. Ultimately, small towns should play an important role in the territorial integration of the rural areas and the creation of active, self-sustainable rural regions. To test this hypothesis, this investigation will focus, first, on critical analysis of the objects of study – small towns and rural regions – as seen in Bulgaria. Next, a short historical overview will provide a context for comparison to the contemporary status of the small town – rural relationships.Third, this work places a special emphasis on the comparative analysis and assessment of the geo-demographic status of rural areas’ small towns. This status is both a result and a reflection of the overall interactions in the rural regions, on the one hand, and an important indicator of small town’s potential to play the role of of significant development drivers, on the other. Last, but not least, the place and role of small towns are analyzed within the framework of Bulgaria’s strategic national, regional, and local regional development and territorial organization documents, with a focus on one of the most efficient instruments for geo-spatial integration – the functional categorization of the territorial units, settlements, and administrative regions. The main sources used in this work are the databases of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) of Bulgaria and Eurostat, the documentation above, a wealth of scientific publications, e.g., Ilieva 2001, 2002, 2008; Ilieva et al. 2003,Wheeler 2004; Banski 2004, 2007; Boyadjiev 2011; Mladenov 2016a,b, 2015a,b; De Souza 2017, Koulov et al. 2019; Koulov 2020, as well as authors’ field work observations.Among the most serious challenges in this respect figure the quantity and accessibility of regional, local, and settlement statistics in Bulgaria and the European Union, especially in the case of past data. This is particularly true for economic data at the local level. While in some instances the reasons stem from respective EU regulations, this is not always the case. In any case, such a situation precludes quality scientific analysis and, respectively, governance, based on data 188

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and scientific evidence, on the one hand, and, on the other, real public discussions and transparent policy-making.

Small Towns and Rural Regions in Bulgaria This section of the investigation outlines the definitions of “small town” and “rural region” in the European Union and its Member State Bulgaria and analyzes some related differences.The latter is necessary, since the “common” in the name of the Common Agricultural Policy that the European Union has been supporting since 1962 (and more recently particularly through EU regulations 1306/2013 and 1305/201), does not include the definition of rural region, as the basic area, in which the policy has been implemented.

Small Towns There is no generally accepted definition of town, nor, consequently, of small towns.This is mostly due to the specificities of the different geographic settings. Furthermore, the boundaries between towns and villages are also purely subjective. In the European Union, classification of territorial units is mostly used in the process of implementation of economic and social cohesion policies. Eurostat’s DEGURBA classification (Correspondence … 2020) orders administrative territorial units predominantly according to their population density. Its criteria do not distinguish between towns and suburbs and are focused overwhelmingly on urban settlements. Notably, the classification practically excludes villages – the more numerous type of settlements – which necessarily poses serious problems for development policy-making of rural areas, and, respectively, small towns. The density of the population strongly influences the variety of activities and functions that settlements perform, which largely determines their place in the spatial organization of geographic space. The urban–rural dichotomy, however, is, in fact, a continuum and no sharp dividing line exists between its two components (Koulov 2020). Their distinctions vary from place to place and are entirely based on geographically, historically, environmentally, economically, and culturally shaped characteristics and experiences, including the perceptions of the settlement’s level of urbanization. Europe’s small towns, as elements of the urban settlement structure, are positioned closest to the rural areas and functionally relate to them, mainly through their basic – rural – settlement type – the village. In some countries, like the USA, the basic settlement type of the rural areas is still called “town”. In Bulgaria, the current Territorial Organization Act (Territorial … 2001, Additional Provisions, Art. 7, Para. 5) lumps together the villages with the towns with populations of up to 30,000 inhabitants under the term “small settlements”. The actual term, which is used to signify small settlements in the respective geographic area, is of lesser importance, compared to their actual functions and the role such settlements play in the functioning of the rural areas. The current system of Bulgaria’s settlement network consists of just two elements – towns and villages – and exactly mirrors the urban–rural dichotomy. Presently, these are the only types of settlements that are legally recognized (Administrative … 1995). Official status to both settlement types is granted (or taken away) by an administrative act, issued by the Council of Ministers (Administrative… 1995,Art. 20, para.3).A specific regulation (Administrative… 1995,Art. 33, para. 1,Amend. SG No. 46/2005) introduces the requirements for a village to be declared a town.They include built social and technical infrastructure, and a population of not less than 3,500 people. In the case of resort settlements, only 1,000 people satisfy the population criterion. The comparison to the same regulations of almost 140 years ago shows some informative differences in the criteria for acquiring town status. While the size of the necessary population has 189

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slightly increased (from over 3,000 people), the other criteria have changed substantially, which signifies important changes in the town functions: the majority of the inhabitants have had to deal with crafts, trade, and industry, and the established regular revenues of the municipal budget for each of the last three years to exceed BGN 30,000 (Municipalities … 1882). Notwithstanding regulations, some Bulgarian towns acquire their status due to historical and cultural reasons. Others, like Pravets and Kableshkovo, have become towns for political reasons, as birthplaces of high officials. In view of their foremost role – regional development – small towns in Bulgaria are defined as settlements with populations of 10,000 to 30,000 inhabitants (Ordinance No 7 of 22.12. 2003,Additional provisions, para. 1:1) (see Figure 13.1).The same ordinance, however, also legalizes the existence of yet another category of “very small towns” with up to 10,000 residents. Consequently, for the purposes of this study, all towns with populations below 30,000 are classified as “smal”. In addition to their regular functions, some small towns also perform administrative roles: In the vast majority of cases, they are municipal centers. Conveniently, the required number of residents for a small town corresponds with the required population size that a municipal center must have to qualify for the category of rural municipality. (Ordinance 14 2003:“Rural regions are municipalities, on which territory there is no town with a population of more than 30,000 people and the population density is less than 150 inhabitants per square kilometer.”) Thus, the administrative function is currently one of the most important characteristics, which embodies the role of small towns in the rural regions. Furthermore, rural regions in Bulgaria and a number of other EU Member States, are legalized and governed at the municipal (LAU) scale.

Figure 13.1 Geographic Distribution of Small Towns in Bulgaria by Population Size and Type of Municipality (LAU) in 2018 Source of data: National Statistical Institute – NSI

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Rural Regions De Souza’s (2017) deep, evidence-based study discusses the notions of the rural, as well as the peripheral and the marginal, treated in the academic and policy environments as heavily stereotyped areas (as well as structures and processes) that “carry” negative connotations. His investigation aims to stimulate debate and re-evaluation. Koulov et al. (2019) emphasize the wide variances and frequent changes in the theoretical and institutional “rural region” definitions, which create very significant differences between Eurostat’s, the World Bank’s, and national statistical estimates of the rural population numbers that preclude scientific comparisons and severely limit the efficiency of international policy-making. In a research on core-periphery relations and horizontal disparities in Europe, Koulov (2020) points to some controversies in Eurostat’s urban–rural typology and stresses the issue’s significance for the distribution of one of the largest shares of EU’s regional development funding.The comparison between Figures 13.1 and 13.2 best illustrate the methodological differences between, respectively, Eurostat’s and Bulgaria’s approaches to the territorial framework, in which the relations between small towns and rural regions are addressed for the purpose of support of agriculture, as well as regional development. Figure 13.1 shows the territorial framework, on the basis of which EU support for the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors, which are characteristic for the rural areas, as well as overall support for rural areas development, is distributed by the Bulgarian authorities (Ordinance No 14 2003). Figure 13.2 presents the territorial framework, according to which Bulgaria receives EU support. Figure 13.3 reveals the very significant territorial discrepancies between rural regions – rightful beneficiaries – and urban regions. These discrepancies negatively reflect not only on the actual size of the rural areas, but, even more importantly, on the locations of the rural regions (see Figure 13.3).The managerial capacity

Figure 13.2 Geographic Distribution of Small Towns in Bulgaria Among the Predominantly Rural Regions (NUTS 3, Eurostat) in 2018 Data source: NSI

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Figure 13.3 Locational Discrepancies Between Rural and Urban Regions, Beneficiaries of EU Agricultural and Rural Support

of the authorities at the two scales would necessarily differ too. In view of such methodological discrepancies and deficiencies, efficient and transparent policy-making, an informed and motivated public, and successful rural development is rather questionable. The objective definition of the subject of this investigation – the role of small towns in rural regions – necessitates an analysis of the rural regions in Bulgaria, in conjunction with the geographic distribution of small towns. The idea is to discern if and whether the number and the size of small towns meaningfully influence the degree of regions’ ruralization, i.e., whether rural regions are characterized by a lower number of small towns. Both the capital of Sofia (Stolitsa, BG411) and Sofia Region (BG412) are excluded from this test, due to their extraordinary characteristics. The results for the NUTS 3 (Eurostat) rural regions (see Figure 13.2) show that each of them houses on average 5.33 small towns – almost three towns of that category less than the average Bulgarian region.Within this territorial framework, the rural regions are about 23 percent of the total number of regions in the country, but house only 14 percent of the small towns. In terms of population size of the small towns they possess, most rural regions – Vidin (BG311), Silistra (BG325), Razgrad (BG324), Smolyan (BG424), and Kardzhali (BG425) – house small towns from the “under 10,000” inhabitants category.The single exception here is the town of Popovo from the Oblast of Targovishte (BG334) with less than 14,000 inhabitants.To strengthen the evidence that supports the conclusion of the strong influence of the number and population size of small towns on the process of ruralization, it should be mentioned that the administrative center of the Smolyan Region (BG424) is a small town; two more administrative centers of the rural regions at the NUTS 3 scale – Silistra (BG325) and Razgrad (BG324) – have populations of less than 31,000 inhabitants; while the centers of the other three regions vary between 35,000 and 44,000. Last, but not least, the tendency in all settlements of the rural regions is characterized by significant population decline. 192

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Finally, the comparative analysis of the population structure among the different types of settlements between the EU and Bulgaria may prove quite indicative and promising, in terms of forecasting future population changes in Bulgaria’s rural areas, as well as their dynamics (see Figure 13.2). First, in 2017, Bulgaria’s population is more urban than the “average European”:A greater share of Bulgaria’s population (44 percent) lives in predominantly urban areas, compared to the EU average (39 percent). In view of the ongoing urbanization tendency, this situation is hardly going to experience meaningful change. Bulgaria’s share of the population living in the towns and suburbs is very close to the EU average.At the other end of the population density spectrum however – in the predominantly rural regions – the country’s share (32 percent) is also above EU average (29 percent). Consequently, if Bulgaria generally follows the EU’s trend of population distribution, which is the most probable scenario, its rural population will continue to fall, at the same rapid pace, for quite some time.While from a purely economic point of view, this process will be surely positive, its impact on the country’s seven predominantly rural districts (NUTS 3, Eurostat) – see Figure 13.1 – will require special economic and geospatial development policies, which will have to be targeted on larger, rather than smaller, settlements, including small towns.

Small Towns in Bulgaria’s Urbanization: Short Historical Overview After the Liberation in 1878, the settlement network in the current Bulgarian lands comprises a very small number of towns that acted as administrative, garrison, and transport centers, but also specialized in commerce and crafts.A few towns with emerging industrial production have gradually begun to engage the nearby towns and villages, and gradually take over the organizing role in the country’s settlement network. It is, however, of particular significance to the subject of this chapter to note that the first census of the newly liberated Principality of Bulgaria (1880) registers, in addition to the 40 towns, another 77 settlements of an intermediate category, called “gradets” or small towns.That category only lasts until the second census in 1887, when some of these “gradets” were recognized as towns. Despite its short existence, the category itself is a reflection of the importance given to the urban–rural relations in the first years of the young state. During the period before the Second World War, many towns transformed their economic and population concentration roles; new and larger towns with industrial functions rose to become urban centers and assumed rural integration functions, predominantly through the agricultural sector.Thanks to the newly built transport infrastructure (roads, railroads, and ports) and the construction of new factories and mining operations, the overall number of towns has grown.While in 1887, Bulgaria had 91 towns, only two of which (Plovdiv and Sofia) had populations above 30,000 inhabitants, in 1946, the overall number of towns grew to 106, 10 of which joined the over 30 000 inhabitants’ category (Dobrich, Shumen,Yambol, Pleven, Ruse, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Pazardzhik, Burgas, and Varna).Thus, at the time when Bulgaria acquires its current borders (1940), about 89 percent of its towns – 94 in number – have a population below 30,000 inhabitants. Accelerated industrialization and urbanization during the socialist period (1944–1989) significantly transformed the settlement network of the largely rural country. The 134 newly declared towns increased the number of small towns between 1946 and 1985 by 243 percent, with the ensuing historic transformations of socio-economic life in the rural areas. Not only were the villages affected: One important function of small towns during this period is to provide a continuous supply of labor for large industrialization projects. In many cases, however, town affirmation happened for political reasons, while the population of the respective villages continued to be predominantly employed in agriculture, without the necessary demographic mass, and social and engineering infrastructure. Rapid urbanization processes once again brought about the introduction of an intermediate category of settlements between town and village, this time, called “settlements of urban type”. 193

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Declared by a law in 1964, this category of small towns was abolished only ten years later, with all the participating settlements eventually declared towns. Nevertheless, such developments reiterate the importance of small towns, as a transitional type of settlement, which functionally bridges urban and rural Bulgaria, and emphasize the importance of their close relations and interdependence. The fundamental transformations, which started during the last decade of the 20th century, also take a heavy toll on the Bulgarian settlement network, particularly on the vast majority of small towns and rural areas, of which they are a part. Between 1985 and 2018, the number of small towns increased by only 20, while the number of villages decreased by 127. Urban settlements generally benefit from rural depopulation; however, the small towns in Bulgaria increased in number only. Due to their geographic and functional similarities to the rural areas, small towns have experienced some of the heaviest losses from the dramatic widening of the core–periphery split in Bulgaria (Koulov 2020). The extent, to which they still have the capacity to play a role in countering the urban–rural imbalance, which presently threatens to become “irreversible and catastrophic” (Strategy 2013, 20), is the subject of further analysis here.

Contemporary Geo-Demography of the Bulgarian Small Towns The geo-demographic state of contemporary small towns in Bulgaria is a result of the overall development of the country and best represents their capacity to execute their primary geospatial function – integration of the surrounding villages and rural areas.The uneven distribution of the 257 Bulgarian towns among the local administrative territorial units additionally raises their stature, especially in the rural areas (Mladenov 2015b, 2016a). The number of small towns in the country continues to increase; however, their population is decreasing at a very rapid pace. Population decrease has been typical for Bulgaria in the last 35 years; in fact, it exhibits one of the highest population declines in the European Union. However, while town population has decreased by 11 percent for the same period, small-town population has declined by 25.5 percent – a rate more than twice higher than the decline of the average town (National Statistical Institute). The relative decrease of the average number of residents per small town characterizes all categories; however, it is highest (28.5 percent) in the smallest of these types of towns (less than 10,000 people). The population in medium-sized towns also shows a tendency towards decline, albeit a lower one. Exceptions among the settlements of different sizes are the large towns (above 100,000 inhabitants in Bulgaria). The main components of the severe “shrinkage” of the Bulgarian medium-sized, and, even more, small towns, are the natural changes and the out-migrations of the population.The natural population change (increase vs decrease) in the towns of the country also follows the general trends, however, with a time lag (NSI). Compared to the 1985 to 1992 period, the birth rate has decreased by more than four points and, currently, is at a level which does not allow natural reproduction of the population. In sharp contrast to the past, the birth rate in small towns is lower than that in large towns, which is mostly a result of the absence of a young population.The birth rate in small towns is similar to that of the rural population. The mortality rate in the towns of Bulgaria is 10 points lower than in the villages. In small towns, however, it is about 2.5 points higher than the urban average, while in the smallest ones it is even higher – 4.4 points.The mortality rate in small towns is currently about 7 points lower than that in the villages, which is mainly due to the aging population of the rural areas (Koulov et al. 2019), coupled with the inferior health care services. As a result, natural population change features negative values that continue to increase. In small towns, it is almost twice higher than the medium-size towns and four times higher than the large ones. Especially high are the negative values in the smallest towns – 8.2‰, but it is still about 5 points lower than that in the villages. 194

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The other component that forms the population numbers is the internal migration of the population. Unfortunately, we do not have information on external migration by town, which is why this analysis concerns only internal migration changes (NSI). The in-migration in the Bulgarian towns exhibits a pronounced downward trend. In the large towns there is still an increase, compared to the 1985 to 1992 period, but after the initial “boom” they are already experiencing a decrease. In small towns, the in-migration since 1985 has decreased by about one-third, as a result of their diminished socio-economic potential and the demographic “exhaustion” of the villages (Mladenov 2015a, 2016b). Due to the increased migration turnover, caused by the transformation of the socio-economic system in the last decade of the 20th century, initially the out-migration from the towns increases, but with the stabilization of the economic system, it decreases and is already lower, compared to the period 1985–1992. The socio-economic situation explains this development too. There are no significant differences in the out-migrations from the different categories of small towns. In general, the change in internal migration in the towns shows negative values. These values characterize mostly small and medium-sized towns, while in the large ones they are positive. Over the past 20 years, the negative internal migration rates in small towns have remained at the same level.Their values are lower, in comparison with those of the negative natural growth and account for about 40 percent of the population decrease in small towns. In summary, the negative internal migration change in the small towns causes continuous aging and heavily limits the reproductive capacity of their population (Mladenov 2015b, 2016a). Severe depopulation affects not only the villages in the rural areas, but also the towns and, ever more palpably, the category of small towns. In terms of the population aging, significant disproportions already exist among the main age groups, while the situation in the country’s small towns is especially precarious (NSI). Since 2000, the share of persons aged over 65 years is greater than that of the population of ages from 0 to 15 years. In the small towns, this preponderance of the share of population over 65 is even greater, which significantly reduces its reproduction capacity. Age dependency is steadily increasing, especially in small towns, where it is over 51 percent in the 2012– 2017 period. The role of small towns, as demographic and labor “reservoir” for the country’s urbanization, is apparently over, due to the rural areas’ socio-economic decline in the last 30 years and more and the dramatic widening of the rift between core and periphery in Bulgaria (Koulov 2020). The sustainability of this type of town, in the geo-demographic sense, will depend on the level of their economic and social adaptability and capacity to attract human capital and investments.

The Small Towns Role: Strategic Instrument for Territorial Integration of the Rural Areas Small towns have traditionally served as an important element of the urban settlement system, due also to their ability to play the role of geo-spatial nodes of functional integration of the rural areas. In addition to their administrative functions, the towns of this type act as public service “transmissions” between the larger urban centers and their countryside. On the one hand, they provide social (primary and secondary education, health and social care), and cultural services to the rural population. On the other, some of them are focal points of primary economic functions, i.e., agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining and quarrying, as well as trade services, information, communication, and transportation infrastructures, logistics. The significance and impact of small towns on rural areas is further detailed in the main national strategic documents related to territorial organization and regional development, e.g., Update of the National Concept for Spatial Development for the Period 2013–2025, Operational Program “Regions in Growth” 2014–2020, National Regional Development Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for the period 2012–2022, Monitoring of the Categorization of the Administrative-Territorial Units and the Territorial Units on the Basis 195

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of Up-To-Date Statistical Data (2018), Interim Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for Regional Development for the Period 2012–2022. This analysis focuses on the system of territorial units’ categorization (Categorization 2008, updated 2016 and 2018), mainly because of lack of space. The Categorization has already been in use for close to half a century and continues to be fundamental for all related strategic documents.This policy instrument classifies all territorial units – settlements and administrative regions – according to their functional type. Its paramount relevance for “small towns–rural regions” relations is embodied in its main goal: equal access to the basic public services, irrespective of one’s place of abode. Notably, both the state capital of Sofia (Stolitsa, BG411) and its surrounding region – Sofia (BG412) – are classified in the respective 0 categories (Table 13.1), which represents an additional proof that the Categorization is directly aimed at the “regular” territorial units. For these reasons, it enjoys high public credibility and is widely considered the most reliable instrument for territorial organization and planning by both national and local authorities (Categorization 2008). During the central planning period, the Categorization plays a paramount socio-economic governance role, including determining the distribution of state subsidies and basic real estate prices, thus countering imbalances and integrating Bulgaria’s settlements and regions. The deep transformations during the transition to the “free market” period, as well as EU accession, necessitate amendments in the overall administrative and territorial organization of the country (Administrative … 1995, Art. 36:1).They include methodological changes in the Categorization, adopted in 2004, all of which significantly delay the restart of its practical implementation. Even more importantly, a criterion, closely related to the economic potential (e.g., natural resources, land resources, production assets, etc.) of the respective territorial unit is missing from the updated evaluation. It is, however, a fact that the economic context is, generally, the main attraction for investors and population migration. The Categorization instrument provides multi-criterial assessment and ordering of Bulgaria’s territorial units, according to their functions (see Figure 13.4). Further evidence that the Categorization places special emphasis on the rural population and its opportunities to access the basic public services is the fact that the bulk of the settlement’s categories – from second to fifth – specifically address the small towns, in which lives only a minority – 28 percent – of the urban population (Table 13.1).The analysis of the Categorization shows that administration is the most important function that demonstrates small towns’ capacities to provide services and serve as economic “transmissions” to the rural areas. Small towns from all categories are municipal centers, but in categories “two” and “three” this function apparently refers to all territorial units.The majority of the small towns in category “four” are municipal centers, while, in the last category, only a third of the small towns are party to it. Despite the multiple diverse indicators that the Categorization instrument uses for territorial units’ assessment and ordering, the population size continues to be of the highest importance for the position of the respective town. Almost all of the small towns in categories “two” and “three” used to have much larger populations and are historically traditional centers of socio-economic life. The oblast (NUTS 3) center town of Smolyan, which only several years ago used to be of medium size, is a good example in this category.There are only four small towns of category “two” in the rural regions of Figure 13.4 and two of them are situated in the Oblast of Sofia (BG412), situated around the capital city. Category “three” includes 82 small towns with some economic potential or more recently developed tourism functions.The population size of the majority of them, however, ranks below 10,000 inhabitants. The largest number of small towns fall into category “four”; however, only 5.8 percent of the urban population in the country lives in these settlements.The category is typical for settlements with recently affirmed town status and administrative functions. All of them have populations of below 10,000. The fifth category includes the smallest number of small towns – only 15 – located predominantly in Bulgaria’s peripheries of different scale and type – mountain, border, 196

197

1 18 37 82 74 5 218

0 1 2 3 4 5 Total

Source of data: NSI

Municipal Center Towns – number

Category

1 18 37 82 104 15 257

Total number of towns in 2018

6

1 5

Large towns

Including:

23

13 10

Medium towns

27 82 104 15 228

Small towns

Table 13.1 Distribution of the Towns in Bulgaria According to Their Category and Size

11

11

20,000–30,000 people

Including:

31

16 15

10,000–20,000 people

67 104 15 186

below 10,000 people

Small Towns in Bulgaria

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Figure 13.4 Geographic Distribution of Small Towns in Bulgaria by Functional Type in the Rural Regions (Gross Domestic Product per Inhabitant, NUTS 3 regions) in 2018 Source of data: Eurostat and NSI

economic, social. Their socio-economic development resembles that of the large and mediumsized villages.The small towns without municipal functions are most likely to fit in this category (Figure 13.4). The veracity of the classification of Bulgaria’s territorial units, as a strategic Instrument for functional and territorial Integration, is also evidenced by its paramount role in the allocation of EU investment funding in Bulgaria, and especially by its practical results. During Bulgaria’s first EU programming period (2007–2013), the urban development financing – under Operational Programme (OP) “Regional Development” – targets predominantly the capital of Sofia and, to a lesser extent, the other six largest cities, which are also NUTS 2 regional centers. During the last programming period (2014–2020), EU funding under the Programme above has somewhat widened its territorial scope, targeting the 39 largest towns. It includes, however, just 10 of the total of 27 small towns in category “two”. Planning of adequate measures for support of the remaining 96 percent of the small towns, which is explicitly set forth in the National Concept for Spatial Development (Update … 2020), remains to be programmed in the next period. In fact, the Concept even pushes for a special national policy for the small towns of the fourth category, which has to be closely integrated with the Program for Development of the Rural Regions. Due to their role in regional development integration, small towns largely constitute the key to the success of both programs above.

Conclusion This investigation demonstrates that the vast majority of the small towns in Bulgaria do not have the necessary demographic, economic, social, and administrative capacities to fulfil the role of 198

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development “transmissions” for the rural areas. In addition to a number of methodological and data deficiencies at the EU and Member State scales, EU urban and rural development instruments have largely failed to reach small towns, to the detriment of the efficiency of territorial policy integration and rural regions’ sustainability. Due to their position – geographical and functional – in respect to the rural areas and the natural environment, the role of small towns can only be expected to grow, especially due to the quality of wellbeing and increasingly attractive lifestyles they provide. Increasing introduction of green and digital technologies, innovative approaches, including natural capital and ecosystem accounting (Assenov et al. 2016; Ivanova et al. 2016; Koulov et al. 2017), will allow for diversification of their functional structures, adaptation, and re-evaluation of their policy priorities, in ever closer integration with rural and other natural areas. Sporadic examples already exist, often related to returning members of the Bulgarian diaspora. In addition to real functional decentralization, an administrative territorial reform at the local (LAU) and regional (NUTS 3) scales is required, that will reflect the geospatial transformations in Bulgaria of the last more than 30 years, and create active and efficient, self-sustaining regions.

References Assenov, A., K. Vassilev, Н. Padeshenko, B. Koulov, E. Ivanova, B. Borisova. (2016) Research of the Biotope diversity for the purposes of economic valuation of ecosystem services in Chepelare municipality (The Rhodope Region of Bulgaria). European Journal of Sustainable Development, 5:4. Bański, J. (2004) Contemporary transformations of the rural space in Poland: selected problems. In: New aspects of regional transformation and the urban-rural relationship. Pecs. Bański, J. (2007) The development of rural areas in Central Europe – an identification of new processes. In: Regionality and/or Locality, Discussion papers. Centre for Regional Studies of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pecs. Boyadjiev V. (2011) The role of small settlements for the regional development of Bulgaria. In: Proceedings of the higher school of agribusiness and development of the regions. Plovdiv. De Souza, P. (2017) The rural and peripheral in regional development: an alternative perspective.Taylor and Francis, ISSN 9781351811927. Ilieva, M. (2001) Some issues on the transformation of rural regions in Bulgaria. Проблеми на географията, 1–2, 62–74. Ilieva, M. (2002) Transformation of the rural areas in Bulgaria (processes, territorial disparities). In: B. Gałczynska, M. Ilieva (Eds.) Transformations of rural areas in Poland and Bulgaria. Case studies. Dokumentacja Geograficzna, No. 27. Instytut Geografii i przestrzennego zagospodarowania PAN,Warszawa. Ilieva, M. (2008) SAPARD fund as development factor for rural areas in Bulgaria. In: T. Komornicki, K. Czapiewski, B. Jaworska (Eds.) New functions of rural and industrial space in Central and Eastern Europe, Europa XXI, 2008, 17. Polish Academy of Sciences,Warszawa. Ilieva, M., Ch. Mladenov (2003) Changes in the rural areas in Bulgaria: processes and prospects. Geographia Polonica, 76(1), 97–110. Ivanova, E., B. Koulov, B. Borisova, A. Assenov, K.Vassilev. (2016) GIS-based valuation of ecosystem services in mountain regions: a case study of the Chepelare municipality in Bulgaria. European Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(4), 335–346. Koulov, B. (2020) Europe’s core-periphery relations and horizontal disparities. Sofia: Az-buki National Publishing House. ISBN 9876197065305. Koulov, B., V. Boyadjiev, A. Ravnachka. (2019) The demographic draining of Bulgaria’s rural area: A GISaided geospatial analysis (1992–2017). In: J. Banski (Ed.) Three Decades of Transformation in the East-Central European Countryside. Springer. 22p. ISBN:978-3-030-21236-0, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-21237-7_11. Koulov, B., E. Ivanova, B. Borisova,A.Assenov,A. Ravnachka. (2017) GIS-based valuation of ecosystem services in mountain regions: a case study of the Karlovo Municipality in Bulgaria. One Ecosystem, doi:10.3897/ oneeco.2.e14062. Mladenov, Ch. (2015a) Dynamics of the population in the rhodopes - General trends and geodemographic features. Problems of geography, 1–2, Sofia: National Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences “Prof. M. Drinov”, 68–77. Mladenov, Ch. (2015b) Impact of internal migration on the regional demographic situation. Population, 2, 73–87.

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Boian Koulov and Chavdar Mladenov Mladenov, Ch. (2016a) Once again about the geodemographic Zoning of Bulgaria.“Geography and Friends” Series, in honor of the 60th anniversary of Prof.V. Boyadzhiev. Sofia, 735–775. ISBN 978-954-326-273-1. Mladenov, Ch. (2016b) Current state and birth rate in Bulgaria.“Geography and Friends” Series, in honor of the 60th anniversary of Prof. P. Slaveykov. Sofia, 735–775. ISBN 978-954-326-273-1. Wheeler, Stephen. (2004) Planning sustainable and livable towns. Routledge.

Anonymous Administrative Territorial Organization of the Republic of Bulgaria Act. Prom. SG 63/14.07.1995. Categorization of the Administrative-Territorial and Territorial Units. (2008) Sofia: Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. (https://www.mrrb.bg/bg/kategorizaciya-na-administrativno-teritori alnite-i-teritorialnite-edinici/, accessed on 25. 07.2020. Correspondence table Degree of Urbanisation (DEGURBA) - Local Administrative Units (https://ec.euro pa.eu/eurostat/ramon/miscellaneous/index.cfm?TargetUrl=DSP_DEGURBA, accessed on 25. 07.2020). Interim Report on the Implementation of the National Strategy for Regional Development for the Period 2012–2022. (http://www.strategy.bg/772, accessed on 15.08.2020). Monitoring of the Categorization of the Administrative-Territorial Units and the Territorial Units on the Basis of Up-To-Date Statistical Data (2018). Sofia: National Center for Territorial Development. National Regional Development Strategy of the Republic of Bulgaria for the period 2012 – 2022. Council of Ministers Decision 696/24.08.2012. (http://www.strategy.bg/772, accessed on 15.08.2020). NSI - National Statistical Institute, Bulgaria. (www.nsi.bg, accessed on 04.06.2020). Operational Program “Regions in Growth” 2014–2020. (https://www.eufunds.bg/archive2018/index.php/ bg/programen-period-2014-2020/operativni-programi-2014-2020/operativna-programa-regioni-vrastezh-2014-2020/item/13761-rabotni-versii-na-oprr-2014-2020, accessed on 04.06.2020). Ordinance № 7 of December 22, 2003 on Rules and Regulations for the Organization of Certain Types of Territories and Development Zones, in force since 13.01.2004, issued by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works. Prom. SG 3/13.01. 2004, amendments. Ordinance № 14 of April 1, 2003 on Determination of the Settlements in Rural and Mountainous Areas, issued by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works. Prom. SG 35/26.08.2005. Regional Development Act. Prom. S.G. 50/30.05.2008. Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005. (ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2013/1305/2 020-06-26, accessed on 15. 07.2020.) Regulation (EU) No. 1306/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008 (ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2013/1306/2020-02-01, accessed on 25. 07.2020.) Strategy of Development of the Smolyan Oblast - 2014–2020. Smolyan, 2013. Territorial Organization Act. Prom. SG 1/02.01. 2001. Update of the National Concept for Spatial Development for the Period 2013–2025. Decision of the Council of Ministers 306/07.05. 2020. (www.strategy.bg/774, accessed on 13.09.2020).

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SECTION 3

Small Towns in Rural Space

14 CHANGING URBAN–RURAL RELATIONS IN ISRAEL’S PERIPHERY1 Michael Sofer, Nir Cohen, Levia Applebaum, Irit Amit-Cohen, Yardena Shaul, and Irit Shmuel

Introduction The relationship between the rural and urban sectors in Israel has for many years been characterized by a high level of spatial separation. This separation was expressed in different development tracks and an almost total absence of mechanisms for coordination and cooperation. The origin of this phenomenon was the central role played by rural communities in the settlement of Israel, which earned them institutional protections, expressed in unique organizational support systems and policies, different from those applied to the urban sector (Applebaum, 1998). These systems enabled rural settlements to function and develop independently in the fields of employment and economic services, without reliance on nearby towns and with direct links to the large cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. Most of the towns located in the heart of rural peripheral areas were founded in the early years after the establishment of the state of Israel, as part of the government population dispersal plan. They absorbed thousands of new immigrants and were designed to serve as regional service centers for their rural surroundings (Brutzkus, 1986; Efrat, 2009). However, for a long time these towns could not fulfill this regional role because they were small, and most of their populations were characterized by low social capital. Moreover, the establishment of these towns was not accompanied by creation of local employment sources, and many of the residents were employed in farming and industry by the rural sector. Insufficient government investment in their development led over time to social and economic failure of these towns, and as a result, to increasing inequality between the towns and the surrounding rural areas, social alienation between the two populations and a lack of willingness to cooperate, even on issues where benefit could be expected Changes in the Israeli economy and society, mainly over the past three decades, led to a reduction in the differences between the towns and the adjacent rural space, and thus to changes in the nature of the interaction between them and to the development of reciprocal relationships.These changes can be seen in bi-directional movements of population for different purposes and in the formation of greater collaborations between the relevant local authorities (Applebaum & Hazan, 2005). Concurrently, conflicts developed between the two sectors, mainly regarding land resources located in the rural space, due to the growing need of the towns for additional land on the one hand, and to the weakening of institutional protection of agricultural land, on the other hand (Razin & Hasson, 1992; Razin et al., 1994; Razin & Hazan, 2006). 203

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These processes are not unique to Israel. Similar questions are on the agenda of many countries – both developing and developed – that seek to clarify the character of the interactions between the two sectors and to promote more balanced and fair relationships between them (Unwin, 1989). Despite the growing understanding that the distinction between urban and rural is constantly changing (Champion & Hugo, 2004), many governments still tend toward a binary distinction between the two sectors and encourage incentives for reciprocal relationships between them.The main reason for this attitude is two-fold. At the micro level, these relationships are perceived as a tool for the creation of more effective household survival strategies, for example through mobility between different spaces and diversity of economic production (and consumption) activities.At the macro level, the emphasis on market-based economic growth since the 1980s has led to the recognition that urban markets in small towns constitute a significant economic anchor point for rural producers and consumers, both because of the concentrated demand for (and supply of) goods and services and because they are relay points for regional and global markets (Tacoli, 1998, 2003). The starting point of this chapter is that the structural, economic and social changes that have taken place in the rural space in Israel over the past three decades and the demographic and economic growth of peripheral towns have created new opportunities to reshape the relations between the two sectors.The study expands the information about rural–urban relationships in Israel gained in previous studies (Cohen, 1967; Berler et al., 1970; Lipshitz, 1991; Kipnis, 1992; Razin & Hasson, 1992; Razin & Hazan, 1994;Applebaum & Hazan, 2005; Razin & Hazan, 2006).The emphasis here is on the character and scope of institutional cooperation between urban and rural local authorities, the character and scope of economic and socio-cultural exchanges between the populations, and the factors that encourage or constrain the ability and willingness of local authorities to enter into cooperative arrangements in areas such as employment, commerce, education and culture.These processes are examined in four peripheral regions, two in the north of the country and two in the south, containing small towns and surrounding rural communities that belong to specific regional authorities. This research seeks to identify the main domains in which mutual linkages between the rural and urban sectors can be developed, to elucidate the conditions that encourage or hinder cooperation and to propose appropriate tools for coping with conflicts. Examples of similar studies can be found relating to different countries such as Britain (Brand, 2006; Tomkinson, 2007), France (Chanard et al., 2009), Poland (Banski et al., 2016), Romania (Guran-Nica et al., 2011) and Australia (Dollery et al., 2010), as well as at the European and OECD country levels (Zonneveld & Stead, 2007; OECD, 2013). In some geographic contexts these issues are addressed with the specific goal of strengthening the relatively weaker sector (Pascariu & Czischke, 2015). The data presented in this chapter were obtained through interviews with the heads and selected officials of all local authorities (at least two in each authority) included in the sample, and structured questionnaires distributed to business owners in the towns and to residents of the regional councils.Analysis of the data was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative tools.The findings are presented in three sections. The first describes the historical background of rural–urban relationships in the locations studied, emphasizing the changes that have taken place in recent decades.The following section presents the type and strength of the linkages between residents of the rural communities and the towns.The final section presents the conclusions derived from the analysis of the positions expressed by the local authority officials and the results of the questionnaires concerning patterns of change in urban–rural relations in the peripheral regions of Israel.

Historical Background and Current Changes in Four Peripheral Regions Background The four regions examined are similar to a large extent (Figure 14.1).The four towns at their centers were founded during the early years of the state of Israel (1948–1951) as transit camps designed to 204

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Lebanon

N

Kiryat Shmona

Syria HaGalil HaElyon

Mevo'ot HaHermon Haifa

Mediterranean Sea

Beit She'an Emek HaMaayanot

Tel Aviv

Jerusalem

Be’er Tuvia

Jordan

Kiryat Malakhi Sderot Sha’ar HaNegev

Egypt

Legend –Town –Regional council

Figure 14.1 Location Map of Case Studies Source: Created by the author

house thousands of new immigrants who arrived in those years.2 Their location close to rural settlements (kibbutzim and moshavim)3 was determined with the intention that the immigrants would be employed, even if partially and temporarily, by these settlements, and that the regional councils would provide them with basic public services. After a few years, the transit camps became perma205

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nent settlements, and in accordance with the planning approach of the period, they were designed to serve as regional centers for the surrounding rural areas (Brutzkus, 1986; Efrat, 2009). In practice, for many years this goal was not attained, and relationships between the towns and the adjacent rural settlements became unidirectional, as many of the town residents were dependent on employment in agriculture and industry in nearby kibbutzim, moshavim and regional factories.The overlap between the class division (employers/employees) and the cultural gap (Ashkenazi/Mizrahi)4 created a sense of mutual alienation and prevented the development of meaningful joint projects (Hacohen, 1996). Over the past three decades, demographic, economic and political changes have occurred, at both regional and national levels, leading to changes in reciprocal relationships between the two sectors.These have been expressed in the growth and strengthening of the towns, versus the weakening of cooperative frameworks and institutional support systems of the rural settlements and increased power and influence of the regional councils as governing bodies of the rural space.As a result, a significant increase in the scope and nature of partnerships between urban authorities and regional councils in various areas may be discerned. However, despite the general similarity among the cases surveyed, the research findings show substantial differences among them in terms of the nature and scope of the urban–rural interaction.

Sderot and Sha’ar HaNegev The Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council in the northwestern Negev is comprised primarily of kibbutzim, most of which were founded after the establishment of the state, concurrent with the establishment of the town of Sderot. In 2019, the population of the regional council numbered approximately 8,400 (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). Sderot was established in 1951 as a transit camp. In 1958 it received the municipal status of a local council,5 and in 1996 it became a municipality (urban authority). With the growth of the town population, local employment sources, mainly in industry, were developed and the level of services improved (Berler, 1972). A significant development boom began in the 1990s with the mass immigration from the Former Soviet Union, and the founding of an academic college close to the town border.The self-image of town residents changed for the better and their identification with the locality increased. At the end of 2019, Sderot had almost 28,000 residents (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). From the outset, the relationship between Sderot and the communities of Sha’ar HaNegev was characterized by imbalance.The residents of Sderot felt hurt by the status disparity created between them as workers and the kibbutz members as their employers and managers, and the resultant tension led to a mutual sense of alienation (Ben-David, 1987; Gigi, 2018).An examination of current relationships reveals a significant change expressed by two trends – on the one hand, rapprochement, reduction of alienation and willingness to cooperate, although not in all areas of activity, and on the other hand, emergence of conflicts arising from competition over resources, mainly land, belonging to the regional council. Underlying these trends is a change in the balance of power between the two sides, expressed in strengthening and growth in of Sderot, which currently serves as a service center for the entire region, versus weakening of national kibbutz organizations and processes of privatization taking place in the kibbutzim of Sha’ar HaNegev. In addition, the security situation, due to the location of the region bordering the Gaza Strip,6 reinforces the willingness to cooperate for the benefit of both parties. In-depth analysis of the present reciprocal relationships indicates a change in the self-image of Sderot’s leadership, accompanied by aspirations to lead the development of the entire region, a change that can be attributed to the growth of a new generation of the town leadership. At the same time, the regional council leadership recognizes the importance of strengthening the town as a regional center for the benefit of the surrounding communities and is prepared to cooperate with the town. However, the rural leaders find it difficult to relinquish the land required by the town

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for its development. Moreover, it is still possible to identify traces of negative images and mutual suspicions from the past between the two authorities. In practice, it appears that cooperation between the authorities is limited mainly to technical activities that are not related to values and ideology, such as a medical center, a sewage treatment plant, a commercial center and an industrial zone, as well as joint lobbying and representation before the central government. In contrast, there is practically no cooperation in education, considered by both sides to be a key component of local identity. Simultaneously, there is an ongoing struggle between the two authorities over lands that the town requires for urban development, particularly with regard to lands designated for economic development that generate property taxes. The officials interviewed believe that factors that hinder cooperation include cultural and political differences between residents of the town and the regional council, desire on both sides to preserve distinct local identities, fear of change, negative perceptions, different managerial approaches, conflicts of interest, mainly regarding lands designated for employment, and finally personal mistrust among officials of both authorities. Factors that encourage cooperation are fewer, the most significant being the recognition of the potential benefits that can be derived from cooperation, and the consequent willingness to compromise and reach agreements.

Kiryat Malakhi and Be’er Tuvia The Be’er Tuvia Regional Council, located in the southern district, includes 23 rural settlements, mostly moshavim established after the founding of the state. In 2019 its population numbered approximately 23,700 (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). Kiryat Malakhi originated as a transit camp for new immigrant families at the end of 1950. In 1958 it received the status of a local council and following the waves of immigration from Ethiopia and the Former Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s and rapid population growth, it received the status of a municipality in 1998. In 2019, the population numbered approximately 23,800 (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). In the early years of Kiryat Malakhi, residents of the local rural settlements offered assistance to the newcomers mainly in medical services and informal education (culture, leisure and sport) (Ovadiah, 1982). At the same time the regional council refused to share its educational system and its land resources with the town residents. After years of legal battles, the regional council was forced to transfer lands within its jurisdiction to the adjacent town and the heads of the two authorities reached an agreement to split the property taxes from the joint industrial zone. In recent years the two authorities have been cooperating, mainly in areas of environment, culture and sport, including the development of a joint sewage treatment plant that serves both authorities. Despite this, Kiryat Malakhi is still considered an outsider in the eyes of the rural population and daily interaction between residents of the two authorities is relatively minimal. This situation may be attributed to a residue from past resentments, the ongoing separation in education and social activities and the socio-economic disparities between the residents of the two authorities.

Beit She’an and Emek HaMaayanot The Emek HaMaayanot Regional Council includes 24 rural settlements; 11 are kibbutzim established before the founding of the state and the remainder were founded mainly in the 1950s. In 2019, approximately 13,700 residents lived in the council (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). Beit She’an was an Arab town prior to the War of Independence. In the initial years after 1948, immigrants from different countries were settled in the abandoned town and in surrounding transit camps. However, insufficient provision of local employment sources resulted in out-migration over a period of about two decades. In 1999, Beit She’an received the status of municipality and in 2019 the town had approximately 18,500 residents (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). 207

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When the immigrants arrived in Beit She’an, members of nearby kibbutzim helped the town residents by providing various services and employment, especially in regional factories, which remained the main source of income for Beit She’an residents over a long period. The ongoing employer–employee relations generated feelings of alienation and hostility between the two communities (Golan, 2009). In recent years there are signs of new trends of increasing cooperation between the town and the regional council, based on the shared goal of strengthening the image of the town as a central place and realizing the unique potential of the region. However, the relationship between the two authorities is still characterized by ambivalence. On the one hand, municipal leadership in both authorities wants to promote cooperation. On the other hand, many town residents continue to hold a grudge toward their rural neighbors, remembering the condescending attitudes they experienced in earlier years (Lev-Ari & Pavin, 2006). Currently joint projects between the two authorities relate mainly to economics and infrastructure.There is also a joint emergency medical center located in Beit She’an as well as a joint youth leadership program. As far as education is concerned, both authorities opt for local independence, but are willing to enable limited student exchanges. There is no institutional cooperation in the fields of culture and sport, but residents from both authorities participate in various events together. Two issues that evoke feelings of unease in the town relate to tourism and rezoning of agricultural land for building purposes.The parks in the region which serve for recreation are within the jurisdiction of the regional council, and the town has no share in the income derived.The land issue relates to the shortage of land for building in the town, which can be solved only by land transfers from the regional council. However, the two parties are trying to reach agreement on both issues.

Kiryat Shmona and HaGalil HaElyon and Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional Councils HaGalil HaElyon Regional Council numbers 29 kibbutzim; most were established before the founding of the state. In 2019, the council population numbered 18,600 residents (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020).The Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional Council is comprised mainly of moshavim and in 2019 its population numbers 7,400 (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). Kiryat Shmona was established in 1949 as a transit camp; in 1953 it received the status of local council and in 1974 the status of a municipality. In the early years, residents of Kiryat Shmona were employed in government-initiated projects and in the surrounding kibbutzim. Gradually the town began to develop. New factories and businesses expanded the local supply of employment and services, including health services and a regional academic college (Menuhin & Banin, 1983). However, due to its proximity to the Lebanese border, the town suffered for many years from attacks across the border, which caused severe damage to life and property and triggered out-migration and ongoing social and economic problems. In the 1990s, thousands of immigrants from the Former Soviet Union were absorbed in the town, and at the same time about a thousand families left the town for the new expansion neighborhoods in nearby kibbutzim. In 2019, Kiryat Shmona’s population was 22,500 (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2020). The surrounding kibbutzim accepted the establishment of Kiryat Shmona with considerable reservation, fearing that the new town would alter the special rural character of the region. Despite this, HaGalil HaElyon Regional Council undertook to assist in administration of the transit camp and to create infrastructure for education, health and welfare services (Menuhin & Banin, 1983). Yet their sense of mission was accompanied by a patronizing attitude toward the immigrants.This attitude, along with cultural gaps, resulted in a sense of alienation between the two communities. Moreover, in the absence of sufficient local sources of employment, many Kiryat Shmona residents were employed by the kibbutzim, a situation that generated conflicts between residents of the town and the regional council. At that time, Kiryat Shmona failed to fill its designated role of providing an array of services to the surrounding rural space, in part because the economic and commercial networks of the kibbutzim were connected directly to large cities (Kipnis, 1977). 208

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During the following years, the relations between the town and the surrounding rural communities developed in two conflicting directions (Goldstein, 2017). On the one hand, the town became a central place for the rural residents for personal and economic services, and limited collaboration with the regional councils began to develop, for example in emergency and health services. On the other hand, the town needed additional land for its development, which it received from HaGalil HaElyon Regional Council, partially through agreements and partially only after a protracted struggle. Over the past 20 years, a slow process of cooperation between the authorities began to grow and both sides are trying to promote joint development plans, for example in tourism. In addition, the two authorities share two industrial zones and there is a plan to establish an additional employment area. In contrast, there are few significant collaborations in the fields of education and welfare, apparently a residue from the past which still affects the relationships between the two authorities.The relationship with the Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional Council is closer, probably because of the similar socio-cultural backgrounds of the moshav and town populations, and perhaps for this reason the relationships are focused on welfare and cultural services.

Relations Between the Rural Population and the Adjacent Town The information and data in this section are the product of structured questionnaires distributed among business owners in the towns and other structured questionnaires distributed to residents of the regional councils in a sample of localities. The purpose was to identify the scope of rural residents’ relations with the adjacent town with regard to the frequency of social interactions, consumption of selected products and services and their perceptions of the impact of cooperation on the town and the regional council. The total number of questionnaires completed by business owners was 252, a sample of over 60 in each town.The total number of questionnaires received from five regional councils was 644, based on a sample of rural settlements; there were 20– 40 residents in each local sample. In total, the number of residents sampled was: 379 from kibbutzim; 234 from moshavim; and 23 from community villages. Approximately 37% of respondents were men and 63% were women. Approximately 46% of them were aged 50 and under, and about half had a higher education (16 or more years).

Social Interactions Between Residents of the Regional Council and Residents of the Adjacent Town The findings (Table 14.1) show that most of the respondents (80%) have no relatives in the adjacent town. However, a significant percentage have friends, acquaintances or work colleagues who live in the town (31%, 47% and 41%, respectively). The highest rates of frequent interactions (once a week or more) were with work colleagues (about 21%).This result may be explained by another finding, namely that roughly 10% of all the respondents (rural residents) work in the adjacent town. The Be’er Tuvia Regional Council stands out with a very low rate of relations with work colleagues (7.5%).

Location of Consumption of Goods and Services The respondents were asked to specify where they purchase various goods and services, whether in their own settlements or in the adjacent town. It was found that there are certain services which many of the respondents (approximately 40% or more) do not consume at all, the most prominent being educational services (indicating no children of school age) and also some cultural and religious services (Table 14.2).The services they consume in the adjacent town are mainly commercial services (food products, clothing, furniture), health (physician, pharmacy), banking, cafes and restaurants, mobile phone and computer repair, and automobile services. Purchase of food products 209

Michael Sofer et al. Table 14.1 Frequency of Social Relations with the Adjacent Town Residents According to Social Group (% of total respondents) Type of connection

Frequency of interactions (644 respondents)

Total %

First-degree relatives

No interactions Once a week or more No interactions Once a week or more No interactions Once a week or more No interactions Once a week or more No interactions Once a week or more No interactions Once a week or more

83.5 12.2 82.6 8.8 69.1 16.6 53.0 15.1 59.0 21.2 75.2 9.8

Other relatives Close friends Acquaintances/friends Work colleagues Partners in public service/volunteering

Table 14.2 Location of Consumption of Goods and Services by Rural Residents (% of All Respondents) Activity

In the adjacent town

In my settlement

Buying food Clothing/shoes Hairdresser/beauty salon Furniture/housewares Automobile services Garden and irrigation equipment Telephone and computer repair Plumber/Electrician/Renovation Bank Family doctor Pharmacy Cinema/entertainment shows Community center/adult clubs or activities Children/youth clubs or activities Swimming pool/Fitness center Library Day care centers Elementary school Secondary school

66.1 62.7 48.3 44.9 41.1 46.3 64.6 32.1 68.5 41.5 75.2 29.7 18.3 12.1 11.2 6.1 2.0 2.2 2.2

45.8 1.1 20.5 0.8 9.2 11.5 3.9 46.9 3.6 57.5 15.2 9.5 10.9 24.1 53.4 55.7 37.7 10.1 4.7

and visits to family doctors are also conducted at relatively high rates in localities of residence. Additional services consumed mainly in the home locality are sports facilities, libraries, day care centers and religious services, and to lesser extent tradesmen.These responses indicate that services that have existed in the rural settlements for many years and have a low entry threshold continue to be consumed there, while services with higher thresholds are currently found in adjacent towns and are also consumed by residents of the surrounding rural space. Comparison between the regional councils shows that the strongest link to the adjacent town is again found in the Mevo’ot HaHermon Regional Council. The proportion of users of town 210

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services from the surveyed residents of this council exceeds 50%, and in some cases even 70% or more. In comparison, the lowest rate of users of town services is again in Be’er Tuvia Regional Council. In the Regional Councils HaGalil HaElyon and Emek HaMaayanot relatively high rates of use were found for some of the services.The differences between the councils can be attributed inter alia to their geographic locations and the alternative options for services supplied in other urban centers within reasonable distance. In this context, the Be’er Tuvia localities have several alternatives in other cities as well as a commercial center belonging to the regional council itself, and apparently Kiryat Malakhi is unable to compete with these alternatives. The settlements in the north of the country are far from large urban centers and therefore residents prefer to use the services offered in Kiryat Shmona, as long as these meet their needs.

Attitudes Concerning Cooperation Between the Regional Council and the Town and Factors That Impact Success In general, it appears that respondents tend to recognize the positive contribution of cooperation between the town and the regional council (Table 14.3). Improving the quality of services or activities as a result of cooperation leads the list of benefits; in second place is strengthening the interactions between rural and town residents; in third place is cost savings. Especially noticeable is the positive attitude toward cooperation in economic activities (commercial centers and industrial zones) and cultural activities, as well as toward regional colleges and youth activities. In contrast, relatively high percentages of respondents have reservations about cooperation in secondary education, libraries and local newspapers. Approximately 10% believe that cooperation in activities designed for youth and seniors is detrimental to the local identity of rural settlements. These attitudes are consistent with the data presented previously showing that most rural residents obtain education and library services within their regional council and not in the adjacent town. Comparison between the regional councils shows that the highest percentage of respondents who believe that cooperation strengthens interactions between residents of the town and the regional council (in nearly all areas) was found in HaGalil HaElyon and Mevo’ot HaHermon and the lowest percentage in Be’er Tuvia. The highest percentage of respondents who believe that cooperation harms the unique rural identity was found in Sha’ar HaNegev, with the notable exception of the regional academic college which is viewed as a factor that strengthens the interaction between the two populations. Be’er Tuvia leads the list in attributing harm to the rural identity through cooperation in education. With respect to the factors that influence the success of cooperation, it appears that the respondents attribute greater importance to the attitudes of heads of authorities and the relationships between them and lesser importance to the mutual perceptions that the residents have of one another, although the differences are not great (Table 14.4). The percentage that attributes high importance to all factors, and especially to the attitudes of heads of the authorities, is higher in councils that are comprised of kibbutzim (HaGalil HaElyon and Sha’ar HaNegev) than in councils based on moshavim and community villages.

Summary of Survey Findings The general trend indicated by the survey is that for a significant majority of residents of the regional councils, the adjacent town indeed serves as a regional center where they conduct shopping and use services, mainly economic and public services and to a lesser extent social and community services.The link with the adjacent town is especially strong in Mevo’ot HaHermon and is weakest in Be’er Tuvia, both councils comprised of moshavim.This difference may be attributed, inter alia, to differences in the services supplied in Kiryat Shmona and Kiryat Malakhi respectively, and to the fact that residents of Be’er Tuvia council enjoy alternative sources of supply in 211

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Secondary schools Youth clubs, community center Libraries Regional college Sports center Culture (cinema, theater, festivals) Senior day center Local newspaper Commercial center Industrial zone

Activity area

29.3 37.9 33.2 48.6 42.7 52.0 40.4 27.0 51.6 53.0

Cooperation improves quality of service/ activities 24.7 31.4 25.9 35.7 34.8 38.7 31.5 17.4 39.6 36.6

Cooperation cuts costs (reduces price per resident) 43.9 46.0 29.8 49.4 45.0 45.8 40.5 31.7 42.2 46.0

21.3 12.4 4.5 3.9 7.5 5.9 11.8 9.6 3.4 3.1

Cooperation strengthens Cooperation harms the interactions between residents unique identity of the rural of town and regional council settlements

Statements about impact of cooperation between localities

Table 14.3 Attitudes Concerning the Impact of Cooperation Between the Town and the Regional Council (% of total respondents)

20.2 12.1 21.9 7.8 10.6 7.1 14.9 23.8 6.1 4.8

There is no need/ justification for cooperation

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Urban–Rural Relations in Israel’s Periphery Table 14.4 Attitudes of Residents of Regional Councils Concerning the Level of Impact of Suggested Factors on the Success of Cooperation Between the Town and the Regional Council [sum of responses great impact (2) and very great impact (3)] (% of total respondents) Factor →

Council ↓ Upper Galilee Mevo’ot HaHermon Emek HaMaayanot Be’er Tuvia Sha’ar HaNegev Total respondents

Attitudes of heads Interpersonal Council residents’ Town residents’ Total respondents of authorities relationships between perception of perception of regarding heads of authorities town council residents cooperation

75 65.3 69 68.5 75.6 71.1

72.5 62.1 60.3 67.1 73.2 67.7

67.5 64.2 59.5 63.7 66.1 64.4

65 62.1 60.3 59.6 66.1 62.7

160 95 116 146 127 644

other adjacent cities as well as in the commercial center located within the regional council itself. The two populations, rural and urban, maintain social interactions, some of which are created through work connections. Here, too, the largest gap is found between Mevo’ot HaHermon and Be’er Tuvia. A partial explanation for this disparity is the relatively high percentage of Mevo’ot HaHermon residents who work in the adjacent town, in contrast to the relatively low percentage of Be’er Tuvia residents who work in Kiryat Malakhi. Respondents’ attitudes indicate that they recognize the positive contribution of cooperation, mainly in strengthening ties among residents but also in improving levels of service and reducing costs. At the same time, fear of harming the unique identity of rural settlements as a result of cooperation is also evident, mainly in the context of secondary education, and also in youth activities and senior centers. Most respondents believe that the attitudes of heads of authorities and the nature of their interpersonal relationships have an impact on the level of success of cooperation between the authorities. In smaller percentages, they also believe that the mutual perceptions that the two populations hold of one another also have an impact. In conclusion, there are currently signs of a trend of closer relationships between residents of the regional councils and the adjacent towns, particularly in fields which can be characterized as utilitarian, and to a lesser extent in fields relating to social activities and values. In the residents’ opinions, the level of success in cooperation between rural and urban localities depends to a large extent on the attitudes and interpersonal relationships of the heads of the authorities.This finding is consistent with the findings derived from interviews with officials in the authorities.

Discussion and Conclusion The starting point for the present discussion was the recognition that significant changes have been taking place in recent years in intra-regional relationships between peripheral towns and the surrounding rural areas. It appears that long-standing separation between these sectors is being replaced by reciprocal relationships at both the institutional and the social levels. In-person interviews with officials (based on semi-structured questionnaires) showed that perceptual changes are taking place at the institutional level among leaders of authorities in all four regions. In the past, the peripheral towns were perceived as weak entities that had difficulty managing themselves and were dependent on the rural space, especially as a source of employment and income, while the rural settlements relied on their national organizational systems and on big cities 213

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as sources of the services they required. At present, the heads of the authorities recognize that the town has a key role in the region as a focus of employment and services and that it serves the entire area. It appears that the sense of mutual alienation and suspicion that characterized the relationships between the two sectors in the past has gradually given way to practical approaches.This is expressed in the willingness of regional councils and towns to cooperate, especially when both sides derive benefits that they could not achieve on their own, for instance due to lack of resources. In most cases cooperation focuses on economic and infrastructure issues, and less on activities with social-cultural dimensions in which separation between the town and the rural space still predominates.This separation is noticeable mainly in the educational systems, which are perceived by the rural side as an important component of its unique identity, and by the urban side as an essential component of local pride. Cooperation is only found where the entry threshold for a particular component of the educational system is too high, making cooperation essential. In some instances, cooperation derives from external influences, positive or negative: for example, financial participation by the government in a joint project such as a sewage treatment plant, or alternatively, joining forces against an external threat such as the establishment of a power station in the region, or a security threat. In some instances, the heads of the authorities unite against central government involvement that they perceive as coercion from above. Such is the case of joint industrial zones promoted by the government. Instead of relying on agreements dictated from above, many heads of neighboring authorities prefer to formulate the necessary agreements between themselves. It is worth noting that different kinds of cooperation have been developing in recent years, in particular regional clusters, in which a number of adjacent authorities participate on a voluntary basis (Abada et al., 2018).The regional clusters are part of an innovative program led by the Interior Ministry to promote regional cooperation among neighboring authorities in the periphery. The goals of this program are to maximize economies of scale, improve the level of services, make optimal use of local and regional assets for the benefit of all member authorities and reduce inequalities. At the same time, there are tensions and conflicts between the neighboring authorities, mainly regarding land resources. The towns need these resources for their continued growth – housing, infrastructure, public services, commerce and employment – and they also need the income derived from property taxes.These resources are found under the jurisdiction of the regional councils, and therefore the towns demand that the government transfer sections of these lands to their control.The heads of the authorities claim that they prefer to solve these issues and reach agreements among themselves, but when this does not happen, there is often an appeal to the national level for intervention. Despite these positive trends, traces of the past are still discernible, both in the discourse between the two sides and in their actions. Officials in the towns still recall the patronizing conduct of the rural residents in the early years, while in the regional councils, they still believe that the organizational culture in the towns needs to be improved.There are also situations in which one of the heads of the authorities decides not to cooperate with the neighboring authority on certain locally promoted public projects. At the level of the population, the survey conducted among residents of the rural space indicates that the towns indeed serve as centers for acquiring a variety of goods and services, mainly those with a high entry threshold. Business owners in the towns estimated that on average about a third of their clients are residents of the rural space. In addition, a significant percentage of the rural residents have social interactions with town residents, especially with work colleagues. Despite this, rural residents continue to receive services of education, culture, leisure and religion in their local and regional frameworks. The explanation of the tendencies observed can be attributed to changes that have taken place at both the macro and the micro level in the relevant authorities.At the macro level, the significant factor is the impressive development of the towns over the years – demographic growth, eco214

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nomic stabilization, improved socio-economic level of the population and the emergence of a new generation of local leadership. The results may be perceived in the improved functioning of the towns as central places and in their changing self-images, not only as autonomous entities, relying on their own resources, but also as leading drivers of regional development. At the same time the status of the regional councils has also changed, following the weakening of national cooperative organizations, and they are now the leading bodies in charge of the management and development of the rural space. The fact that the councils are local government bodies that operate according to the same legal and regulatory system as the towns facilitates cooperation between them. At the micro level, the increasing demand on the part of residents for higher levels of services encourages the joining of forces between neighboring authorities to provide more effective and cost-saving solutions. Comparison between the regions studied indicates that all of them are on a track of change and increasing cooperation, but in different stages of the process and at different intensities. The differences between regions can be attributed to a variety of factors, including: differences in the size of population; economic and managerial capacity; geographical location; characteristics of the rural settlements, kibbutzim or moshavim, and the period of their establishment; mutual images that developed over the years; and the existence of clear common interests and common external threats. Additional factors are the perceptions of heads of neighboring authorities regarding the potential benefits of cooperation, versus the potential damages, as well as the nature of the interpersonal communication and level of mutual trust between them that may determine the likelihood of reaching understandings and compromises. Interregional differences are also reflected in the nature of the links between the residents of the rural spaces and the adjacent towns.The strongest links were found between Mevo’ot HaHermon, a small council in the north comprised of moshavim, and Kiryat Shmona, and the weakest links between Be’er Tuvia, a large, longstanding council of moshavim that is relatively close to the center of the country, and Kiryat Malakhi.The councils comprised of kibbutzim, HaGalil HaElyon, Emek HaMaayanot and Sha’ar HaNegev, are in between. Additional factors that may explain these differences, beyond location, size and longevity of the councils, are the supply of services existing in the town versus other alternatives (other cities in the region or commercial centers within the regional councils), the connection of the rural residents to the town as a place of employment, and possibly also the characteristics of the rural and urban populations and the influence of memories from the past. In conclusion, it can be said that the reciprocal relationships between the peripheral towns and their rural surroundings are gradually developing, if at a slow pace and only in particular activities. After decades, the reality is approaching the original planned model of regional organization formulated after the establishment of the state, which assigned to the town the role of a service and employment center for the rural space. Alongside this process, there is also the new project of regional clusters, led by the Ministry of the Interior and designed to promote cooperation between a larger number of authorities, mainly in infrastructure development. Despite this, the individual regional councils still preserve control in activities that reflect the unique identity of the rural space as they perceive it. The conclusion from the current study is that we should distinguish between different issues and different levels of reciprocal relationships, based on the goals they are expected to fulfill and encourage them accordingly. Providing local services is the function of the local authority and therefore cooperation with a neighboring authority is desirable if and when the authority cannot provide these services using its own resources. However, in cross-border issues, cooperation is often a necessity, and if it does not materialize there is a place for state intervention to promote it, whether through financial assistance, legislation and regulation or by removal of barriers, including mediation between the parties, in order to achieve efficient use and fair distribution of resources. 215

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It is also important to identify activity areas in which successful mutual relationships between the rural and urban sectors can be fostered. In addition, it is necessary to identify which basic conditions – material, human and others – need to exist so that cooperative projects can be realized for the benefit of all regional residents and finally, in situations of conflict, to understand which tools and policy mechanisms can be proposed to mitigate disagreements and promote respectful and egalitarian inter-sectoral discourse.

Notes 1 This study was supported by a research grant from the Chief Scientist, Israel Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. 2 The wave of immigration that began immediately after the establishment of the state was mainly based on refugees who were Holocaust survivors from Europe and Jewish refugees from Arab countries.This wave of immigration brought huge growth in the country’s population, which more than doubled in the first decade of the state. 3 Forms of rural settlement based on socialist values and cooperative principles that originated in the early decades of the 20th century.Their main economic activity was based on agriculture on national lands that were allocated to them. 4 Mizrahim are Jews originating in the Arab and Muslim countries of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Ashkenazim, namely Jews originating in Europe, have for decades made up the political, economic and cultural elite in Israel. 5 Urban communities in Israel are divided into two groups of municipal status: Local councils which number from 2,000 and to 20,000 people, and towns and cities above this size. 6 The Gaza Strip is an area located on the Mediterranean coast to the southwest of Israel that also borders Egypt with a Palestinian population, some of whom are refugees. Since 2007, political control has been in the hands of Hamas, an organization that is hostile to Israel and sometimes tries to harm residents of the border region, including Sderot and the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council.

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15 URBAN–RURAL LINKAGES An Inquiry into Second-Home Tourism in the Nordics Elin Slätmo and Iryna Kristensen

Second Homes and Seasonal Tourism in Nordic Planning and Policy In the Nordic Region, widespread second-home ownership is a rather recent phenomenon. Demand increased significantly in the 1990s, and it has become a vital part of people’s regular lives as well as of the tourism sector (Müller and Hall, 2018; Kaltenborn and Clout, 1998).The modern second home culture is rooted in Nordic heritage (Müller, 2007), with the ‘tradition’ going back to 1930s and mirroring societal changes at the time (Gallent et al., 2005). General improvements to the economy, combined with longer life expectancy and the megatrend-induced modification towards what might be termed ‘new-life values and preferences’, has raised the demand for leisure time and opportunities (Hall and Müller, 2018a; Müller, 2002a;Wind et al., 2017). In the Nordic context, the demand for second homes remains relatively constant, with an average increase of 4.2% between 2010 and 2017 (Slätmo et al., 2019). Increased spatial mobility spawned the ownership of second homes in the Nordics, and despite some big changes due to increased internationalisation of tourism, domestic second-home tourism remains the preferred vacation alternative in the Region.The growing trend of multi-local ‘residential systems’ is summarised in the concept of ‘multi-locality’ (Lehtonen et al., 2019).This essentially means the idea of ongoing mobility between several homes and communities during holidays and at weekends.Today, Nordic second homes act as a catalyst for regional development, on the one hand. But they are also a contributing factor in rural displacement on the other (Marjavaara, 2007; Müller, 2007; Lundmark and Marjavaara, 2005). The latter trend means that policymakers often perceive a significant risk in urban dwellers buying up rural properties and using them for capital gains. By doing this, they shut permanent residents out of the local housing market. Additionally, second-home tourism often emerges as an alternative means of advancing sustainable development in rural areas, by mitigating the negative impacts on the environment and host community and providing a boost to local businesses in the critical service and supply sectors (Müller, 2002b). Given the growing importance of second-home tourism – especially in the Nordics – how to manage second-home ownership efficiently in relation to local policy agendas has become a subject of debate among policymakers at various levels of government. This chapter aims to contribute to the discussion by adopting a policy perspective. In that context, it discusses how second homes and seasonal tourism are embraced in Nordic spatial planning and associated policy agendas, and what their implications are for urban–rural integration in the Nordic Region.1 More specifically, it focuses on identifying the most prominent challenges facing local authorities with regard to the implementation of second-home governance in regional 218

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planning and policy. This research interest is rooted in the desire to highlight the importance of population flows and mobility for the economy and life of small towns.The intention is to focus less on the differences between categories such as urban and rural, and more on the similarities, relationships, flows, and linkages between these categories (Makarow et al., 2010; Mol, 2010; Stenseke et al., 2012).This underpins the importance of understanding both norms and practices, contradictions and paradoxes, in the context of spatial planning (Head and Stenseke, 2014). The analysis is based on a report on the outcomes of a comparative study commissioned by the Nordic Co-operation Programme for Regional Development and Planning, 2017–2020.The remainder of this chapter consists of a conceptual introduction to the relationship between rural second homes, on the one hand, and rural recreation and city dwellers, on the other, which is based on previous research; followed by a presentation of the context and method employed, and then a presentation of empirical findings. It is rounded off with a discussion of the implications of second homes and seasonal tourism for urban–rural integration in the Nordic Region.

‘Rural’ Second Homes Used for Leisure – Infuenced by Dense ‘Urban’ Areas There is no internationally accepted definition of a second home. The term is used for a variety of practices, including the use of cottages, shacks, cabins, villas, holiday homes, recreational homes, leisure homes, vacation homes, and weekend homes (Back and Marjavaara, 2017; Åkerlund et al., 2015).Traditionally, a second home in the Nordic countries is a house on a plot of rural land where no one lives permanently. Estimates show that around half of the Nordic population has access to such a second home, and these are increasingly used year-round for leisure and recreation (Adamiak et al., 2017; Back and Marjavaara, 2017; Kietäväinen et al., 2016; Müller and Hoogendoorn, 2013; Åkerlund et al., 2015). Åkerlund et al. (2015) acknowledge that second homes are sometimes used for quite long periods of leisure in that people ‘move their lives’ to their second home for a change from an urban to a rural location for whole holiday seasons. In other cases, it is either a connection to a family property or to a place of origin that draws people to a particular location for the weekend (Strandin Pers et al., 2018; Åkerlund et al., 2015). Some urban dwellers also use second homes to improve their quality of life via recreational tourism, by spending time in more sparsely populated and less built-up areas with ease of access to the natural environment.This is the so-called ‘theory of compensation’ (Strandell and Hall, 2015). Using data from a national survey of second homes from 2012, Strandell and Hall (2015) found statistical relationships between variables in residential areas with permanent homes and second-home use in Finland.This study validates the notion of compensation: that is, when building density in areas with permanent homes increases, or access to private gardens decreases, the use of second homes increases. The results of the Finnish study are supported by one in Sweden that tested the compensation theory in Svedala (Qviström et al., 2016).The findings of these two studies indicate that Nordic planning ideals concerning compact cities support the use of second homes.The green and spacious qualities found in rural areas with second homes simply are not there in densely built residential areas. Overvåg (2009, 2010) concedes that both the density of many purpose-built second-home areas and the urbanised nature of major seasonal tourist resorts would (due to their dense structure) be classified as ‘urban’ if only the residents were registered there (Ellingsen, 2017, p. 12; Adamiak et al., 2017). For instance, Statistics Sweden (2020) classifies urban as ‘an urban area that has contiguous buildings with no more than 200 metres between houses, and at least 200 residents.’ Many second-home areas, however, do not have permanent residents, which classifies them as ‘rural’. The use of second homes poses a significant challenge to the dominant narrative of urbanisation (Ellingsen, 2017, pp. 5, 9; Adamiak et al., 2017) The findings of the study conducted by Slätmo et al. (2019, pp. 16–17) largely corroborate these postulations and confirm the existence of a continuous, seasonal, counter-urbanisation process in the Nordic region.The population of the Nordics is 219

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primarily concentrated in urban and intermediate areas close to a city (60%), while second homes are concentrated in remote rural areas, less remote rural areas, and remote intermediate areas (60%).This analysis indicates that the biggest temporary movement during holidays and weekends, between permanent and second homes, takes place in the direction of urban to rural areas (Slätmo et al., 2019, pp. 16–17). Another contributing factor to the blurring of the urban–rural distinction is ICT and the many digital solutions actively utilised by people in their second homes for work and leisure activities (Ellingsen, 2017). Pitkänen et al. (2014) even found that there are no specific activities or groups of activities typical for permanent residents and second-home owners, respectively. This implies that the existence of a clear-cut line between urban and rural is open to challenge (Overvåg, 2010; Qviström et al., 2016). Second homes generate stronger urban–rural linkages and contest strict statistical categories – because a significant flow of people who do not reside permanently in these communities use their physical and digital infrastructure and services.

Policy Perspective on Second Homes in the Nordics Given the importance of second-home owners to local employment and municipal service provision, integrating them more closely into a Nordic2 planning and policy framework is vital (Ellingsen, 2017; Kietäväinen et al., 2016). The question of second homes and seasonal population dynamics as planning and policy considerations had already started to attract the attention of Nordic scholars during the 1960s and 1970s (Adamiak et al., 2017; Hall and Müller, 2018a; Müller and Hoogendoorn, 2013; Pitkänen et al., 2014). By that time, ongoing industrialisation processes had forced more people in the Nordic countries move to cities and towns to work in industries and factories with more regulated working hours than before.This also meant an increase in free and vacation/holiday time for working people. Since then, car ownership and additional leisure time have led to people spending more time in different types of second homes and in other forms of tourist accommodation (Hall and Müller, 2018a).The effects of second homes and seasonal tourism vary between national and local levels. For areas with low permanent populations and a high number of second homes and seasonal tourists, the seasonal population to some extent compensates for urban–rural migration. It thereby maintains the social fabric of an area, and the demand for local services and cultural activities (Hall and Müller, 2018a, pp. 214–220; Müller and Hoogendoorn, 2013, p. 365).A study of Norwegian national, regional, and infrastructure policies shows that second-home developments are often used as means of encouraging economic activity and employment (Hidle et al., 2010).

Data and Methodology The Nordic countries with most second homes are Sweden, Finland, and Norway (Table 15.1). There are 65 second homes per 1,000 inhabitants in the Nordic region.The main areas for second Table 15.1 Total Population, and the Number of Second Homes, in Each of the Nordic Countries Country

Population in 2017

Number of second homes in 2017

Denmark Finland Iceland Norway Sweden

5,748,769 5,503,297 338,349 5,258,317 9,995,153

237,322 507,200 13,160 426,728 576,711

Source: Slätmo et al., 2019

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homes, both in overall number and in relation to permanent inhabitants, are in the mountainous and coastal areas (Figure 15.1). In Finland, this means the mid-eastern lake areas (Etelä-Savo/Södra Savolax), and the south-west archipelago, including Åland. In Sweden, it is the southern mountain area (Dalarna and Jämtland Härjedalen), the Stockholm archipelago, and Öland. In Norway, it is the southern mountain area (Oppland and Buskerud). In Denmark, it means northern Sjælland and

Figure 15.1 The Total Number of Second Homes per Municipality (Size of the Circles) in the Nordic Countries Source:Turunen, E. (2019). Second homes in 2017 [Map]. Accessed at: https://nordregio.org/maps/second-h omes-in-2017/, 2020.06.03

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the west coast of Jylland; and in Iceland, it is the municipalities in close proximity to Reykjavík in the south. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of second homes increased by 4.2% within the Nordic countries (Slätmo et al., 2019).The increase in newly built houses indicates that the use of second homes will continue. The choice of geographical scope and scale has been guided largely by the commissioned preferences of the project which this chapter is based upon. Five case study areas, one in each Nordic country, were selected for this study, all of which have a high number of second homes. More specifically, the following selection criteria were used to identify areas for comparative analysis: (1) highest number of second homes in the respective country; (2) located not within commuting distance to the capital (e.g. commuting distance taken to be one hour by car, per one-way drive); (3) highest community impact (CI) from second homes on the local authority.A high CI suggests that the number of annual inhabitants (AI) is higher than the permanent population because of seasonal tourism. Between January and February 2019, a total of 22 interviews were carried out with policy actors possessing local expert knowledge in policy and planning for second homes (Table 15.2). For the purposes of this study, the analysis has been limited to only this category of actors, as they provide necessary insights into local policy planning realities. The interviews were based on a qualitative, semi-structured interview guide.The main themes that were covered by the interview guide include (1) pre-existing planning and policy challenges regarding second homes, (2) planning policy and local practices of integrating second-home owners into the policy agenda, (3) funding mechanisms for public administrations with large numbers of second homes, (4) socio-economic and geographical flows of second homers – who owns the second homes, where they live permanently, and when they are staying in the second homes, and (5) learning and improvements. Most

Table 15.2 Cases and Interviews Regarding Second-Home Tourism in the Nordic Countries Case

Respondents

Number of Date for interviews interviews

Grímsnes- og One official at a tourist organisation in South Grafningshreppur, Iceland, two officials at the public authority Iceland of Grímsnes- og Grafningshreppur, and one planner in the Umhverfis- og tæknisvið Uppsveita planning organisation. Härjedalen, Sweden Three planners at Härjedalen/Berg municipality, and three officials at Härjedalen local authority. Nore og Uvdal, One official in the public authority, one Norway politician in Nore og Uvdal municipality, and two employees at Nore og Uvdal business centre. Odsherred, Denmark Three officials in the public authority of Odsherred municipality, and one official at a tourist organisation in Odsherred. Pargas, Finland Four officials working with planning, economy, communication and tourism in the Pargas municipality local authority. Source: Slätmo et al., 2019

222

4

16 and 17 January 2019

6

30 and 31 January 2019

4

23 and 24 January 2019

4

16 and 18 January 2019

4

14 February 2019

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of the interviews were conducted face-to-face, in Scandinavian, and with the help of interpreters in Iceland. In this chapter, we limit the scope of analysis to the findings from themes (1) and (2).

Integrating Second Homes and Seasonal Tourism into Nordic Spatial Planning and the Policy Agenda In this section, an analysis of five Nordic cases is presented, drawing on specific planning challenges each community experienced in integrating second-home owners and seasonal tourists into their local policy agendas (Figure 15.2). Our empirical findings show that despite its well-established tradition of second-home ownership, the Nordic policy practices and experiences differ substantially. The challenges facing each community are context-sensitive and require solutions and approaches tailored to local needs and conditions.

Second Homers and Tourists as a ‘Disturbing Element’ Creating Jobs in Grímsnes- og Grafningshreppur (Iceland) Second homes in Iceland are mainly concentrated in smaller towns and rural areas. Most of the designated second-home areas are relatively close to the biggest cities (Slätmo et al., 2019). Grímsnes- og Grafningshreppur – a municipality with more second-home users (2,832) than permanent residents (467), as of 2017 – is located in the southern part of Iceland. The situation in Grímsnes- og Grafningshreppur implies a large flow of people from permanent urban homes to the more rural locations of their recreational homes.This flow is especially sizeable because the second homes involved are often used by people other than the owners, who rent out their houses to domestic and international tourists via online rental platforms. The municipal officials we interviewed said that this relatively large flow of people has positive effects in terms of local job creation, such as for carrying out snow clearance and the provision of cleaning services. However, this situation does also require different regulatory measures. This is especially due to massive inflows of international tourists renting private second homes from owners wanting to earn extra money without paying hotel taxes, as the officials interviewed noted. In such cases, the local council cannot necessarily ensure that second-home owners are following the regulations concerning a 90-days-per-year limit for renting out second homes. Public administration is also stretched by the sheer number of second-home owners, and the subsequent demand on services – such as school buses, waste management, frequent snow clearance, and the supply of hot and cold water. To overcome these challenges, collaboration has been established with other municipalities and actors in the region in order to address spatial planning and tourism development.To find a balance between permanent and second homes, and to avoid the price of existing houses going up too much, the municipalities regulate the size of new second homes, for instance.This is done by limiting the size of land plots available for second-home use to a maximum of two hectares.This measure is intended to keep the market for permanent houses at reasonable price levels.

Seasonal Tourism, the Housing Market and sustainability in Härjedalen (Sweden) With a total area of 11,935 km2 and a population density of 0.9 inh/km2, Härjedalen ranks as one of the five largest sparsely populated municipalities in Sweden (Statistics Sweden, 2019). Jämtland Härjedalen’s ski resorts and wide open landscapes serve as a magnet for lovers of winter sports and hiking. Such visitors come mainly from the capital region of Stockholm and from medium-sized towns nearby.According to the Swedish Statistics for 2017, the permanent population was 10,200. The number of second homes in the area is steadily increasing, currently adding up to 8,594 houses.With three million overnight stays in 2015, the flow of tourists and second-home users is, without a doubt, the principle job-creating industry, resulting in the expansion of crucial commercial and public services. 223

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Figure 15.2 Map Indicating the Location of the Five Case Study Municipalities, One in Each of the Nordic Countries Source: Slätmo et al., 2019. p. 19

However, seasonal variations in tourist flows also create challenges for policy and planning work. Annually, the peak season creates a labour gap that needs to be filled by around 3,000 workers, most of whom (due to Swedish tax regulations) are tax-exempt employees in Härjedalen municipality. According to Swedish law, all taxpayers in the country are obliged to pay income tax to the local authority where they live on 1 November each year. Most of the seasonal workers do not move to 224

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Härjedalen until the start of peak season (December–April), and their municipal tax is paid elsewhere. This puts an additional strain on public services such as schools and kindergartens in Härjedalen (for seasonal workers’ families) in the host community. Rising land prices and limited public resources make it difficult to improve municipal service provision, such as traffic and infrastructure. The overall objective of the Swedish tourism policy is sustainable development, which is not always an easy objective to achieve locally. In Härjedalen, with its unique natural environment, the new municipal plan proposes a strategic land policy to address the existing imbalance between permanent and second-home developments in the area. Currently, the needs for local housing development are not prioritised in land-use planning (which is targeted mainly at second homes in tourist destinations). However, a few steps have now been taken in the direction of securing a sustainable housing market for permanent homeowners. For instance, people who apply for building permits and register as permanent residents in the community are given priority in the queue for buying plots.To ensure that the general public’s needs and perspectives are well represented in ‘spatial discussions’, a few organisational changes have recently taken place.This includes merging the planning department with the neighbouring municipality, which has strengthened dialogue between different public agencies and local politicians, thereby leading to closer sectoral integration. In order to encourage local rural development in those areas of Härjedalen with good access to services, exemptions may be granted to the regular shoreline protection regulations.

Holistic Approach to Second-Home Development in Nore og Uvdal (Norway) In the mountain areas in South Norway, the construction of second homes far exceeds the construction of permanent ones. Accordingly, for every new permanent house, three to four new second homes are now being built (Ellingsen and Arnesen, 2018). Nore og Uvdal – one of the municipalities in the Southern mountain areas – includes a significant part of Hardangervidda, Norway’s largest national park.The pristine nature of the park and the hiking and skiing opportunities explain the fact that there were 3,822 second homes in the area but only, 2,530 permanent ones in 2017. The population in Nore og Uvdal increases by approximately 20,000 during the holiday season (Slätmo et al., 2019).The second-home owners are, to a large extent, urban dwellers from the Oslo region. It has been estimated that each second home in Nore og Uvdal has occasioned associated expenditure in the municipality of up to NOK 60,000 per second home, per year. In total, this adds around NOK 225 million to the municipal budget annually, thereby strengthening the local economy (Lier et al., 2015). Given these facts, developing new second homes and attracting more second-home owners is a clear strategic policy goal in Nore og Uvdal. Both public and private sector actors are contributing to the implementation of this strategy.The Miljøringen landowner’s association in Upper Uvdal is aiming to develop tourism infrastructure in the area. For each plot of land sold, 10% of the value of the sale goes to the association.This money is spent on more and better infrastructure, such as hiking paths and cross-country skiing tracks. The local authority prioritises certain areas in spatial planning, in order to steer new developments to them, and to preserve natural resources and habitats for the reindeer population in other areas. This applies to Upper Uvdal, for instance. This is where two skiing resorts, and popular second-home areas such as Imingfjell and Dagalifjell, are located.The local actors interviewed in Nore og Uvdal acknowledged that the formation of a second-home association is an important step to facilitate formalised co-operation between the municipality and second-home owners.

‘Leisure Citizens’, Dialogue, and Community Wellbeing in Odsherred (Denmark) Located in the Danish Riviera – the north-western part of Zealand – Odsherred makes a particularly attractive tourist destination and a second-home location.With 33,023 permanent inhabitants 225

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and 23,332 second homes (in 2017), Odsherred municipality contains the largest number of second homes in Denmark, contributing an annual turnover of DKK 1.1 billion (Slätmo et al., 2019). A significant proportion of those who own a second home in Odsherred lives in the capital region of Copenhagen (Holmgaard et al., 2018). Its close proximity to large urban centres – Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense – affects second-home mobility. Unlike many other ‘holiday’ municipalities in Denmark, Odsherred remains primarily a hub for second-home owners who have generations of family ties to the area. Houses in the area are usually occupied by the owners, or by their family members, over a comparatively extended period of time (up to five or six months during the summer period). In peak season, the municipal population is four or five times as large as it is in off-peak season. Having a large group of visitors who are exempt from local income tax residing and using community services for several months each year during the high season puts quite a substantial financial strain on the municipal budget.Vital areas of municipal provision, such as kindergartens, schools, and care services for the elderly, are in constant danger of underfunding, because the priority tourism sector always ‘comes first’. Tensions can also arise because of non-compliance with established rules (e.g. building on properties without permission, illegal living, and so on) by second-home owners, as well as poor communication of information about these rules by the local authority. The almost permanent presence of second homers in this area has earned them the title of ‘leisure citizens’ in municipal spatial planning work. Favouring the word ‘citizens’ over ‘visitors’ within tourism policy and municipal planning accentuates the position of second-home owners in the host community. They are perceived to be an important factor in keeping the municipal economy vibrant during off-peak seasons. Additionally, by fostering a sense of their belonging, second-home owners’ motivation to co-operate and get engaged in community development will increase substantially.Through a number of dialogues around building initiatives (e.g. information meetings, bulletins for second-home owners, and municipal funding programmes for collaborative projects), local authorities have enhanced public–private dialogue and communication, as well as encouraging involvement in community development.This has also enabled them to obtain proper feedback, which has been a benefit to the municipality’s planning work.

Part-Time Residents and Related Legislative Challenges in Pargas (Finland) Pargas municipality is located along the southwest Baltic coast, in the region of Southwest Finland. The area consists of a large number of islands and islets and has a permanent population of 15,400. The popularity of Pargas as a holiday destination is especially obvious during the summer season, partly because of the 8,695 second homes, but also because of the inflow of domestic and international tourists. This inflow contributes to crucial public and private services all year round on mainland Pargas, but also on islands such as Nagu and Korpu. In 2018, a new vision for the municipality was developed, with tourism as a central component (Learning Miles, 2018; Pargas stad, 2017).The aim of this policy is to make Pargas more accessible and to develop sustainable tourism through collaboration between actors in the already existing network of local businesses. Business development has already adapted to high and low seasons via the use of flexible opening hours throughout the year.To ensure better accessibility to the archipelago, work continues on the development of the physical and digital infrastructure. Officials in the municipality use spatial planning to balance new developments with the preservation of natural resources in a sustainable way. Spatial plans are also used to determine how many building rights should be granted on any particular plot of land. These building rights can be used by owners as loan guarantees. A committee that shares information and encourages dialogue between part-time inhabitants and the municipality has been operating since 2009.This is important for informing people about 226

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new developments and rules, but also for collecting issues of concern, wishes, and ideas from these part-time inhabitants. Competitions, such as ‘Second Homer of the Year’, and regular tourism news, are additional strategies which are being used to include part-time inhabitants within the life of the municipality. The officials interviewed in the local authority said that the long-term strategy is to attract second-home owners to become permanent residents of Pargas. Existing legislation in Finland restricts such a development to some extent, because it is only possible to have permanent residence in one municipality, and there are strict rules on safety and building standards for permanent homes. Many second homes would, therefore, need renovation to be eligible for consideration as permanent homes, a development the municipality would like to see. One measure already used by the local council to attract more permanent inhabitants is making property tax rates on the second homes higher than those on the permanent homes.

Discussion Urban–rural flows for recreational purposes clearly affect the local communities and their economies. Whether these developments are perceived to be predominantly positive or negative varies between the cases studied, as well as the choice of policy and planning approach in each instance (Hall and Müller, 2018b). In Northern rural locations, such as those studied in this chapter, tackling seasonality in the flows of tourists and second homers remains a core issue for policymakers (Bogason et al. 2020) Seeing second-home owners as non-locals from an administrative perspective is a rather outdated view, according to Hall and Müller (2018b) and Farstad (2018).The findings of our study support this argument.The failure to properly integrate the issue of local population mobility (i.e. second-home owners and users) into policy and planning risks excluding people who may have an interest in and the capacity to contribute to local development.The result is a missed opportunity for both rural and place development. In the Nordic context, second homes are primarily seen as positive for rural development. In some instances, such as Grímsnes og Grafningshreppur and Härjedalen, however, including secondhome owners in policy and planning procedure has proved to be challenging. Resources and personnel in public administration are proportional to the permanent populations they serve.This creates a dilemma about how to handle large tourist flows which result in increased demand for public services. In Nore og Uvdal, Odsherred, and Pargas more formal cooperation exists between the local council and temporary residents – that is, second-home owners.This contrasts with the Icelandic case, and confirms the value of urban dwellers to rural towns and communities.The cooperation between local councils and temporary residents can also reduce the demand for public services as it creates an awareness of the limits of the public administration. It has traditionally been believed that second-home owners have a primary interest in local amenities rather than in integrating into community life (Hall and Müller, 2018a).This implies that permanent residents and second-home owners would often have differing perspectives on the local development trajectory, which risks creating a disconnect between different local aspirations and practices.To bridge this gap, it is vital to establish an efficient dialogue between the local authorities and private owners (Farstad, 2018; Lehtonen et al., 2019). In Odsherred (Denmark), for instance, local engagement among second-home owners has been stimulated by their acquisition of a new residential status. By labelling second homers ‘leisure citizens’, the local authorities informally turned them into ‘formal residents’ who can thereby take up certain responsibilities for their host community.At the same time, however, such duties and responsibilities (give input to future of local area, engage in local politics or voluntary work for the community) are not imposed upon them, but rather grow out of a continuous public–private dialogue. By doing this, they kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. On the one hand, the authorities receive helpful feedback which can be used in policy and spatial planning. On the other hand, they maintain the vibrancy of the local economy over a longer period of time.This differs from the Finnish approach in Pargas, where the 227

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local council has expressed a desire for the voluntary residents to become permanent inhabitants by registering their address in the municipality.The ‘multi-local living’ of the second-home owners in Pargas is now acknowledged by the local authorities and included in policy work through initiatives such as committees for regular dialogue with second-home owners. Nevertheless, the local administration most of all wants these voluntary temporary inhabitants to become permanent residents because that would mean their income taxes would be paid into the municipal budget. Second-home owners also create an imbalance in local housing markets. In the case of Härjedalen, for instance, property prices in ski resorts are high compared to other parts of the municipality. Here, permanent homes are often sold to tourists as second homes, which causes house prices to rise.As a result, local people (young ones in particular) have difficulty financing an affordable home for themselves. Such extreme fluctuations in house prices cause dissent between second-home owners and locals since the latter see in it the threat of displacement. In the Icelandic case, regulating the size of new house plots for second homes in spatial planning is one measure used to prevent such developments.The same approach was identified in the Finnish case study in Pargas. Previous studies also show that second-home developments can be used as means of encouraging greater economic activity and employment (Hidle et al., 2010; Lundmark and Marjavaara, 2005; Marjavaara, 2007; Müller, 2007).To a degree, this is reflected in policy strategies in the cases we studied. For instance, in the Finnish municipality of Pargas, second homes are included in their strategy for increased tourism, including the matter of how to turn part-time inhabitants into full-time ones, which is seen to be a significant economic driver by the local authorities. In Nore og Uvdal, the strategy is to attract more second homers while preserving the value of the natural environment. To achieve this, local cooperation is vital, and spatial planning is used as a measure for steering developments to certain areas while preserving others.The example of Nore og Uvdal shows that the use of zoning for different land uses in certain areas, using spatial planning, is an important way of keeping such a balance. It enables the creation of attractive tourist resorts, while areas of natural beauty are also preserved intact. Similarly, in Pargas, the local authorities see the value of balancing the need for new developments with the preservation of natural resources as part of strict spatial plans.These spatial plans are used to determine how many building rights are allowed on a particular plot.The building rights are an important way of preventing overcrowding on the coast, and they are also used by owners as loan guarantees. Spatial plans enable investment in small rural towns, and as such they can be viewed as a way for policy and planning to steer development in particular directions.

Conclusions Overall, this chapter gives an overview of second-home policy implementation practices in five Nordic communities as well as the challenges, which each country is currently facing. Based on the above analysis, two challenges clearly stand out. First, resources and personnel in public administration are proportional to the permanent populations they serve.This generates a dilemma regarding large tourism flows, which in turn brings about an increased demand for public services. Second, second-home ownerships cause an imbalance in local housing markets as turning permanent homes into second homes can cause house prices to rise. To avoid these imbalances as well as to maximise the benefits from second-home ownership and seasonal tourists in the community, the local authorities are opting for their active involvement in local planning and policy. This is particularly relevant when considering the fact that often second-home ownership is not seen as mere ‘leisure’ residency but as ‘full’ residency actively contributing to the local economy and social life of small rural towns. Consequently, in local policy settings, spatial planning is used as a tool for creating attractive tourist resorts, for keeping areas of natural beauty intact, and for setting building rights and regulating sizes of houses.

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The studies in this chapter show there are no strict divides between urban and rural areas. There are clearly several ongoing processes that enforce the urban–rural blurring when focusing on second-home locations and usage in the Nordic countries.The dynamic of relations between the urban and rural is continuously upheld by activities such as mobility towards second homes. To acknowledge these relations, and the importance of second homes in Nordic culture, is important for both planners and policymakers. The multi-local and mobile population does not fit a tax system (nor official statistics) that is based on one permanent address. It is, therefore, crucial to include the second-home population into policy and planning actively, because these people are using physical and digital infrastructure and services of the areas they inhabit, and contributing to the local economy and social life of small rural towns.

Acknowledgement The empirical material for this study was collected as part of the work of the Sustainable Cities and Urban Development thematic group, the Nordic Committee of Senior Officials for Regional Policy (EK-R), under the auspices of the Nordic Council of Ministers for Sustainable Growth. Special thanks to Louise Ormstrup Vestergård and Johannes Lidmo, who assisted with the fieldwork.The authors would like to thank all the interviewees for sharing their experiences.

Notes 1 By the term ‘Nordic Region’ we are referring to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the autonomous islands – Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland. 2 In this instance, ‘Nordic countries’ are represented by Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. For an overview of the policy contexts of second homes in the Nordic countries, please see Slätmo et al., 2019. For an overview of the policy context for tourism in Nordic countries, please see e.g. Árnadóttir, 2019; Bogason et al., 2020.

References Adamiak, C., Pitkänen, K., and Lehtonen, O. (2017). Seasonal Residence and Counterurbanization:The Role of Second Homes in Population Redistribution in Finland. GeoJournal, 82(5): 1035–1050. doi:10.1007/ s10708-016-9727-x Åkerlund, U., Lipkina, O., and Hall, C.M. (2015). Second Home Governance in the EU: In and out of Finland and Malta. Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, 7(1): 77–97. doi:10.1080/19407963.201 4.933229 Árnadóttir, R.E. (2019). Nordic Tourism Policy Analysis, Nord, Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen, doi:10.6027/Nord2019-008. Back, A., and Marjavaara, R. (2017). Mapping an Invisible Population: The Uneven Geography of SecondHome Tourism. Tourism Geographies, 19(4): 595–611. doi:10.1080/14616688.2017.1331260 Bogason, A., Karlsdóttir,A., and Brandt Broegaard, R. (2020). Planning for Sustainable Tourism in the Nordic Region. Pan-Nordic Analysis of Regional Tourism Strategies for Rural Areas. Nordregio, R2020: 12. doi:10.6027/R2020:12.1403-2503 Ellingsen, W. (2017). Rural Second Homes: A Narrative of De-Centralisation. Sociologia Ruralis, 57(2): 229– 244. doi:10.1111/soru.12130 Ellingsen, W., and Arnesen, T. (2018). Fritidsbebyggelse: Fra byggesak til stedsutvikling. ØF-notat 03/2018, Østlandsforskning/Eastern Norway Research Institute. Farstad, M. (2018).The Moral Dilemma of Second Home Owners’ Position in the Host Community. In C.M. Hall and D.K. Müller (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Home Tourism and Mobilities. Routledge, London, 257–265. Gallent, N., Mace, A., and Tewdwr-Jones, M. (2005). Second Homes: European Perspectives and UK Policies. Ashgate Publishing,Aldershot. ISBN 9780754642398 Hall, C.M., and Müller, D.K. (2018a). The Routledge Handbook of Second Home Tourism and Mobilities. Routledge, London.

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16 NEW RURAL–URBAN RELATIONSHIPS OF SMALL TOWNS IN NORTHWESTERN GERMANY Kim Philip Schumacher and Karl Martin Born

Introduction In Germany, like in many other countries, small- and medium-sized towns have not received the attention they deserve, given their great importance for regional development, especially in rural areas. Therefore, we contribute to this book with an introduction to the German situation regarding questions of delimitation and research about small towns in rural regions, as well as the still-strong influence the Central Place concept has on regional and small and medium-sized town developments in Germany. The second aim is to illustrate the rural–urban setting in one part of Germany and highlight current regional development pathways of two adjacent rural regions. They serve as an example of prosperous rural regions and as proof of the close proximity of different drivers and successes of regional development; rural small and medium-sized towns being central as the engines of development. In our examples from Lower Saxony, we therefore focus on the functions and especially the functional interrelations of small- or medium-sized towns with their surrounding rural areas. One aspect is how recent rural developments and the influences of globalization on the countryside (e.g.Woods, 2007) have influenced those relationships and have made small towns nodes in a globalized economy, in our case integrated into a prosperous agribusiness cluster and global production network. The chapter is organized as follows: In the beginning, a short account of the small-town research gap in Germany will be given, followed by a brief introduction of the different roles small- and medium-sized towns can play for their rural areas. Afterwards, the situation and delimitation of small towns in Germany will be illustrated, including the understanding of small towns and their roles within German geography and the planning research.This will be followed by a characterization of the ‘landscape’ of small- and medium-sized towns in the study area in north-western Germany. In the second part, we will present findings on small-town rural area relationships, structures and processes in our study area from two neighbouring but differing districts.We argue that some parts of the relationships are inscribed into the Central Place concept.Thereby, the ongoing discourse about the adaptability of the German spatial planning system under the changing realities of regional competition and globalization is central.The planning system is rooted in the concepts of Christaller’s Central Place theory developed in the 1930s and implemented in Germany’s planning system after the Second World War (e.g. Massey, 2017). 232

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The presented insights are based on research done by both authors in the study region since 2010 in a variety of applied projects, the supervision of bachelor and master theses as well as field projects with students and academic teaching using questionnaires, semi-structured and narrative interviews as well as participant observation. Both authors have participated in regional working groups on e.g. agricultural transition, renewable-energy or demographic changes, for example LEADER initiatives and observations.The insights and empirical data gathered in projects and interviews form the basis of the descriptions, explanations and discussion presented in this chapter.

Small-Town Research Gap in Germany Small towns are an integral part of Europe’s polycentric urban structure. About 50% of the EU’s population lives in small- and medium-sized towns (Servillo et al., 2017: 365). But,‘there are various ideas about what a small town is’ (ARL, 2019a: 2) – a quote that already points out why it is difficult to do congruent cross-national or even cross-regional research on small towns as well as other factors that have until now limited the volume and range of small-town investigations in the spatial research (e.g. Bell and Jayne, 2009; Schneidewind et al., 2006). Urban research in Germany has had an overall focus on large cities and medium-sized towns, similar to the international research situation (e.g. Servillo et al., 2017; Meili and Mayer, 2017). Small towns have been cast as backward and uninteresting (Maretzke and Porsche, 2020: 36).This can be exemplified by the total neglect of this settlement category in textbooks about urban geography (e.g. Heineberg, 2000) as well as rural settlement geography (e.g. Lienau, 1995). Furthermore, research on rural areas has also left out small towns and has instead focussed on agricultural, regional and village development (Maretzke and Porsche, 2020: 36). It is also important to point out that small-town research has most of the time been conducted from a deficit perspective, pointing to what a small town is not or what is missing in comparison to cities.This holds especially true for non-numerical characteristics like urbanity, social structure and engines of regional growth (ARL, 2019a: 1). As a consequence, this has created the situation that solutions that have been developed for challenges in cities do not necessarily work in small towns and that it is not just a question of time till big city phenomena trickle down (Maretzke and Porsche, 2020: 36), an approach that is now changing. Only in recent years (federal) research initiatives and working groups have produced new conceptual and applied knowledge in order to better understand small-town structures and developments.The knowledge base is still small and incoherent, in part because the very different developments of small towns in their respective regional context make uniform solutions difficult.

Small Towns’ Urban–Rural Relationships in the German Central Place Planning Scheme There is a consensus that flows and networks establishing the relationships between small settlements and its regional area are of greater importance than physical identification and delimitations. The relationships help to estimate the role of small- and medium-sized towns within a region (Servillo et al., 2017: 367). Small- and medium-sized towns are an integral and structural element of the settlement structure and hierarchy and are vital assets for (rural) development.These towns perform very diverse functional roles in their regional settings, for example as centres for manufacturing, tourism, secondary and even tertiary education, administration or as sub-centre in a metropolitan area. More important is the insight that their socio-economic prosperity it not necessarily linked to population size but connected to the degree of importance of the functions performed for a wider territory and also to the degree of economic specialization (Hamdough et al., 2017: 457).

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Nevertheless, a less diverse economic structure can become a liability in times of sectoral crisis. The same authors point out three different settings derived from their empirical work. The first are towns embedded in and mostly serving a local economy with demand driven by the inhabitants of the town and the adjacent villages.These towns often profit from a substantial public and welfare sector in European welfare states like Germany and are rather resilient to economic crisis (Hamdough et al., 2017: 457). In the German spatial planning system these are aspects incorporated into the Central Place approach that guides spatial planning. It might in itself be a factor for the development of those towns as it allocates the facilities like schools or hospitals. Bell and Jayne (2009: 695) use the term ‘stand-alone small cities’ to describe similar findings. They also refer to literature that points out how small cities are integrated into global flows of capital, culture and people, making them nodes in global networks. This might be an even more global perspective compared to what Hamdough et al. (2017: 458) conceptualize as their second category of small towns. It describes towns that are serving an external demand, for example in manufacturing or services. Often these industries have their origin in the wave of industrialization after the Second World War when the production of standardized products was moved away from the centres. Nevertheless, relations to the respective European centres remained. The third category are towns with mixed economies. Mixed towns can also incorporate newer branches like the creative economy, higher education and research as possible extensions of the economic structure (Hamdough et al., 2017: 458). Small towns that have a subservient function to the metropolis form a contrast (Servillo et al., 2017: 366) and serve for example as a ‘spill-over’ site for developments that do no find a place in the city, for example residential housing or commercial zones due to high land prices.The latter would also be imagined in the Central Place concept.The function of a small- or medium-sized town as a global node is beyond the scope of the concept. Extensive commuter networks and a concentration of jobs in manufacturing in places other than a larger centre were not part of the original idea.

Small Towns in Germany Servillo et al. (2017: 366) argue that almost everyone has a feeling of what small- and mediumsized towns are, but that the role they play in their regions, their impact, service functions and cultural significance remain unclear.A more rational answer to the question ‘what is a small town?’ is difficult, because of a lack of (official) all-encompassing definitions. It is context-dependent, for example with regard to the settlement structure of the respective country (Servillo et al., 2017: 367), the scientific discipline conducting the delimitation, the focus of the research or the aim of spatial planning. Most of the time, the definition of a small town is primarily based on the number of inhabitants but also takes into account the structure of the built-up area and the functions it has for its more rural surroundings. In German human geography the fixed-expression ‘Stadtbegriff’ is used as a descriptive approach for the characterization of towns and cities by a variety of indicators, without preferring one above the other. In this approach, the most important measure is again the number of inhabitants and the population density. Additionally, the structure of the built-up area (‘Stadtgestalt’) factors in, as well as the functions of the urban settlement for the surrounding rural areas (Bender and Borsdorf, 2010).This again builds heavily on Christaller’s concept of Central Place theory.The concept has had a strong and still important influence on the German planning systems (Massey, 2017). In the concept, functional roles within the system are expressed via services for the surrounding areas with a strong focus on the tertiary sector. It is interconnected with the political role and function such as district seat, public offices etc.While the political role and function can be actively altered, the number of inhabitants (in terms of growing and shrinking) can only be changed in limited dimensions.The functional role in the provision of services is the least tangible field, as public ser234

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vices were partly privatized and the public sector follows different aims, such as the wellbeing of all inhabitants, the settlement of conflicts or the provision of welfare. With the development of a modern statistical system in Germany in the 1870s, a system of size classes or size categories based on the number of inhabitants was established. It is still of importance today. In it, large cities have more than 100,000 inhabitants, medium-sized towns have from 20,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, small towns have 5,000 to 20,000 inhabitants. In the 19th-century-system there was also a category of rural towns with a minimum of 2,000 inhabitants. Additionally, small towns have to have at least the basic level of centrality with some functions of a medium-sized town and a surplus of centrality in comparison to surrounding rural areas.All other settlements are characterized as villages (ARL, 2019a and b; Bender and Borsdorf, 2010).This includes, nowadays, also the rural towns, because of the absence of other urban characteristics like settlement density or spatial division of functions (Bender and Borsdorf, 2010). Based on this division there were 2,106 small towns in Germany in 2017, encompassing 46% of all towns and cities, and 24.2 million inhabitants.This compares to 26.3 million people living in the 79 German cities.The territories of small-town administrative districts account for 45% of the area of Germany (ALR, 2019b: 6ff). Most of the small towns (56%) can be found in densely populated areas which diminishes their importance (centrality) for the urban hinterland and puts them in competition with the neighbouring city. In sparsely populated areas, like the northern parts of eastern Germany, most of the existing towns are small towns. It is also important to acknowledge that several reforms of the administrative system have combined settlements with larger administrative units with regard to area and inhabitants but not necessarily functions (ALR, 2019b).As Maretzke and Porsche (2020) point out, the socio-economic structure of the region and its prosperity is much more important for the development and the functions and networks of small towns than the number of inhabitants.

Small-Town Landscape in North-Western Germany In Lower Saxony there are 239 small towns, which account for 37 % of the population and 56% of the area of the federal state (ARL, 2019b: 9). Our study area is the Weser-Ems region, named after a former administrative unit of substate level. It encompasses roughly 40% of the federal state of Lower Saxony east of the river Weser. It has, in terms of inhabitant classes, 13 small and 20 medium-sized towns, two large medium-sized towns (Delmenhorst 77,500 and Wilhelmshaven 76,000 inhabitants) as well as two cities Osnabrück (165,000 inhabitants) and Oldenburg (170,000 inhabitants) as well as the city state of Bremen with more than half a million inhabitants (LSN, 2020).The latter is functionally embedded in Lower Saxony, e.g. by suburbanization, commuters, leisure-time activities etc., and the metropolitan region Bremen-Oldenburg. For our research we also include small medium-sized towns. In our study area the size of medium-sized towns is in the range between 20,000 to 55,000 inhabitants, with the majority of small- and medium-sized towns in the region counting between 15,000 and 33,000 inhabitants. These are the settlement entities where the administrative functions, as well as an important part of industrial production, is located.They provide services for the surrounding rural areas with regard to the Central Place concept. Even so, these towns are not really small; they are also very much distinct from cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, for example by the density and height of buildings and the internal structure, among others. On the other end of the spectrum there are several villages with a population size that is similar to small towns but that do not have the status of a town, which makes it – in-line with the existing research findings – difficult to judge whether to include them, based on the role they play for their even more rural surroundings. The Weser-Ems region consists of a variety of rural areas in close proximity (Maretzke and Porsche, 2020). There are districts that have a strong socio-economic structure with a diversity of development potentials, like the districts of Oldenburg,Vechta and Osnabrück profiting from 235

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their function as traffic axes due to the A1 highway. The neighbouring district of Diepholz also has a rather strong economic structure with a focus on services. The districts of Cloppenburg, Emsland and Grafschaft Bentheim near to the Dutch border are structurally weaker. Even weaker are the coastal districts but with a higher potential for tourism. The prosperous districts depict higher tax revenues and lower unemployment rates. The number of inhabitants in this region is growing, which is an exception in German rural regions, but with important variations within the region and often also between communities within the same administrative district (Maretzke and Porsche, 2020).

Relationships with the ‘Metropolitan Region BremenOldenburg in the North-West’ An aspect raised in the literature is the notion that small- and medium-sized towns are assigned to a subservient role within the metropolitan system.The urban core is seen as the driving force that embeds and structures the functional relationship between the other urban settlements (Servillo et al., 2017: 366, 373). In our study area this might only be true for the small- and medium-sized towns in close proximity to the two cities and the city-state of Bremen. Even if a large part of the study area is part of the metropolitan area (Metropolregion) ‘Bremen-Oldenburg in the Nord-west’ that stretches north–south to the city limits of the city of Osnabrück, it is possible to argue that it is the least metropolitan of the metropolitan areas in Germany. One reason is that it encompasses a lot of rural areas, but even more so because the cities, mainly Bremen and the city of Oldenburg, are rather small and not very strong economically compared, for example, to Hamburg.The above mentioned politically driven designation of metropolitan areas – in some cases rather disputable, as Berlin and the whole of Brandenburg are one metropolitan area – forced the medium-sized and small towns within these metropolitan areas to reshape their position within the now expanded Central Place system: Once the creation of metropolitan areas is understood as a reflex to form functional urban areas (following EU policy) and to foster spatial co-operation, small towns find themselves at the bottom of the hierarchy; additionally, the main policy to strengthen the larger cities at the core of the metropolitan area reduces the small towns to appendices. It is remarkable that, at least in the district of Diepholz, the mayors of the small towns meet regularly to discuss all issues that have been brought on them by the metropolitan area.

Urban–Rural Relationships of Small Towns in NorthWestern Germany: Past and Present The introduction of the Central Place concept in German planning law was closely linked to the paradigm of equal living conditions in Germany. In the early phases of planning, the existing differences in living quality should be reduced; thus, the relationship between the towns and their hinterland were purely functional: Where was the ideal market place for goods and services to secure the supply for all inhabitants? (Kluczka, 1970). Discourses were set around the necessary goods and services at the various levels of Grund (basic), Mittel (medium) and Oberzentrum (superior centre) and – more importantly – around the allocation of the individual towns and cities in one of the categories.These discourses were based on the potential market areas of the central places. In other words, the political situation, the existing small-scale services or the mobility schemes of the inhabitants were ignored. Over many decades the relationship between towns and their hinterland were focussed on growth:While many towns and cities tried to incorporate neighbouring villages to secure areas for new industrial and housing areas the communities in the hinterland were forced to reorganize in larger administrative entities. While the original Central Place concept focussed on the functional relationship between towns and their hinterlands, contemporary approaches stress new aspects.The acknowledgement of 236

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a multiplicity of functional relationships added new dimensions, as economic themes were joined by discourses about recreation, heritage and identity. Similarly, the notion of dynamic added an important element to Christaller’s idea. Davoudi and Stead (2002) state a third phase in urban– rural linkages, which is characterized by a complex and dynamic set of two-way interdependencies. Quite contrary to the former functional models, the dichotomy is replaced by an integrated concept promoting an urban–rural continuum in which visible and invisible flows of people, capital, goods, information and technology create a dynamic and flexible environment (Davoudi and Stead, 2002: 5). The European Spatial Development Perspective (1999) initiated a complementary approach to the relationship between cities and regions and identified economic competition as one hindering element for co-operation. It also stated that all urban functions should be subject to these new cooperations. However, smaller towns, and especially the specific nature of their relationship to their hinterland, are not recognized; instead, small towns may organize networks with similar cities to co-operate and overcome their challenges. In the relevant planning document in Lower Saxony (LROPr-Nds, 2017), the relationship between small cities and their hinterlands is only marginally mentioned when it is postulated that in spatially and functionally interrelated areas planning and development should be harmonized. In the light of the still prevailing system of Central Place, with its hierarchical structures, any attempt to encourage co-operation on a horizontal level seems to be neglected. Only the rather extended regulation for large-scale shopping malls addresses the challenges of concentration of services in central places. Although it is not clearly explained whether these regulations are intended to protect the inner-urban shopping districts from suburbanization, it can be assumed that they cover also the neighbouring towns and villages.

Services Oriented District Diepholz: The Small Town Sulingen The following example of rural–urban relationships of a small town is derived from a series of small-scale research and teaching projects which culminated in a research project conducted in 2019 in Sulingen and its three surrounding communities. Starting from the hypothesis that the contemporary digital transformation will have a profound impact on the development of public and private services a series of individual interviews, focus groups interviews and public workshops were conducted. Added to by notes from meetings and briefings in all communities, all relevant material was thematically analyzed and interpreted. It is most noticeable that all relevant actors expressed their interest in a scientific analysis of recent trends towards centralization in Sulingen and the effects on the surrounding communities. Sulingen, located 50 kilometres south of Bremen, has roughly 12,800 inhabitants; functionally, it is designated as a Medium Scale Central Town (Mittelzentrum). The surrounding communities Kirchdorf (7,300 inhabitants), Schwaförden (6,800 inhabitants) and Siedenburg (4,500 inhabitants) are ‘Joint Municipalities’ as they are formed from various smaller villages.

Competition as the Main Driver in Small-Town–Rural Development In general, four challenges can be identified which result primarily from the competition within the Central Place system: Firstly, small towns are forced to act in an environment of competition within their own category. As Germany has a relatively high density of small- and medium-sized towns, the towns compete intensively for industrial location, inhabitants and public institutions. While this competition has been in place for some decades, it was further increased when counties were merged: Now several small- and medium-sized towns try to attract private and public investments (the district of Diepholz has around six towns with similar sizes). But public investments come not only from the district administration but also from state and federal sources. 237

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Secondly, there is obviously competition with the upper ranks in the Central Place system. However, small towns are disadvantaged as they lack the personal resources to form efficient business development agencies. Furthermore, larger cities can make use of existing clusters and develop a strategy for specialization while small towns lack the critical mass. The third dimension of competition encircles the rural communities in the hinterland, which try to attract enterprises and inhabitants by lower land prices and a higher quality of (rural) life. This relationship seems to be more dynamic than the two other dimensions of competition mentioned earlier: Enterprises can expand or relocate in both directions as inhabitants migrate from villages to towns and back within their lifetime. While small towns have considerable experience in competing with other small towns and larger cities, this competition can nowadays also be found within the Joint Municipalities where smaller and larger villages try to get their share of private and public investments. Thus, the relationship between small towns and their rural environment in terms of competition cannot be called asymmetric as both actors collected experiences in this field. In the case of Sulingen, the current mayor used to be mayor of a neighbouring Joint Municipality, which partly explains the relationship.

Emerging Fields of Co-Operation Research findings in Sulingen also raised issues of municipal co-operation, which dominated the discourses between the town and its hinterland. Sulingen focussed actively on the management of the demographic change by building apartments suitable for the elderly (in terms of accessibility and additional caring services). Although this effort was initially targeting its own elderly population, inhabitants from the surrounding communities quickly signed contracts. Consequently, the surrounding communities lost this fraction of their inhabitants, who also were frequent customers of the local stores. It became visible to what extent small towns affect rural communities by the development of new ideas. Besides, this disputed issue in the end became the nucleus for an intensive co-operation.The often formulated competition for enterprises was no controversy:All communities including Sulingen offer sufficient space for new enterprises; in the eyes of the responsible mayors the location decision of investors would be made on soft factors. One might be tempted to interpret this incident as a starting point for regional governance, but it must be recognized that regional co-operation is a key element in rural areas. It is not only the functional interrelation between small towns and their hinterland but also the diversity of governance arrangements in an environment that is partly characterized by a shortage of individual actors and a multiplicity of arenas (Born, 2012, 2017). Starting from the interpretative paradigm of an actor-focussed institutionalism (Mayntz and Scharpf, 1995), it can be stated that the institutional context in the relevant setting ‘small town vs. neighbouring communities’ is politically and socially structured: Town and communities act within the carefully constructed framework of ‘Sulinger Land’ (region around Sulingen) with an established identity and agenda.Thus, the number of independent institutions is limited. From the perspective of regional governance (for an early compilation, see Gualini, 2010), the limitations of planning on this specific level became obvious as neither local nor regional planning restrictions could take any provision to soften the demographic effects. However, in a broader interpretation of governance, elements of strategic planning have been complemented by management techniques. Subjects of managements are the interdependencies between the various actors at different levels (Kooiman, 2003: 3; Benz and Fürst, 2002). When the mayors decided to co-operate they identified six themes in which a lack of harmonization could be identified.These themes are elaborated below and discussed with regard to shortcomings of the Central Place concept.The analysis of the factors and processes should encourage co-operation.The changing role of small towns can be acknowledged by looking at demographic 238

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processes: The usual mechanism ‘Elderly people migrate into small towns while young families suburbanize or peri-urbanize’ led to an equilibrium. Now, as seen in Sulingen, small towns develop ambitious demographic agendas that affect the surrounding communities. Simultaneously, the better offer of goods and services in the small towns attracts even more inhabitants from the surrounding communities.This process forces the communities to re-evaluate their demographic strategy. Is it enough to hope for the return of inhabitants after their education or even after their professional careers? Mobility is a key issue in rural development. In Sulingen, as in many other regions, public transport focusses on the transport of children to school; there are only a few other connections which are underused. It is typical that each community, including Sulingen, searches for alternatives to public transport and supports citizen-driven mobility solutions. But these schemes are focussed on the individual community and offer often add-on services to the central place within the community or to Sulingen. In their focus on the Central Places, tangential routes, which would connect the surrounding communities, are neglected; thus it is easier to get to Sulingen than to the neighbouring municipality.Although this may have a positive effect on Sulingen by strengthening its role as a Central Place, all mayors promote tangential bus routes but the district, as responsible entity for public transport, insists on the implementation of the Central Place paradigm. In the field of health care, the relationship between small towns and their surrounding communities is rather complex. On the one hand, small towns enjoy advantages as they can use scaling effects and efficiency outcomes by bundling health care offers in small hospitals or medical care centres. Practitioners and caring enterprises can share infrastructure and co-operate closely.Thus, they attract patients from the hinterland. On the other hand, the range of ambulant services for their patients is limited as cost and time effects do not allow for long distances.Thus, co-existence and co-operation between small towns and rural areas are necessary; new solutions were developed, as practitioners may use various locations to practice during a week. Here, solutions were found informally among the involved practitioners and caring enterprises. But these arrangements are again under pressure, as small hospitals have to merge to new centrally placed hospitals resulting in the closure of small hospitals or wards. Additionally, it is very difficult to recruit successors for the already overaged community of practitioners in rural areas. Overall, small towns and their surrounding communities co-operate closely in their struggle to fight the next round of health services centralization on the next higher level. Education is the paradigmatic outcome of the Central Place concept: The higher the desired qualification, the higher the central place where the institution can be found (for exemptions, see below). For Sulingen, it must be reported that the level of co-operation within similar levels was relatively high while co-operation up or down the hierarchy could only be found marginally.The lack of vertical integration illustrates a serious dysfunction of the Central Place concept: Small towns interact only marginally with their surrounding communities. The provision of goods and services can be seen as the best example for the interwoven existence of small towns and their hinterland. Undoubtedly, the partial retreat of the discount supermarkets from rural areas and the death of the small owner-run shops in the villages has massive effects on the provision of goods and services. However, two new strands can be identified. In small towns a new generation of wholesaler can be observed. Supermarkets like EDEKA or REWE produce a new type of manager who is often rooted in the community and tries to find an individual profile and enhances their trading area through relatively large vending areas and mobile services. Their devotion to the region can be observed when regional products are introduced and promoted or micro-shops are opened in the surrounding communities. Simultaneously, small communities intensify their efforts to secure the provision of goods when they support alternative food networks, community-led shops or direct marketing from producers. A new trend is automatic vending systems not only for milk or eggs but for all foods and products. Small towns and their hinterland co-operate closely in their producer–seller relations and frequently identify 239

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small niches. Interestingly enough, neither the administration nor the mayors have any influence on these processes. Lastly, the digitalization process illustrates the asymmetries between small towns and the surrounding communities.While small towns were disadvantaged in their access to optical fibre systems compared with medium-sized towns and cities the rural communities were simply neglected by the private net suppliers as cost effects and a lack of profitability put them at the end of the line.

Diverse Economy with Global Relations: Vechta and Neighbouring Districts The districts directly adjacent to the west of Diepholz are fascinating examples of fast-growing and more urbanized districts with a prosperous economy. These districts are linked by multiple networks to global production but are also affected by international and global developments (Franz and Schumacher, 2020).These are the district of Vechta as well as neighbouring districts of Oldenburg to the north, the district of Osnabrück to the south and some parts of the district of Cloppenburg to the west, linked by the north–south A1 highway.This infrastructure is seen as the major foundation for the success of regional development after it was completed in the late 1960s (Berlin Institut, 2009; Klohn and Voth, 2008). From the perspective of the medium-sized town of Vechta (33,000 inhabitants), which is almost a one-hour drive away from Bremen/Oldenburg as well as Osnabrück to the south and therefore clearly outside the agglomeration shadow, its location enabled a much higher centrality than expected from the (fast-growing) population size.This, centrally, is based on customers’ attraction for shopping and services from the surrounding villages and also from the smaller medium and small towns nearby, resulting in a rather large and varied choice. Its role is further emphasized by the existence of a small university with currently 4,900 students.The University of Vechta is thereby larger than tertiary education facilities in bigger medium-sized towns in the region. Nevertheless, Vechta cannot be seen as an autonomous town but as integrated into a network of small- and medium-sized towns within its district and beyond, such as Lohne,Visbek or Cloppenburg.

Small and Medium-Sized Towns as Global Nodes? The real engine of rural growth and the reason for its global connections is the development of Germany’s best-developed agri-business cluster in this part of the Weser-Ems region (Tamasy, 2013; Franz et al., 2018).The result is a prosperous rural region sweeping along the neighbouring districts. Economic development, originally based on live-stock production, has evolved into an industrial cluster with large amounts of regional added value by upstream and downstream businesses of the agro-food sector, especially agricultural-machine building but also plastics production, food processing, animal pharmaceuticals and the building sector (Klohn and Voth, 2008).This business sector challenges the Central Place theory, because in this region world market leaders in their respective niches (so-called hidden champions) might even be located in small villages – often those villages where the founders and current owners of the family businesses live. In contrast, the other economic pillar in Lower Saxony is the automotive industry (e.g.Volkswagen), which is primarily located in the cities. Additionally, small- and medium-sized companies have demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt to changing business environments, conquering market niches and upgrading their production from the production of goods to the production of the respective machinery, a process that has often been done within a network of other firms often in the surrounding rural area (Tamasy and Tepe, 2015). From a structural perspective, it is important to stress that these firms are predominantly family-owned and family-run, and often have been for several generations. It is the identification of the entrepreneurs with their towns and region, and the strong affiliation of the workforce and the political actors with the enterprise, which characterizes those small towns and

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can be seen as a factor of success, and stresses again the importance of regional functional networks (Berlin Institut, 2009).The amount of daily commuters that travel between the different small- and medium-sized towns as well as the villages with many places of work can be seen as an indicator (Verbund Oldenburger Münsterland, 2014).Within this network the medium-sized town of Vechta has another important function for the rural region. It serves as a formal and informal meeting place for business, politics and trade fairs, leisure-time activities with festivals, sports events and as the site of the offices of lobby and farmers’ organizations. An often-unified political action and lobbying has offered significant influence on the decision-making at the level of the federal state, especially with regard to the agri-business (Franz et al., 2018). This positive portrayal of a rural area, embedded into global networks, has to be challenged nevertheless. Even though we observe these global connections and the import, as well as export, of raw material and exports of goods from the region, it is nevertheless very dependent on decisions that are made elsewhere, on the national level, the supranational level of the EU or globally. These decisions are mostly made in large urban areas influenced by an urban population. With regard to food production it can be observed that it is predominately an urban population and urban consumers that demand changes in the modes of production (e.g. organic), animal welfare or a diet with less meat (Franz and Schumacher, 2020).The same is true for political developments that cut off markets, for example due to embargoes.This is supposed to severely alter the modes of production. Currently, niche developments for the production of alternative sources of protein, for example with insects or the production of algae, are developing (e.g. Bünger, 2019). The same is true for meat-processing companies that see new opportunities for growth in vegan food.The rural region cannot steer these developments but has to adapt to the different preferences that might ultimately transform the regional business model and development path. Nevertheless, the positive examples of adaptability within this region might lead to another successful transformation of the regional development paths.

Conclusion Small towns in Germany have so far received less than necessary attention from spatial research. This chapter gives some insights into the relation of small towns with each other and their rural hinterlands by the example of a region in north-western Germany with a diverse mixture of small towns with different strengths and weaknesses. Our findings show that the relationship of small towns and their surrounding communities can be described as complex and theme-related. It is also questionable to what extent small towns influence their hinterland and act as regional development cores or lighthouses.The examples show coexistence of both. Undoubtedly, innovations are created in the small towns and transferred to rural areas, but it is very often an interrelated process with external drivers. A possible explanation could be seen in the relative closeness and frequent personal interactions, especially in the towns.There is obviously a discrepancy between the strategic goals of planning and the reality:Although the co-operation of small towns and their surrounding communities is required, formal regional planning (in Germany on district level) fails to address the challenges in the co-existence on a subregional level.The described practice of co-operation refers to the inherent qualities of governance approaches but one needs to take into account that the relevant actors in the mentioned towns and municipalities as well as the decision-makers in the enterprises share a well-established and long-lasting network.

References Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung (ARL) (2019a) Small Town Research in Germany – Status Quo and Recommendations. Position Paper of the ARL 114. Hannover,ARL

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Kim Philip Schumacher & Karl Martin Born Akademie für Raumforschung und Landesplanung (ARL) (2019b) Kleinstadtforschung in Deutschland. Stand, Perspektive und Empfehlungen. Arbeitsberichte der ARL 28. Hannover, ARL Bell, D. and Jane, M. (2009) ‘Small Cities? Towards a Research Agenda’. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 33, no 3, pp. 683–699 Bender, O. and Borsdorf,A. (2010) Allgemeine Siedlungsgeographie. Wien, Böhlau Benz, A. and Fürst, D. (2002) ‘Policy Learning in Regional Networks’. European Urban and Regional Studies, vol. 9, no 1, pp. 21–35 Berlin-Institut für Bevölkerung und Entwicklung (2009) Land mit Aussicht. Berlin. https://www.berlin-institut .org/fileadmin/user_upload/Land-mit_Aussicht/LmA_final.pdf accessed 20 December 2016 Born, K.M. (2012) Governance in Rural Landscapes. Norwegian Journal of Geography, vol. 66, no 2, pp. 76–83 Born, K.M. (2017) ‘Komplexe Steuerung in ländlichen Räumen: Herausforderungen und Perspektiven von Governance in einer spezifischen Raumkategorie‘. In W. Kürschner (ed) Der ländliche Raum. Politik – Wirtschaft – Gesellschaft. Münster, LIT-Verlag, pp. 9–34 Bünger, A. (2019) Die Bedeutung von regionalen Innovationspotenzialen und Nachhaltigkeitsorientierung für eine soziotechnische Transformation in der Agrar- und Ernährungswirtschaft. Wiesbaden, Springer Davoudi, S. and Stead, D. (2002) ‘Urban-rural Relationships: An Introduction and Brief History’. Built Environment vol 28, no 4, pp. 268–277 European Commission (1999) ESDP. European Spatial Development Perspective.Towards Balanced and Sustainable Development of the Territory of the European Union. Brussels. https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/ docoffic/official/reports/pdf/sum_en.pdf accessed 13 December 2020 Franz, M., Schlitz, N. and Schumacher, K.P. (2018) ‘Globalization and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus – Using the Global Production Networks Approach to Analyze Society-Environment Relations’. Environmental Science and Policy, vol 90, pp. 201–212 Franz, M. and Schumacher, K.P. (2020) ‘Risiko Gülle – ein Abfallprodukt gefährdet das Globale Produktionsnetzwerk der intensiven Landwirtschaft’. In N.L. Bauer, Hering, N. and Kulke, E. (eds) Die Koordination von Konsumenten und Produzenten in Warenketten am Beispiel des Lebensmittelhandels. Wiesbaden, Springer, pp. 187–215 Gualini, E. (2010) ‘Governance, Space and Politics: Exploring the Governmentality of Planning’. In J. Hillier and Healey, P. (eds.) The Ashgate Research Companion to Planning Theory. Farnham,Ashgate, pp. 57–86 Hamdough, A., Demaziere, C. and Banovac, K. (2017) ‘The Socio-Economic Profiles of Small and MediumSized Towns: Insights from European Case Studies’. Tijdschrift for Economische en Sociale Geografie, vol 108, no 4, pp. 456–471 Heineberg, H. (2000) Stadtgeographie. 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17 SMALL REGIONAL CENTRES AT THE PERIPHERY OF SWITZERLAND Porrentruy and Brig-Glis Walter Leimgruber

Small Towns in Switzerland With only 41,000 km , Switzerland is a small country, but despite its alpine (rural) image it is highly urbanised: about 85% of the population live in towns and urbanized areas (FSO 2020, p. 4). The low-lying plateau region between Lakes Geneva and Constance is sometimes called ‘city of Switzerland’. It is not a town in the physical sense but consists of extensive rural and urban areas between the agglomerations of Geneva, Lausanne, Biel, Berne, Lucerne, Zürich,Winterthur, and St. Gallen plus many smaller towns, which together add up to more than 5.5 million people.To complete the overall picture of urban Switzerland we have to include the two agglomerations of Basle north of the Jura mountains (0.5 million inhabitants, 0.8 million with the French and German part of the conurbation) and Lugano south of the Alps (0.2 million).Together, this is about 75% of the Swiss population of 8.5 million. Following the rationale for this book, this chapter focuses on one type of urban settlement, the small town, usually overlooked because not spectacular, but vital on the regional scale. Small towns are regional centres in close exchange with their hinterland, concerning the labour market as well as the supply of food and services.Their size lies within reasonable limits, they can be seen as large villages with urban functions and an urban way of life. More than large cities, they are part of a regional rural–urban network that includes the exchange of goods (on markets) and ideas, in part the processing of farm produce, and the supply of tools and machinery for farmers, and this globally (see e.g. Pradhan 2004). But what is a ‘small town’? To define a town is basically a matter of perception.The term is used in such an extensive way that it is difficult to determine it quantitatively.The origin of the word, Old English tun, denotes the enclosure of a settlement, probably borrowed from Celtic dunon (hill, hill fort; Etymonline n.d.). Conventionally, a town is considered the opposite of the countryside. Kirk (1980) sees these two terms as the extreme ends of a continuum. He uses a functional or qualitative approach, confronting urban with rural traits (such as capital- vs. labour-intensive) that is more realistic (but also more subjective) than simple figures. From a qualitative perspective, a small town lies somewhere on the continuum between urban and rural space. However, as the efforts to define a town statistically demonstrate, the exact definition remains subjective and dwells on the choice of indicators and their relative weight attributed to each of them (see FSO 2014). 2

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Conventional town definitions use the number of inhabitants in a spatial unit, but this is an arbitrary indicator as it varies according to a country’s history, administrative, and settlement structure. Such statistical definitions can be misleading as administrative units (municipalities or communes) are far from static – communal boundaries sometimes disappear because of administrative mergers, and what was a group of rural villages suddenly becomes a (statistical) town without losing its rural character. Besides, land use is highly variable.A commune in mountainous areas also includes land unsuitable for settlement. Davos in Switzerland, for example, is a statistical town with about 11,000 inhabitants on a territory of 248 km2, ranging between 1,000 and 3,100 m a.s.l (above sea level) and comprising several smaller individual settlements. The municipality of Zürich, on the other hand, has roughly 434,000 inhabitants on 87 km2, but the built-up agglomeration reaches far beyond and is home to well above 1.5 million people. Both are towns according to the definition by the Federal Statistical Office (see below). In Switzerland, a town was traditionally defined as a municipality with 10,000 and more inhabitants.The Federal Statistical Office adopted a new definition in 2012, according to which a (statistical) town is a place with a well-structured and densely built central area, comprising at least 12,000 IJH units (the sum of inhabitants, jobs and hotel nights spent; BFS 2014, p. 15; SSV 2020, p. 7); the commune must include at least 14,000 IJH (ibid.).While this sounds very complicated, it does not solve the problem of the definition of a town – the reality is always more complex.Among the members of the Swiss Towns Association, there are municipalities, called historical towns, that had held formal urban functions in the past (the right to hold a market, a certain level of judiciary, maybe a mint) but do not necessarily conform to the present-day statistical definition. On the other hand, there are agglomerations that would meet the criteria but are not towns because they consist of several communes that do not fulfil them individually.This alone illustrates the difficulty to agree on what a town really is. It can only be defined through a functional approach including indicators such as the existence of a public transport network, internal differentiation, relations with the hinterland, and its place in a wider setting. For the present purpose, and faithful to the book project, I have selected two small towns that illustrate both the linguistic diversity of Switzerland and the proximity of the state border. Both are historical towns and located in mountain regions outside the highly urbanized plateau. The first, Porrentruy, is situated just north of the Jura in the French-speaking canton of Jura and close to the boundary with France (the Belfort-Montbéliard conurbation).The town and its region are fairly isolated from the rest of the canton and the entire country.The second, Brig-Glis, lies in the Alps in the German-speaking part of the bilingual (German and French) canton of Valais and is close to Italy. It is part of the regional agglomeration of Brig-Visp, one of the four agglomerations in the canton.Although situated in the Alps, it is an important transport node thanks to national and international railway lines.While the border situation is not central to this chapter, it nevertheless plays an important role in the life of the two towns as both have part of their hinterland in France and Italy respectively, to a varying degree. In particular they both offer jobs for transborder commuters whose mobility has been simplified since Switzerland joined the Schengen agreement with the European Union. Given the limited time at disposal and the special circumstances (lockdown during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic), research for this chapter was restricted to a few interviews with key local persons and the statistics available.

Porrentruy: A Regional Centre with an International Hinterland The boundary with our neighbouring states is never far away; regional transborder relations with our adjoining countries are frequent (Leimgruber 1981, 1989, 1991, 2018), and it is no wonder that two of our major centres, Basle and Geneva, thrived as a consequence of intense contacts with 245

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their hinterlands in Germany (Basle) and France (Basle and Geneva). Both are the cores of transnational agglomerations with intense collaboration on the local level, and rural areas in France and Germany supply the two cities with fresh fruit and vegetables. Besides, transborder commuters are vital participants in the two centres’ labour markets. Taxed at source, they also contribute to the public budget. Similar relations also exist in other border regions such as in Porrentruy and Brig, albeit to a different degree and at a lower scale. Porrentruy is the capital of the Ajoie district (Figure 17.1) in the canton of Jura, a rather marginal region in Switzerland that has for a long time been neglected (Leimgruber 2013).The region lies immediately north of the Jura mountains at the edge of the Belfort gap (France) and cultivates intense contacts with both the Swiss and the French part of its hinterland.With 6,678 inhabitants and 13,658 IJH in 2018, Porrentruy is not a statistical town according to the FSO definition (see above), but it is a regionally important centre and a historical town. On its website, it even boasts being the Swiss town closest to Paris.The TGV station Belfort-Montbéliard lies only 26 kms away, which renders credibility to this claim as this connection considerably shortens the travel time to the French metropolis. The Ajoie is a low-lying plateau (between 400 and 550 m a.s.l.) with hills and flat valleys, and the district capital Porrentruy lies almost in the centre. Its hinterland includes villages in Switzerland and neighbouring France. Connections between centre and hinterland by public transport are excellent, with seven bus lines radiating from the town and two railway lines (a narrow gauge regional one and the main line to France), although only the main railway line crosses the border; even the motorway ends at the crossing point and does not continue into France. Transborder commuters from France have to rely on the good road network. Porrentruy was founded in the 12th century and from the onset was a regional administrative centre. In 1283 it became part of the Prince-Bishopric of Basle, and the Bishop conferred on it the right to hold a weekly market and annual (later monthly) fairs.After the Reformation, in Basle, he chose Porrentruy as his see (from 1528 until the French occupation in 1792). Due to its history

Figure 17.1 The Ajoie in Northwestern Switzerland

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and location, Porrentruy was always oriented towards Alsatia and Burgundy as well as the Swiss Jura. From 1792 until 1814, it was part and capital of the French département Mont-Terrible. The Vienna Congress of 1815 attached it to the Swiss Canton of Berne, thus cutting the town off from its natural hinterland in France (the Belfort region; Kohler 2012). Porrentruy retained its role as capital of the district, and kept it when the Jura separated from the canton of Berne in 1979 and became a canton of its own. Porrentruy was connected to the French railway system in 1872 with a direct link to Paris. The Swiss railway line arrived in 1877, an important step for France as Alsatia had been annexed by Germany in 1871.Trains from Paris to Switzerland (and later Italy) could now employ the line from Belfort to Porrentruy, Delémont and Basle or Berne without transiting through German territory. As a consequence of the railway boom, the population of the town rose from 2,880 in 1850 to 6,959 in 1900, and it has since maintained this level throughout the 20th century with slight ups and downs.When Alsatia returned to France in 1918 after World War I, the railway line lost its importance (ibid.).The direct connection to Belfort in France was eventually interrupted in 1992 but resumed service in 2018.There is a train to the TGV station Belfort-Montbéliard and to Belfort every hour; however, it is not an ideal link as passengers have to change train at the French border station in Delle. In 2004, Porrentruy was integrated into the Basle regional S-Train network. In 2014, the motorway connection (A16) through the Jura mountains to the rest of Switzerland was completed and further reduced Porrentruy’s relative isolation. The transformation from a market to an industrial and service town started in the 1840s when a training shop for watchmakers opened in 1842 (Kohler 2012).Watchmaking rapidly became the dominant activity, with 60 small factories in 1870 and maintained this position until the 1970s when the entire sector had to restructure itself (ibid.). Porrentruy illustrates the particularity that industries in Switzerland are highly decentralized, and globally operating firms are often located in rural areas. Apart from being a regional administrative and market centre, Porrentruy also houses various international firms, usually branch plants that profit from the transportation network, the proximity to France and the EU market, relatively low land prices, a favourable tax system, and the political stability of Switzerland.While offering many jobs in the secondary and tertiary sector (1,519 and 5,340 respectively in 2018), Porrentruy is in an ambiguous labour-market situation. It attracts many commuters from its hinterland, which extends into France. The transborder commuters are essential for the economy of the entire region (Table 17.1).The Swiss statistics for 2018 (latest data available) show that more than 1,000 persons work outside the commune on a daily (or weekly) basis, while more than 4,300 commute to the town, essentially from less than 15 kms away (data from FSO 2019).This figure includes roughly 1,600 transborder commuters from neighbouring France, occupying just under one-third of the jobs. Of the (Swiss) in-commuters, 80% live in the Ajoie district, but 68% of the out-commuters travel much further. Porrentruy has developed a small suburban ring, composed of four communes to the south, east, and northeast where 37% of the in-commuters live and which are the goal of Table 17.1 Porrentruy Commuters Category

Porrentruy

Resident workforce (2018) Swiss in-commuters (2018) Transborder in-commuters (2020) Out-commuters (2018) Total jobs (approximative)

1,803 2,736 1,608 -1,040 5,107

Source: FSO 2019; Grenzgängerstatistik

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27% of Porrentruy’s out-commuters. No detailed data are available as to the residential communes of the transborder commuters, but given the competition for jobs on the French side with the two large towns of Belfort and Montbéliard, they will for the most part live in the communes close to the boundary.Transborder commuters, however, also cause dissent on the local level. Not all communes offer jobs for them and therefore cannot benefit from the source-tax they pay, but they have to bear the brunt of the inconveniences such as intense road traffic, the burden on the local infrastructure, noise, and air pollution. Solutions are being discussed on the district level for regional fiscal compensation in the context of enhanced regional cooperation (Voirol 2020). A further element that connects Porrentruy to its hinterland is the market that sells regional products. Held twice a week (Thursday and Saturday mornings, respectively) it attracts mainly producers from the surrounding rural area. Occasionally, even farmers from neighbouring France will offer their products.According to the mayor, a major accent is laid on produce that mirrors the character of the region (ibid.). It is not vital for the town but a welcome change to the standard offer by the supermarkets. The Ajoie is a relatively fertile region with flat terrain. Almost half its area of 335 ha is devoted to agriculture (49%), with 51% of this surface cultivated. A particularity is the presence of the Swiss army on a military training ground nearby.The village of Bure offers ample space for an exercise area for armed vehicles.This is to some extent a nuisance (noise, additional traffic), but is also economically important for the region.The army buys most of its food supply from the area, and soldiers are welcome visitors to local restaurants and bars (ibid.).

Brig-Glis: Regional Centre and International Transport Node Brig-Glis (13,058 inhabitants and 23,801 IJH in 2018) is a small town and district capital in the upper Rhone valley (Figure 17.2). It is situated at the entrance to the Simplon Tunnel, the second major transalpine rail corridor through Switzerland (next to the Gotthard).The present-day urban

Figure 17.2 Brig-Glis in the Southern Swiss Alps

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municipality resulted from a merger of three communes: Brig (east of the Saltina river), Glis, and Brigerbad (west of the Saltina and in the main valley) in 1972, which almost doubled the population.The original core, Brig, currently still houses about 4,000 people (Brogli 2020), as before the merger; the demographic growth of the commune is taking place at the western periphery where ample land for settlement expansion is available. Brig developed as a small centre on the north side of the Simplon Pass, one of the many medieval alpine crossings from Switzerland to Italy.The town lies in the Rhone valley on 680 m a.s.l, flanked by mountains reaching up to above 3,000 metres, and its hinterland is characterized by the ‘channel’ of the Rhone valley.To shelter it from the floods of the Rhone, it was built on the dejection cone of the Saltina, a short tributary from the Simplon Pass.This is a wild and unpredictable watercourse that often inundated the town (the last devastating event with two fatalities occurred in 1993).The town wall along the brook therefore also served to protect it from floods. Brig was probably founded during the 14th century by the Bishop of Sion who made it a district capital in 1518 (Carlen 2013); but it was in the 17th century that it gained a European reputation.The local tradesman and politician Kaspar Stockalper vom Thurm (1609–1691) made Brig the hub of his trade imperium. Among others, he held the monopoly on the Valais salt trade (Schöpfer Pfaffen 2012), but he also owned iron, lead, copper, and gold mines and was active in the business with mercenaries. His professional and political network covered a large part of Europe (Leimgruber 1999). Modern Brig still remembers this extraordinary figure, and his palace (built 1658–1678; Carlen 2013) is a landmark and a tourist attraction. After Stockalper’s death, however, the town continued to function as a simple regional centre. Brig received a boost when Napoleon had the Simplon Pass route enlarged between 1801 and 1805 to accommodate his artillery pieces destined for the invasion of Italy. The pass road is nowadays part of the Swiss express road system and open all the year round (other passes are usually closed during winter).With 2,005 m a.s.l., it is the lowest-lying alpine crossing. But it was the construction of the railways in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that ultimately put Brig back on the international map.As a transport node, it was linked to Milan through the Simplon Tunnel (two parallel tunnels, opened 1905 and 1921 respectively) and to Paris via the railway through the Rhone valley to Lausanne/Geneva and the Lötschberg Tunnel (opened 1913) via BernePorrentruy (see above). A narrow-gauge railway (Matterhorn–Gotthard Bahn), built from 1911 onwards, connected Brig along the upper Rhone valley northeast to the Furka Pass and eventually to Chur in the Grisons. This line is nowadays used by the Glacier Express running between Zermatt and St. Moritz and much appreciated by international tourists. The construction of the railway boosted the population (from 1,172 inhabitants in 1888 to 2,182 in 1900 and 2,605 in 1910) and included the creation of many jobs in the transport sector. It also made Brig a turning point for visitors to Zermatt coming from Berne who had to change trains. The opening of the new Lötschberg base tunnel to Berne in 2007 changed the situation. Intercity trains now stop in Visp, a few kilometres downstream, where tourists can board the trains to Zermatt, and Brig lost some of this traffic. However, the old Lötschberg line that climbs the mountainside retains its charm and is still very popular. Brig-Glis is an important workplace, offering more than 8,000 jobs (Table 17.2). Due to the particular topographical setting, the commuter situation is substantially different from Porrentruy. The workplace offer is more than twice the resident workforce. Brig is an attractive place to work with a wide variety of jobs in industry (1,478 in 2018), transport, tourism, and many services (8,364 in 2018).The Swiss hinterland is elongated and overlaps with that of neighbouring Visp, a small town eight kilometres downstream and part of the Brig-Visp agglomeration.The two are in fact attracting commuters from a large area. Of all commuters to Brig, 26% live in neighbouring Naters, a large suburb on the other side of the River Rhone, and 50% come from other villages up to 30 kms away.The topography is a handicap for commuting, which in mountain regions is very time-consuming.Villages in tributary 249

Walter Leimgruber Table 17.2 Commuters in Brig-Glis (FSO 2019; Grenzgängerstatistik) Category

Brig-Glis

Resident workforce (2018) Swiss in-commuters (2018) Transborder in-commuters (2020) Out-commuters (2018) Total jobs (approximative)

3,899 6,775 494 -2,381 8,787

valleys are difficult to reach, public transport (buses) is limited (despite substantial improvements in recent years), and people have to resort to private means.The villages on the Matterhorn–Gotthard railway upstream and on the main line downstream from Brig fare somewhat better, but they often lie at some distance from the stations. Brig’s hinterland in Italy is determined by the transportation routes: the Simplon railway tunnel and the Simplon Pass road.Transborder commuting is difficult and time-consuming, but the high Swiss salaries constitute a sufficient attraction to offset the hardship.The nearest Italian village lies at 45 kms from Brig by road (about an hour’s drive across the Simplon Pass) and at 13 minutes by regional train through the tunnel. For many commuters the railway is a bad option as most villages are situated relatively far from the railway station, and this makes it difficult to commute by train, although car parking is available at the stations on the Italian side.This may explain the low number of Italians who work in Brig. However, Domodossola, the closest town in Italy, is an alternative workplace at a shorter distance. People from Brig often go shopping there; it takes less than 40 minutes by express train, which facilitates exchange between the two cities. Commuting may be the most important element in the relations between Brig and its surroundings, but it not the only one. Brig is the only urban centre for the entire upper Rhone valley and serves more than 40,000 inhabitants.The upper Rhone valley is characterized by low-intensity farming, a lot of abandoned surfaces, small local crafts, and soft tourism. Land use is hampered by the mountainous terrain; only 4% of the entire surface in the upper Valais (142,155 ha) can be used for agriculture; fields are small and scattered, cattle rearing dominates. Large areas of the mountains are classed as unproductive surfaces.The upper Rhone valley has not experienced the same type of industrialization as the Ajoie, where most villages offer jobs in the secondary sector, some even internationally active. Upstream from Brig there are only a few regionally anchored businesses, geared essentially towards the needs of the local customers. The low importance of agriculture in Brig’s hinterland is reflected in its market, which only takes place on Saturdays and is exclusively reserved for producers from the immediate surroundings. It has no specific significance for the town’s food supply. According to the town secretary, most shoppers are regular customers (Brogli 2020) and have built up personal contacts with the producers over time.

Perspectives for the Future What are the survival chances of small towns? Do they have a future at all? The answer to this question lies with each small town’s particular circumstances. It may be decline or growth due to a variety of factors (Nel and Stevenson 2012). There is their role in the regional settlement system: are they regionally integrated or isolated, do they lead a solitary life? Does a broad and solid economic and social base ensure continuity, do they have an adequate resource base? Obviously, excessive dependence on one single resource is no good omen, as the countless ghost towns across the world demonstrate. 250

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In Switzerland, many small towns are part of the large urban network that reaches from Lake Constance to Lake Geneva. Their future generally looks good for a number of reasons: distances to large centres and to leisure areas are short, good roads and motorways ensure easy connections (apart from the daily traffic jams), and public transport (railways and buses) is well developed and reliable.The small town of Sursee north of Lucerne (9,955 inhabitants in 2018), for example, has an intercity train connection to Geneva Airport (and to Lucerne, of course) every hour. It is also the focal point of several regional bus services, a sign for a good regional integration – it may be a small town, but it is not marginal. Both Porrentruy and Brig-Glis are also in a comfortable situation.They are solidly anchored in their regions, are lively and thriving centres with intense contacts within and beyond their hinterlands.Their population is fairly stable, migration varies from one year to another with positive and negative balances alternating.Their position is founded on historical continuity, their administrative role on the district level, their variety of jobs, and on their function as transportation nodes (Porrentruy mainly regional, Brig-Glis regional, national, and international). Brig-Glis also benefits from international tourism, whereas Porrentruy lies largely outside the perception of tourists, the Jura being somewhat marginal within Switzerland. However, tourism is a fragile economic sector as the COVID-19 pandemic has painfully highlighted. Two additional factors must be mentioned in this context, which are essential for the future of small towns in Switzerland in general.The first is the decentralized bottom-up political organization. Swiss communes are relatively autonomous entities, disposing of their own budgets and tax revenues and having planning authority. They can operate relatively freely under the supervision of the canton (which is a regional state within the Swiss Confederation with substantial decisional power thanks to political, fiscal, educational, and police autonomy).The population has therefore an important say in local affairs (as well as in cantonal and national ones) and can influence the direction of economic and social development.This creates a sense of attachment that is favourable for the future even of small places. The second is in a way a corollary of the first. Switzerland is no longer the stereotypical country of cheese, chocolates, and watches. It is highly industrialized, but manufacturing is historically dispersed across the country.The resources of our economy are not coal and iron ore but brains: one had to be creative to survive. For centuries, subsistence and regional market-oriented agriculture dominated the economy; only in the Alps did transport offer an additional source of income: export of cattle, trade of specific goods (such as salt), transport of travellers across mountain passes. From the 16th and 17th century onwards, cottage industries developed in some regions, mainly driven by Huguenot refugees from France (Capitani 1983, p. 111 f.). Products were cotton fabrics (eastern Switzerland), silk ribbons (Basle region), and mechanical parts for watches (the Frenchspeaking part of the Jura). This early industry was organized as a putting-out system that linked merchants in towns to rural populations that received jobs and training but became dependent on urban entrepreneurs. Domestic industry rapidly caught on after the end of the French period.Around 1820, half of all workers in the secondary sector were rural domestic workers; in 1850, it was still one-third (Andrey 1983, p. 192). As a consequence of this rural–urban symbiosis, Switzerland never experienced a concentration of factories in one large industrial region but the industrial sector developed differently in every region.The machine industry (mechanical looms and spinning wheels) originated as a complement to the production of fabrics. Silk ribbons had to be dyed, and dyeworks became the predecessors of the chemical industry. Industrial plants thus grew locally, and local planning authority allows all communes to set up their own industrial zones and conduct their own economic policy. Available land, favourable taxing systems, and the labour market are quoted as factors of attraction. Industries with a global reach can therefore be found in the rural space, in small towns as well as in villages. Several firms in Porrentruy and Brig-Glis belong to this category, among them one with a branch plant in Guangzhou (China). Such industrial zones create a link between politics, the econ251

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omy, and the population.They can ensure the survival of municipalities, although unexpected external events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can be a threat – but this is not limited to small towns. There is a further argument that offers a positive glimpse in the future of Porrentruy and Brig. Both are close to the national border, and such regions are usually strategically significant. Although military installations are frequent in border areas, the training ground of the Swiss Army near Porrentruy exists not because of the boundary but because of the terrain at its disposal and the low settlement density in the area. Security is certainly a major challenge, but currently it is hardly an issue (France is no longer an enemy). Differences in prices and salaries on either side promote transborder collaboration and trade (Leimgruber 1991), something the COVID-19 pandemic could only temporarily interrupt.

Conclusion Small towns are embedded in a rural environment and usually maintain reciprocal relations on this scale: town and countryside are partners.The functional gradient between them results in a complementary relationship: each side offers goods and services the other is lacking.This holds good even in our period of globalization, when the global seemed to dominate and even evict the local scale. However, the recent lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic has led many people to question this situation, at least for a certain time.The interruption of the global supply chain demonstrated our vulnerability and dependency on external products.The general lockdown reduced travel, and shopping trips were limited to local and regional levels. Even regional transborder shopping came to a halt in Spring 2020 when the borders were temporarily closed. It resumed in summer once restrictions were lifted, and stopped again with the upsurge of the pandemic in autumn. When local markets (the symbols of the rural–urban relationship) were prohibited, producers faced the challenge to develop new strategies to sell their products. Direct supplies from farms received a boost: phone and mail orders could either be collected at the farm shops (by respecting the safety measures in place) or were sent through the post, which thus became a beneficiary of this extraordinary situation. COVID-19 showed that everything has negative and positive sides. In the long run it may well help to re-establish and reinforce the role of the regional scale, given that many people have become critical about global dependency.

Acknowledgements I thank the Mayor of Porrentruy, Mr. Gabriel Voirol, and the Secretary of Brig-Glis, Mr. Eduard Brogli, for their valuable input.

References Andrey G. (1983), Auf der Suche nach dem neuen Staat, in B. Mesmer (ed.), Geschichte der Schweiz und der Schweizer, vol. II, Basel, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, pp. 177–281 BFS (2014), Raum mit städtischem Charakter 2012. Erläuterungsbericht, Neuchâtel, Federal Statistical Office Brogli E. (2020), Mail by the Secretary of the commune Brig-Glis (09.06.2020) Capitani deF. (1983), Beharren und Umsturz (1648–1815), in B. Mesmer (ed.), Geschichte der Schweiz und der Schweizer, vol. II, Basel, Helbing & Lichtenhahn, pp. 97–175 Carlen L. (2013), Brig, Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/002662/2013-0717/ (accessed 14.05.2020) Etymonline (n.d.),Town, https://www.etymonline.com/word/town (accessed 09.07.2020) FSO (2014), Raum mit städtischem Charakter 2012. Erläuterungsbericht, Neuchâtel, Federal Statistical Office (in German and French only) FSO (2019), Pendlermobilität/Commuters (tables in German and French), Federal Statistical Office, https:// www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/mobilitaet-verkehr/personenverkehr/pendlermobilitaet.htm l (accessed 09.12.2020)

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Small Regional Centres FSO (2020), Statistical Data on Switzerland, Neuchâtel, Federal Statistical Office Kirk W. (1980), The Rural-Urban Continuum: Perception and Reality, in G. Enyedi & J. Mézaróz (Eds.), Development of Settlement Systems, Studies in Geography in Hungary 15, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, pp. 11–19. Kohler F. (2012), Porrentruy, Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/fr/articles/003003/201 2-03-30/ (accessed 27.04.2020) Leimgruber W. (1981), Political Boundaries as a Factor in Regional Integration, Examples from Basle and Ticino, Regio Basiliensis, XXII/2+3, pp. 192–201 Leimgruber W. (1989),The Perception of Boundaries: Barriers or Invitation to Interaction?, Regio Basiliensis, 30/2, pp. 49–59 Leimgruber W. (1991), Boundaries,Values and Identity:The Swiss-Italian Transborder Region, in D. Rumley & J.V. Minghi (Eds.), The Geography of Border Landscapes, London, Routledge, pp. 43–62 Leimgruber W. (1999), Stockalper, der Europäer, in: L. Carlen & G. Imboden (Eds.), Die Handels- und Rechnungsbücher Kaspar Jodok von Stockalpers vol. 6, Brig, Veröffentlichungen des Forschungsinstituts zur Geschichte des Alpenraumes Stockalperschloss, pp. 323–335 Leimgruber W. (2013), The Swiss Jura. Reflections on Marginality, Hrvatski Geografisk Glasnik (Croatian Geographical Bulletin), 75/1, pp. 5–22 Leimgruber W. (2018), Boundaries and Transborder Relations:The Case of Switzerland, in Havlíček T. et al. (Eds.), Borders in Central Europe After the Schengen Agreement, Cham, Switzerland, Springer, pp.103–123 Nel E. & Stevenson T. (2012), Small Town New Zealand: Reflections on Local Responses to Geographical Marginalization in a Mountainous Country, in Leimgruber W., Zsilincsar W. & Nel E. (Eds.), Mountain Regions in Transformation. Global Processes, Regional and Local Impacts and Responses,Aachen, Shaker, pp. 85–99 Pradhan P.K. (2004), Rural Urban Relations. With Particular Reference to Nepal, Kathmandu, Ministry of Local Development, UNDP Schöpfer Pfaffen M.-C. (2012), Kaspar Stockalper vom Thurm, Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz, https://hls-dhs -dss.ch/de/articles/021488/2012-05-29/, (accessed 14.05.2020) SSV (2020), Statistik der Schweizer Städte 2020, Bern, Schweizerischer Städteverband Voirol G. (2020), Interview with Mr. Gabriel Voirol Mayor of Porrentruy, June 30, 2020

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18 SMALL TOWNS IN RURAL SPACE The Case of Czechia Antonín Vaishar and Jana Zapletalová

Introduction From the point of view of urban geography, small towns are not an interesting topic. World and national capitals, less second-order cities (regional capitals), concentrate the vast majority of progressive and innovative activities – universities, research institutes, banks and financial institutions, the management of major companies in a globalized world. Large cities are also an attractive subject of research in terms of their population, their social differentiation, urban structures and other parameters. In contrast, small towns are considered backward, monotonous, uninteresting compared to large cities. Moreover, there is a tendency to view them as a homogenous category (Atkinson, 2019). However, the position of small towns will change significantly if we look at them in terms of rural geography. Small towns form the backbone of rural development.They provide rural municipalities in their surroundings with job opportunities in the secondary and tertiary sectors, a basic level of urban services, transport connections to regional and national networks.They are also the bearers of (micro-) regional identity in a globalized world.The rural settlement is directly dependent on its small towns. From this point of view, we see the diversity of small towns in terms of economy, functions, urban forms.The role of small towns in rural areas is differentiated according to the type of rural region in which they are located.The role of small towns in the suburbanized countryside, in the peripheral countryside or in the well-accessible fertile countryside is different. There are also some works that understand small towns in terms of regional geography. From this point of view, small towns represent a transition between urban and rural areas.They have basic urban amenities, but an almost rural way of life.Therefore, they can be a very pleasant place to live. The role of small towns must also be seen in a historical perspective. In the pre-productive period, they were mostly the centres of the estate, from where the surrounding countryside was administered. Due to the low mobility of the inhabitants, the centres of the estate formed a relatively closed micro-region with their countryside. Small towns were markets where peasants sold their surpluses. During the productive period, small towns concentrated industrial production and became centres of employment opportunities for the surrounding countryside. At the same time, they represented the connection of the countryside with the rest of the world. In the post-productive period, small towns become service centres while maintaining an industrial function.Their function differs according to the position of their micro-region in relation to regional centres. Demaziėre (2017) sees the development of small towns as a challenge for the regional development of the next period. Given the current challenges of globalization, migration and, more 254

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recently, the COVID-19 epidemic, this view can be accepted.This is because large cities are beginning to be overwhelmed by these problems, while small cities are also resistant due to lagging behind in accepting innovations (including unfavourable ones). The aim of this chapter is to summarize and discuss the place of Czech small towns in terms of rural development within the prost-productive transitions in recent developments, now and in terms of the near future.

Small Towns Within National Settlement Systems in the Period of the Transition to the Post-Productive Society As already mentioned, small towns can be seen as a part of urban issues, as a part of the rural space, or as separate entities, examined by methods of regional geography or regional sociology. Alternatively, some special problems that may have occurred in small towns more or less by chance are investigated. There is also a significant difference between small-town research in developed and in developing countries. The first approach usually investigates the role of small towns in the (national) settlement system where small towns usually play a subordinated role. Research usually focuses on the function of small towns as industrial places, tourist destinations or special service centres (e.g. Cigale et al., 2006). Experts probably agree that this role of small towns is under-researched (Steinführer et al., 2016).Within the European Union, the role of small towns in regional development was studied within the TOWNS project of the ESPON program (Servillo et al., 2014). Small towns play an important role, especially in the traditional Central European area (Burdack and Kriszan, 2013) and especially in Germany (Beetz et al., 2019) and Poland. Research dealing with individual small towns by methods of regional geography or regional sociology is more frequent, but not so systematic. In the forefront of attention are issues of shaping the urban structure of selected small towns, the specifics of their population in the historical cross-section (e.g. Janiszewska and Klima, 2019), changes in the production base, environmental development with emphasis on urban greenery (e.g.Vaznoniene and Vaznonis, 2020), the development of social and human capital of the urban community (Vaishar et al., 2001) or revitalization of historical centres (e.g. Zagroba, 2016). In this respect, small towns are a transitional type between urban and rural, as they offer a basic level of urban service as well as elements of a rural way of life. Recently, research has been increasing, focusing on small towns as centres or even engines of rural development (Vaishar and Zapletalová, 2009, Maretzke und Porsche, 2020) or urban poles in rural areas (Filipović et al., 2016). In this respect, small towns in peripheral rural regions in particular play an unmistakable role (Giffinger and Kramar, 2012), where the daily accessibility of regional centres is problematic. Often, one of the aspects of the small towns’ development is investigated, the demographic one being probably the most frequent (Vaishar et al., 2015, Stasac et al., 2016 and many others). In this sense, the development of small towns is, of course, also influenced by urbanization processes, the consequences of the second demographic transition and the development of migration trends. Jousseaume and Talandier (2016) show, following the example of France, how in the past small towns could benefit demographically from the prevailing migratory movements from rural to urban, while today they can take part in rural demographic regeneration. Bartosiewicz et al. (2019) came to the conclusion that the process of shrinkage known from big cities concerns a part of small towns in Poland only. Many works are focused on small towns as important points of tourism development using their own still little-appreciated historical heritage (Granata and Scavone, 2016, Kwiatek-Sołtys and Bajgier-Kowalska, 2019 and many others). However, small towns can play an important role as starting points for trips to the surrounding countryside or tourist service centres for the sur255

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rounding tourism. In addition to the economic benefits, focusing on tourism can increase general awareness of a city and become part of its identity (Csurgó and Megyesi, 2016). The development trends of small towns in developed countries reflect the general social development towards a post-productive society. In post-socialist countries, post-productive development is mixed with the post-socialist one (Novotný et al., 2016). However, 30 years after political and social change, it is more appropriate to focus on the post-productive interpretation. In this development, however, small towns remain important centres of productive functions. However, there is also a shift in employment to services there. Small towns are becoming retail centres in relation to facilities, where hypermarkets of international retail chains are located (Heffner and Twardzik, 2019). On the other hand, with the increasing mobility of the rural population, small towns may find themselves in the shadows of more distant but better equipped agglomerations, especially in intermediate locations, while some other small towns may benefit from the proximity of agglomerations within a certain division of functions (Malý, 2016). In contrast, Czapiewski et al. (2016) show that small towns in the Warsaw agglomeration are largely absorbed by the capital and concentrate services mostly for their own inhabitants, while more peripheral small towns also provide services for the surrounding rural communities. It should also be borne in mind that small towns are a relatively heavily structured category. In this respect, they reflect similar general aspects of differentiation as the countryside.They differ mainly in location relative to regional centres (suburbanized, peripheral and intermediate small towns). In addition, there are individual differences, depending on previous historical developments, past production base, but also on specific historical events, the influence of important personalities and the like. The resulting set of small towns thus shows a richly structured entity, differentiated according to regular dependencies, but also historical conditions. Every small town is unique and can only be carefully explained in terms of existing theories and concepts (Sallay et al., 2016).Vaishar et al. (2016) even believe that the differences between individual types of small towns may in some respects be more significant than the differences between urban and rural areas. Declining small towns represent a specific category. These are usually small towns that have developed on a mining base (e.g. Printsman, 2010 or Vaishar et al., 2012) or on traditional industry and have experienced structural economic problems after mining or the decline of a leading industry. Economic decline is usually followed by population loss (Wirth et al., 2016). However, Bole et al. (2020) show that the industrial character of small towns does not necessarily mean an unfavourable image. Fertner et al. (2015) give examples of Danish small towns that have taken a positive path through seemingly unfavourable geographical conditions. Positive developments are usually driven by endogenous forces, namely human and social capital, which is confirmed by Lazzeroni (2020) on the example of three Western European towns. Peters et al. (2018) speak about smart shrinking of small towns. In the last time, the concept of resilience is more frequently used in relation to the small town sector (Antoniucci and Marella, 2016). Some authors deal with the sustainability of small towns (e.g. Knox and Mayer, 2009) either in an environmental sense or as an important segment of the settlement system. Senetra and SzarekIwaniuk (2020) see a possible comparative advantage of small towns in the Cittaslow philosophy.

Methodology and the Origin of Czech Small Towns The definition of a small town is the starting point of the methodology. Basically, the population number is used. For purely statistical reasons, we will consider small categories of municipalities with 2– 20,000 inhabitants.At the same time, we are aware of the problems associated with defining cities solely on the basis of population. In reality, the upper limit of 15,000 inhabitants suits us more, because in the category between 15,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, there are a number of district towns that, in terms of their function, go beyond the idea of small towns. There are also problems in setting the lower limit. On the one hand, these are the numbers of inhabitants for 256

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administrative municipalities, which may consist of several settlements, while often the character of the city has only a core, while the other parts have a rural character.The second problem is the fact that a municipality of around 2,000 inhabitants can be considered a city in some regions, while in other regions it is functionally a large village without central functions. Statistical data make it possible to divide the size structure of small towns into categories of large small towns (10,000–20,000 inhabitants), medium-sized small towns (5,000–10,000 inhabitants) and very small towns (2,000– 5,000 inhabitants).This more detailed division allows us to get an idea of the internal differentiation of the whole set. In the Czech Republic, there is a legal status of the town, which should not be confused with the actual situation.There are a number of municipalities that have received the status of a town from Czech kings sometime in the distant past. However, in the course of historical development, their importance has diminished and today these settlements have neither the size nor function nor urban structure of towns and are not even perceived as such.The smallest ‘town’ in Moravia is Úsov (population 1,170).These cases are much more common in Bohemia, where the displacement of the German population after the Second World War, which was not sufficiently compensated by the new settlers, also contributed to the reduction in the population. The smallest municipality with the status of a town is Přebuz (population 73), the smallest ‘town’ is Rabštejn nad Střelou (population 25), which is part of the village Manětín.These municipalities were not considered as small towns in our chapter.The administrative status of the town has no significance in the Czech legal system. Some works operate with the term ‘small and medium-sized towns’ (Sýkora and Mulíček, 2017).The question, of course, is how we define the boundary between small and medium-sized cities. However, our experience shows that there are significant differences between small and medium-sized cities in Czech conditions. Medium-sized cities (in our view with 20,000–100,000 inhabitants) are mostly district or regional metropolises. Significant differences already result from their function.Today, medium-sized cities are a segment of the urban structure that loses its population the most. In addition, the environment of medium-sized cities has an urban character, while the environment of small towns is close to the countryside: For example, public transport systems are needed to move around the medium-sized town, while people can move through a small town more or less by walking or cycling. The chapter is based on two approaches. The first one goes out from statistical data collected mostly by the Czech Statistical Office within population censuses or other databases. Small towns are compared with other elements of the settlement system (big cities, medium-sized towns, rural settlements).We tried to answer the question of the current role of small towns in the Czech settlement system, especially with regard to demographic development and economic base. In addition to census data, we also used current data on population movements, which include the latest data from the 2015 to 2019 period and unemployment data from July 2020, which should characterize the economic role and resilience to crises, in our case represented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourist function is monitored on the basis of data on collective accommodation establishments from the years 2019 or 2018, respectively. The numbers of employees were taken from the materials of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and relate to 2018. In this part, individual data for each municipality between 2,000 and 20,000 inhabitants were used. We originally intended to correlate the findings with the distance to regional centres. However, this factor manifested itself only in the case of the most peripherally located small towns.The cause is distortion in the vicinity of Prague and other large cities. In these cases, movement through these cities represents a very substantial part of the total commuting time, so that many suburbanized small towns may have worse commuting times than small towns in the surroundings of mediumsize metropoles. The second approach is based on an analysis of secondary sources, literature, and our own research conducted over the past 20 years. Small towns have been partly the subject of targeted 257

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research within grant projects, and partly, of course, they become part of most regional geographical works, especially those that focus on rural issues. The historical origin of small Czech towns is different.A frequent category is the residences of former aristocratic estates, where the administrative function was transferred after the cessation of the role of castles.These towns were also centres of trade in agricultural surpluses of farmers from the surrounding villages. Due to the fact that the nobles were among the first entrepreneurs, many small Czech towns have a traditional industrial base, which has developed over the centuries. Some industries fell, others developed rapidly, at other times there was a change in production orientation.All this was reflected in today’s structure of small towns. Other small towns were born during the first (capitalist), less during the second (socialist) industrialization. Even these cities were not created on a green field, but developed within the historical settlement system.The decisive factors for their industrialization were often mining of minerals and railway connections. Several small towns were created on the basis of other functions – for example, spa or garrison towns. Finally, some municipalities have crossed the limit of 2,000 inhabitants within the suburbanization process. The impetus for further structural changes in the economic base of small towns was the social change after 1989 (Vaishar et al., 2002,Vaishar and Greer-Wootten, 2006). The economy of many small towns was affected by the collapse of large industrial companies and the closure of their branches, often located in small towns, the decline of heavy industry due to a shift from steel ideology and the demise of some traditional industries due to loss of markets in the former market of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and cheap competition, imports from East Asia, but also by failed privatization attempts. It has not been possible everywhere to fully replace large enterprises with a viable structure for small- and medium-sized enterprises in progressive sectors.

Analytical Findings The Comparison with Other-Sized Categories of Municipalities At the last census of population, houses and flats in 2011, a total of 3.1 million inhabitants (almost 30% of total Czech population) lived in municipalities with 2,000–20,000 inhabitants (Table 18.1). From the data presented it follows that small towns represent the strongest segment of the Czech settlement system.All four categories are quite balanced.When small towns are considered as parts of the rural space, 56.6% of the Czech population is rural. Moreover, the share of people living in municipalities smaller than 20,000 inhabitants has been increasing since the census of 1991. According to the 2001 population census, 26% of the population lived in villages whereas 29% lived in small towns.We can partially conclude that no general depopulation of the Czech countryside, neither of small towns, is observed. Regarding the internal differentiation of the group of small

Table 18.1 Population Numbers in Individual Segments of the Settlement Structure in 2011 Size category

Population

Of total population (%)

Born in the same place (%)

Foreigners (%)

0–1,999 2,000–19,999 20,000–99,999 100,000 and more

2,786,110 3,117,653 2,207,785 2,325,012

26.7 29.9 21.2 22.3

44.0 45.0 48.7 51.8

1.8 2.7 3.3 9.3

Source: Population census 2011. Czech Statistical Office Praha

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towns, 39.4% of the population of this group live in very small towns, 29.9% of the population in medium-sized small towns and 30.7% in large small towns. Somewhat surprising is the fact that the proportion of natives is increasing with increasing population.This could confirm the general finding that over the last quarter century, inner migratory flows have been directed from large and medium-sized towns to small towns and rural communities. In contrast, the share of foreigners is highest in large cities, where most international migration flows go. A general argument of European experts is the ageing of rural areas, including small towns. However,Table 18.2 shows the exact opposite situation.The proportion of children decreases with increasing size category. Rural municipalities are the only ones where the children’s component of the population predominates over the senior component.To these are added the smallest small towns, which have 15.3% children and 15.2% seniors. Small towns in general are closer to the characteristics of the countryside than to the characteristics of large and medium-sized cities. Probably the main handicap of the rural population compared to cities is the level of human capital in terms of formal education.This is confirmed by the data in Table 18.3. In this indicator, small towns are assigned more to the countryside. A very exceptional category is represented by large cities, which are the only ones with an absolute majority of the population with a high school diploma and university education. The educational structure of the population is also related to the affiliation of employed persons to individual economic sectors, which is shown in Table 18.4. Most employees in Czechia are concentrated in small towns.Although employment in services predominates in rural areas, rural areas and small towns represent the production base of the Czech economy – mostly in sectors with less innovation. However, even in rural municipalities, the productive population is employed in industry, while in agriculture there are ever-smaller shares of the economically active population. Therefore, rural municipalities and small towns are more affected by possible structural or crisis problems in industry, not in agriculture. Of the services, we will notice employment in catering and accommodation, which signals the importance of tourism.The level of employment in this sector is around 3% in all size categories; only in big cities does it reach 3.7%. Table 18.2 Age Structure of Population in 2011 (%) Size category

Population

Age 0–14

Age 15–64

Age 65+

0–1,999 2,000–19,999 20,000–99,999 100,000 and more

2,786,110 3,117,653 2,207,785 2,325,012

15.4 14.8 13.8 12.6

69.2 69.3 69.5 70.7

15.1 15.6 16.3 16.2

Source: Population census 2011. Czech Statistical Office Praha

Table 18.3 Educational Structure of Population in 2011 (%) Size category

Population 15+

Without education

Basic Apprentices

Graduation

University

0–1,999 2,000–19,999 20,000–99,999 100,000 and more

2,786,110 3,117,653 2,207,785 2,325,012

0.6 0.4 0.5 0.3

20.7 19.0 17.3 12.4

27.5 30.7 33.1 34.2

7.7 10.0 12.2 21.4

Source: Population census 2011. Czech Statistical Office Praha

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39.5 35.3 31.8 23.5

Antonín Vaishar and Jana Zapletalová Table 18.4 Employment of Economically Active Population in Individual Economic Sectors in 2011 (%) Size category

Economic active

Agriculture, forestry, fishery

Industry, construction

Services

0–1,999 2,000–19,999 20,000–99,999 100,000 and more

1,201,037 1,355,221 954,141 1,070,315

6.5 2.4 1.0 0.5

37.4 36.6 32.7 20.4

56.1 61.0 66.3 79.1

Source: Population census 2011. Czech Statistical Office Praha

Czechia has been known for its massive commute since the Second World War. It is small towns that are often the destination of work trips from the countryside.At the same time, small towns are also sources of commuting to other municipalities.The intensities of outflow currents differ only slightly according to the size categories of municipalities: 46.5% of economically active inhabitants leave rural municipalities, 45.1% small towns, 41.2% medium-sized towns and 44% of the economically active leave big cities.

Functions of Small Towns in the National Settlement System The first step will be to separate the residential and work functions of small towns. Materials from the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic1 were used for the analysis, which annually determines the percentage that will be transferred from the total revenue from income taxes and value-added tax to municipal budgets. A number of characteristics are taken into account, including the number of inhabitants and the number of employees in the municipality.The data refer to the year 2018. In 2% of small towns, the number of employees exceeds the population. It is usually either the location of a major company in a very small town or the location of an industrial zone, which, however, usually relates to a large city and the proximity of the highway.Among the extreme cases is Šenov near Nový Jičín, where the military repair plant is located. Small towns with industrial zones are represented by Žebrák or Modřice (Vaishar and Zapletalová, 2007).Another 6% of small towns have 75–99 employees per 100 inhabitants.These are important job centres. A total of 18% of small towns have 50–74 employees per 100 inhabitants. These cities often include larger small towns, including small district centres. In the case of large small towns, it is also necessary to take into account the fact that a number of job opportunities are necessary for the city’s own operation and service of its inhabitants. About two-thirds of small towns have between 15 and 49 employees per 100 inhabitants. This category is divided into two approximately equal parts (30–49 employees and 15–29 employees per 100 inhabitants). Statistically, therefore, these categories represent ‘normal’ small towns. However, this also means that normal small towns are no longer clear centres of employment for their hinterlands. Especially in easily accessible regions, the picture of a ride to work is much more complicated. Many small towns can concentrate significant job opportunities, but they can also be important sources of labour for other centres. The remaining 7% of small towns provide less than 15 jobs per 100 inhabitants.This fact usually calls into question their urban character.These cities include suburbanized settlements around Prague, exceptionally around other large cities, small towns in the Ostrava region, where past mining activities have led to the creation of a specific settlement structure, consisting of human settlements, mines and infrastructure, in which job opportunities were different from housing places. Other representatives of this category are small towns that have lost their job opportunities either through the disappearance of a larger employer without compensation or through a gradual process of transition to a post-productive economy, accompanied by a shrinking workforce in manu260

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facturing industries.This includes also large villages with more than 2,000 inhabitants, located in the Moravian valleys and in the Elbe lowland. It turns out that at least part of small towns’ function is more or less residential. It can be assumed that this may be one of the consequences of the transition to a post-productive society, as small towns used to focus mainly on job opportunities in manufacturing industries. However, there are undoubtedly a number of small towns whose economy remains based on major production companies. The transition to a post-productive society is often accompanied by, among other things, the development of tourism. Although in Czech conditions, tourism, especially international tourism, is concentrated in large cities, whereas in the countryside it is realized more in second homes, small cities can play an important role in this field as well.This role was analyzed on the basis of statistics on the number of overnight stays in collective accommodation establishments in 2019 (or 2018), which was taken from the Czech Statistical Office. A total of 23 small towns recorded more than 100,000 overnight stays per year.The most important of these are in Table 18.5. The vast majority of small towns with more than 100,000 overnight stays are spas.This raises the need to introduce a special category of small towns – spas. Spas in the Czech Republic are primarily healing spas, while the wellness function is usually secondary. Comprehensive and contributory spa care paid for by health insurance companies normally lasts three or four weeks.Therefore, the average number of overnight stays in spa towns is around seven nights, while in the case of other small towns it is around two nights per visitor. Spa towns tend to have a special atmosphere with an emphasis on the quality of the environment and cultural life. Some spas are also used by foreign clients, others are intended mainly for domestic patients. Among other small towns with a high number of overnight stays, places with significant historical and architectural monuments stand out: Český Krumlov, Mikulov, Hluboká, Lednice and resorts for summer or winter recreation (Doksy, Rokytnice nad Jizerou, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm,Velké Karlovice). In principle, most of the historic small towns in the Czech Republic have significant attractions for tourism. The problem is often in the infrastructure, especially in accommodation capacities. Small towns without adequate accommodation capacities are then only destinations for optional trips of visitors who are accommodated in other municipalities or outside the collective accommodation facility. The economic benefit of such stays is significantly lower. However, the future development of tourism can be seen in the future of many other small towns – especially

Table 18.5 Small Towns with Highest Numbers of Overnight Stays in 2019 (2018) Town

Overnight stays Of it, non-residents Town

Mariánské Lázně 1,400,957 Františkovy Lázně 960,266 597,621 Luhačovice 410,039 Třeboň Český Krumlov 381,374 Jáchymov 379,897 Jeseník 330,349 307,509 Poděbrady Doksy 301,877 Mikulov 200,126

Overnight stays Of it, non-residents

1,022,180

Rokytnice n. Jizerou 187,686

49,701

498,934 35,765 19,333 245,749 119,001 10,463 27,372 32,289 67.692

Lázně Bohdaneč Hluboká Rožnov

1,507 66,833 28,094 9,453 2,494 5,032 10,599 21,956 4,399

Lázně Bělohrad Bechyně Velké Losiny V. Karlovice Lednice Lipová-lázně

Source: Czech Statistical Office Praha

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184,156 155,378 153,848 150,904 148,559 135,848 130,325 128,285 127,015

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if the overall hygienic and safety situation in the world leads to greater development of domestic tourism. The overall economic situation of small towns can be assessed on the basis of the level of unemployment.The data were taken from the employment portal of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic and relate to July 2020, i.e. to the time when the consequences of hygienic measures against the coronavirus epidemic began to manifest themselves. The average unemployment rate in the Czech Republic in July 2020 was 3.8%.A total of 69.4% of small towns in the Czech Republic have lower unemployment. Nine per cent of small towns have an unemployment rate of less than 2%. These small towns are located around large cities, especially Prague, České Budějovice, Pilsen, Brno, Olomouc, on the Czech-Bavarian border (where cross-border commuting is possible), within reach of large Škoda and Hyundai car companies and in the districts of Pelhřimov and Zlín. This situation cannot be assessed entirely positively, as it signals an acute shortage of a work force, which may evoke some social problems. More than a third of small towns in the Czech Republic record unemployment of between 2% and 3%, which signals a situation where employment is not yet a problem (except, of course, possible structural disparities, for example in the qualification structure). Another quarter of small towns record an unemployment rate of between 3% and 3.8% – unemployment that is still below the national average. Over 30% of small Czech towns have above-average unemployment. In a third of them (exactly 10.8% of the total number of small towns), the unemployment rate exceeds 5%, when unemployment is becoming a serious problem.These small towns are situated mainly in the Czech part of Silesia, in the foothill and mountain areas on the Czech–Saxon border and in the Louny region. A slightly higher unemployment rate can also be recorded in southern Moravia in the districts of Hodonín and Znojmo. Individually increased unemployment can be observed in isolated small towns, extended to peripheral border positions. It turns out that the unemployment rate is strongly geographically conditioned. Employment in the Czech conditions of massive commuting is not a local, but is at least a micro-regional, problem and must be addressed in a regional context. The demographic sustainability of small towns was monitored on the basis of the migration balance for the five-year period 2015 to 2019.The data were taken from the related database of the Czech Statistical Office. Of the whole set of small towns, 50.1% recorded a migration increase in population in this period, 35.3% a decrease in migration and 14.5% had a stable population, which means that the average annual differences in balance of migratory movements were a maximum of 1‰. Of course, the most favourable migration balance is in the small towns of the Central Bohemian Region, which are located within reach of Prague. Of these cities, 66% recorded a migration increase. At the same time, there are 14 cities where the average annual growth has exceeded 2%. To a lesser extent, this situation was repeated in other regional capitals. This situation cannot be assessed exclusively positively. Extreme migration growth is usually the result of the activity of development companies, which offer a larger number of flats, houses or land at once. In these cases, there may be shortcomings that we are used to in prefabricated housing estates. (Housing construction is not followed by social infrastructure quickly enough.There are also shortcomings following the single-wave immigration – especially the one-sided age structure of immigrants.) These problems are reflected in the high dependence of small towns on their metropolises. In the Central Bohemian Region, the most common category is a small town with a migration increase of 1–2% per year. In addition to the Central Bohemian Region, Moravian regions also predominate in small towns with a positive migration balance. Surprisingly, the same number of migratory incremental and declining small towns are in northwestern Bohemia, which has the image of a devastated area

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with serious structural and economic problems and high unemployment. At the same time, however, there are naturally attractive areas and a number of spas in this region. High migration growths also occur in cities located in naturally attractive regions. An example can be small towns situated in Beskydy Mts. and their foothills in the Moravian-Silesian region, some towns in Giant Mts. and elsewhere.The current trend of people migrating more and more often for an attractive environment is confirmed. In many cases, they even look for cities different from their places of work.This is, after all, one of the principles of suburbanization and the developing home office. In the remaining regions of Bohemia, including the Vysočina region, small towns with a negative migration balance predominate. The least favourable situation is in southern and western Bohemia, despite the favourable situation around České Budějovice and Pilsen. It should be noted that the negative balance is usually quantitatively lower than the positive balance. Small towns with an average annual migration decrease of up to 5‰ predominate. Extreme cases where the migration decrease exceeds 2% per year are manifested only in four cases, three of which are located in northwestern Bohemia.A larger concentration of small towns with a negative migration balance is located in the western part of Opava Silesia (in the districts of Jeseník, Bruntál).

Discussion: Future Role of Small Towns in the Czech Rural Space The analysis showed how diverse the set of small towns in the Czech Republic is. Can any general tendencies be observed at all? The consequences of the transition to a post-industrial society seem to be the leading trend in fully respecting the diversity of small towns. Although there have been some recent trends in the possible return of some production activities, the overall trend is clearly unquestionable. From this point of view, the consumption of small towns will probably be of increasing importance, which will probably be expressed in terms of housing (including service to the population and environment), tourism and leisure time. For further discussion, we divide small towns into three categories in terms of distance to regional centres: suburbanized small towns, peripheral small towns and small towns of intermediate regions. For comparison: Stoica et al. (2020) differentiated Romanian cities into four categories using the Index of Urban Strength where the categories suburban and peripheral small towns are similar. Small towns in suburbanized areas around large cities need to be considered in relation to their metropolises (Korcelli and Korcelli-Olejniczak, 2017). In some cases they serve as dormitory settlements for their metropolises, in other cases a certain division of labour between a metropolis and a small town is applied within the framework of commercial suburbanization. From the point of view of the inhabitants, small towns in suburbanized zones are more advantageous than suburbanized villages, because small towns provide their inhabitants with basic urban services and they are not dependent on commuting to the metropolis so much. The question is whether the limit of 2,000 inhabitants is correct as the lower limit of a small town in suburbanized areas; it should probably be moved higher. Despite their potential poverty, small towns in peripheral regions will play an important role for their rural areas in the near future. In the Czech Republic, peripheral locations are usually connected with mountain locations, bordering the Bohemian Basin and Moravian valleys. In the conditions of more difficult accessibility of medium-sized cities, the role of small towns is irreplaceable for sustainability or rural development. In these conditions, sometimes cities and municipalities with less than 2,000 inhabitants, which are often surrounded by small and very small villages, also play an important central role. The point is that in easily accessible areas, the increasingly mobile rural residents reach mediumsized and large cities more easily, so that their connection to small towns in the immediate vicinity may weaken.These small towns will have to look for a future in specialization, that is, in offering

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some unique activities, consisting in the use of local potential or an exclusive idea. According to Pipan (2019), neo-industrialization is one of possibilities of the specialization, based on local industrial culture. It is generally assumed that large cities create a more innovative environment through greater diversity. However, Meili and Shearmur (2019) describe seven examples from Switzerland showing that diversity in rural areas can sometimes be greater than in cities. Some small towns are probably moving towards ruralization – i.e. they return to a rural system, which, however, does not have to be understood negatively, as rural areas become more and more attractive to many people.Wirth et al. (2016) offer a Life Beyond Growth concept for these small towns. Peters (2019) shows that the quality of life in some small towns has improved, despite their economic and population shrinkage. In this context, there is also talk of the Cittaslow movement, connected with the sustainability of small towns (Zawadska, 2017). Current migration trends, namely the cessation of one-way migration to large and mediumsized cities, also speak in favour of the future of small towns. In this context, there is talk of migration to the countryside; however, small towns that provide an almost rural environment and at the same time basic urban services can be very attractive. Unlike villages (where services often disappear), small towns can offer educational institutions for children and health and social services for the elderly. Unlike some other European countries (Morén-Alegret and Wladyka, 2019), Czech small towns are almost exclusively the target of internal migration. At present, a higher level of personal safety can be a positive motivating factor.The social milieu of small towns is characterized by a higher degree of social control, which may to some extent protect them from violent crime and terrorism.At the same time, they are characterized by a lower level of concentration of the population, which in turn protects them from the spread of infectious diseases of the COVID-19 type.

Conclusion The analysis showed that small towns form a very important segment of the Czech settlement system. Structure of the small towns’ set in terms of functions and demographic development is very differentiated. As a whole, small towns are on the fringes of researchers’ interest, but far from declining in importance. If we consider small towns to be part of the countryside, more than half of the Czech population now lives outside large and medium-sized towns, and this proportion is slowly but steadily increasing. If we consider small towns to be a transitional size category between urban and rural, then we find that they represent a very advantageous place to live, combining an almost rural way of life with basic urban services. It would be useful to change some common ideas about small towns in the transition to a post-productive society and in the context of globalization. Small towns tend to withstand these trends longer than large- and medium-sized cities.Therefore, they can be the bearers of (micro-) regional identity and at the same time they are the last segment of the settlement system with a more significant industrial function.As part of post-productive development, migration motivation is changing.Today, people are not just migrating for work, but increasingly for a better environment or a cheaper life. The importance of leisure time, recreation, cultural activities is growing. In this process, small towns can find their place, especially in terms of attractiveness for seniors or families with children. It can be assumed that it makes sense to pay attention to research in small towns in the future, especially with regard to the differentiation of their functions, taking into account the development of the economic and demographic situation. However, it is also clear that some differences in the development of small towns cannot be explained on the basis of statistical analysis or geographical location. The human factor, i.e. human and especially social capital, probably plays an important role in individual towns.This research assumes a different methodology, based more on case studies, which would allow penetration into the structure of individual small towns. 264

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Note 1 Decree of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic No. 219/2019 Coll., On the percentage share of individual municipalities in parts of the national gross revenue from value added tax and income taxes

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Antonín Vaishar and Jana Zapletalová Meili, R., Shearmur, R. (2019). Diverse diversities – open innovation in small towns and rural areas. Growth and Change 50(2), 492–514. doi:10.1111/grow.12291. Morén-Alegret, R.,Wladyka, D. (2019). International Immigration, Integration and Sustainability in Small Towns and Villages. London: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1057/978-1-137-58621-6. Novotný, L., Csachová, S., Kulla, M., Nestorová-Dická, J., Pregi, L. (2016). Development trajectories of small towns in East Slovakia. European Countryside 8(4), 373–394. doi:10.1515/euco-2016-0026. Peters, D.J. (2019). Community resilience in declining small towns: Impact of population loss on quality of life over 20 years. Rural Sociology 84(4), 635–668. doi:10.1111/ruso.12261. Peters, D.J., Hamideh, S., Elman Zarecor, K., Ghandour,M. (2018). Using entrepreneurial social infrastructure to understand smart shrinkage in small towns. Journal of Rural Studies 64, 39–49. doi:10.1016/j. jrurstud.2018.10.001. Pipan, T. (2019). Neo-industrialization models and industrial culture of small towns. GeoScape 12(1), 10–16. doi:10.2478/geosc-2018-0002. Printsman,A. (2010). Public and private shaping of Soviet mining city: Contested history? European Countryside 2(3), 132–150. doi:10.2478/v10091-010-0010-8. Sallay, A., Mikházi, Z., Máté, K., Dancsokné Fóris, E., Filepné Kovács, K.,Valánszki, I., Kollányi, L. (2016).The role of small towns in a potential ecoregion through the example of Fertö / Neusiedler See cultural landscape. European Countryside 8(3), 278–295. doi:10.1515/euco-2016-0020. Senetra, A., Szarek-Iwaniuk, P. (2020). Socio-economic development of small towns in the Polish Cittaslow Network – a case study. Cities 103,Art 102758. doi:10.1016/j.cities.2020.102758. Servillo, L.,Atkinson, R., Smith, I., Russo,A., Sýkora, L., Demaziėre, Ch., Hamdouch,A. (2014). TOWN. Small and Medium-Sized Towns in Their Functional Territorial Context [Final Report]. Luxembourg: ESPON. Stasac, M., Filimon, C., Petrea, R., Bulzan,A. (2016).The demographic behaviour of small towns in Romania in the pots-communist period analyzed through the dynamics of the population. Case study: The small towns in the Bihor county, Romania. Analele Universitãţii din Oradea, Seria Geographica 26(2), 210–222. Steinführer, A.,Vaishar, A., Zapletalová, J. (2016).The small town in rural areas as an underresearched type of settlement. Editors´ introduction to the special issue. European Countryside 8(4), 322–332. doi:10.1515/ euco-2016-0023. Stoica,V.I.,Tulla,A.F., Zamfir, D., Petrisor,A.I. (2020). Exploring the urban strength of small towns in Romania. Social Indicators Research 152(3), 843–875. doi:10.1007/s11205-020-02465-x. Sýkora, L., Mulíček, O. (2017). Territorial arrangement of small and medium-sized towns from a fuctional spatial perspective. Tijdschrift voor economische an Sociale Geografie 108(4), 438–455. doi:10.1111/tesg.12249 Vaishar, A., Greer-Wootten, B. (2006). Sustainable development in Moravia: An interpretation of the role of the small town sector in transitional socio-economic evolution. In Bochniarz, Z., Cohen, G.B., eds., The Environment and Sustainable Development in the New Central Europe (pp. 217–231). New York: Berghahn Books. Vaishar, A., Zapletalová, J. (2007). Suburbanization of small towns–case study Modřice near Brno. Analele Universitatis din Craiova. Seria Geografie 10, 112–126. Vaishar, A., Zapletalová, J. (2009). Small towns as centres of rural regions. European Countryside 1(2), 70–81. doi:10.2478/v10091-009-0006-4. Vaishar, A., Hlavinková, P., Hofírková, S., Hrádek, M., Kallabová, E., Kirchner, K., Klímová, A., Lacina, J., Ondráček, S., Quitt, E., Škrabalová, J., Trávníček, B., Zapletalová, J. (2001). Geography of Moravian small towns: Case study Bučovice. Moravian Geographical Reports 9(1), 43–62. Vaishar, A., Kallabová, E.,Trávníček, B. (2002). Der Strukturwandel der Kleinstädte in Mähren. 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19 URBAN GROWTH ENGINES OR RELATIONAL PROXIMITY? What Can We Learn From Enterprise Population and Business Demography Indicators in the Context of Rural and Small-Town Scotland? Andrew Copus

Introduction The specific research question which this chapter addresses is:To what extent are patterns of entrepreneurship, and the distribution of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) across Scotland, indicative of the influence of proximity to, or remoteness from, urban areas within Scotland? Consideration of this question is prompted by the increasing popularity of two alternative “narratives” of rural/regional development. On the one hand, city-region development concepts assume that large cities, which benefit from agglomeration economies, are the principal drivers of growth, and that rural economies are the beneficiaries of counter-urbanisation and “spread effects”. On the other hand, some recent literature has argued that wider, international or global connections are crucial facilitators for rural economic development, and that the role of geographical proximity is gradually being superseded by relational proximity, associated with various kinds of interaction not inhibited by geographic distance. These two rural/regional development narratives have been paralleled by discussions about business networks and linkages, which suggest that, in an increasingly globalised and interconnected world, an appropriate balance between “local buzz and global pipes” (Bathelt et al. 2004) is crucial to SME-based local development. The ideal balance may vary between accessible and remote regions (Dubois et al. 2011, Copus et al. 2011). The underlying importance of these conceptual debates derives from the wide-ranging implications which seem likely to follow any shift in the broad spatial distribution of economic activity; including, for example, impacts on the rural environment, and geographical patterns of energy demand. In order to reflect upon the validity of the alternative narratives, and to shed some light on the relative importance of different kinds of business linkage, in the Scottish context, we will review the evidence of the distribution, characteristics and “demography”, of businesses populations in accessible and remote rural Scotland. It would be helpful, of course, to have a consensus regarding what kind of evidence would be appropriate to support the two alternative views. Sadly, this is not the case. In this chapter we make

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the assumption that if cities are indeed the drivers of rural growth processes then urban areas would exhibit relatively more dynamic characteristics in terms of key business indicators. On the other hand, if rural areas are experiencing business growth which is driven by globalised relational proximity then these areas would be characterised by vitality in terms of the same indicators. In the choice of appropriate indicators, we are guided by the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework (NPF). In this way we acknowledge the considered perspectives and priorities of those who are perhaps best placed to judge “what success looks like”, but also take advantage of the availability of data. The structure of this chapter is as follows: The first section briefly reviews recent discussion, both academic and among policy practitioners, on the role of rural–urban linkages in rural and regional development processes.The second section describes the data sources which will be used in the subsequent analysis, and the various alternative definitions of “accessible” and “remote” rural Scotland which will be involved. The third section uses data from a variety of sources to “triangulate” an answer to the research question stated above.The final section reflects upon the policy implications of the findings.

City Regions and Embeddedness Versus Translocal Globalism – the Conceptual and Policy Context The empirical material presented in this chapter, and the interpretation of its implications, relate to several discourses and theoretical contexts, across the fields of economic geography, rural and regional development, and spatial planning. Key concepts include entrepreneurship, business demography, agglomeration and spread effects, “organised” (relational) proximity, embeddedness and business networks. In a regional development policy context, the arguments presented below relate to the increasing focus upon cities as the “engines of growth”, which relegates rural areas to the position of passive recipients of a variety of spread effects. More positive (from a rural perspective) are experimental interventions designed to counter “functional region failure” (Copus 2013, 2018), by strengthening rural–urban interaction or cooperation.This is a broad range of concepts from different literatures, and rather than provide an exhaustive account of the “state of the art”, the intention here is to focus upon defining terms, and convey key elements of the theoretical discourse in order to underline the potential significance of the empirical evidence presented later in this chapter.

Entrepreneurship For at least a couple of decades, entrepreneurship, or the “birth” and nurturing of new businesses, has been a central objective for regional development policies, especially in rural areas, where the economy is dominated by SMEs (Malecki 1993, McQuaid 2002, North and Smallbone 2006). A considerable literature, considering the conditions which make an area a fertile seedbed for new firms, and which nurture them as they grow, has accumulated. Business “demography” statistics, showing births, deaths and survival rates are now a widely accepted means of monitoring levels of entrepreneurial activity (Schrör 2009, ONS 2019).

Agglomeration, Spread Effects and Cities as the Engines of Growth One of the principal determinants of differences in rates of entrepreneurship is agglomerative advantage, or external economies of scale, which make large urban areas attractive locations, sharing a large and skilled pool of workers, providing many opportunities for interaction with other firms, and a substantial local market. In recent years the economic processes of agglomeration have been mathematically modelled by the New Economic Geography school.

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Although agglomeration favours entrepreneurship in urban areas there is a long history of ideas which argue that urban growth has positive “spread” effects on nearby rural areas (Fujita et al. 1999). It has often been argued that the balance between agglomeration and spread effects results in increasing disparities (Myrdal 1957, Hirschman 1958,Wight 1983), although spread effects have frequently been cited as a justification for policies designed to nurture cities. In the last century such “growth pole” policies were popular in both developed and developing world contexts (Copus 2013, 2018). However, spread effects turned out to be mostly rather disappointing, and during the final decade of the century research focused more upon a range of characteristics, especially knowledge, skills and innovation, which made regions or localities grow or perform better. In the first decade of the new century the role of urban areas and agglomeration came to the fore again, in the guise of “city regions” (Harrison 2007). In the context of both national and EU policy the idea that cities are the “engines” or “motors of growth” has become an almost unchallenged orthodoxy. Many examples could be cited from recent policy documents, but perhaps the following will serve as an illustration: Mendez et al. (2011, p. 68), discussing the EU Territorial Agenda 2020, states that “cities are seen as motors of smart, sustainable and inclusive development and attractive places to live, work, visit and invest in. … Urban–rural interdependence should be recognised through integrated governance and planning based on partnership.” In the light of the continuing sparsity of direct evidence of significant spread effects, and since “compensatory” or equalising interventions are rejected in favour of developing territorial potential, European regional policy has addressed rural business development indirectly, through reconfiguring governance, and by strengthening community capacity (Copus 2013, 2018).

Organised Proximity and Translocal Globalisation City-region concepts were first articulated in the context of globalisation of the economy.Another “strand” of the debate about globalisation has developed from the idea of “the death of distance” (Cairncross 1997) and argues that as the cost of overcoming distance is reduced by technological changes in transport and communications, physical/geographical proximity is losing its role in the spatial organisation of economic activity (Bathelt and Glückler 2011).According to this view, other forms of “proximity” (social, administrative, knowledge-based, cultural, institutional), collectively known as “organised proximity”, are becoming more important (Torre and Rallet 2005, Boschma 2005). Patterns of economic activity are progressively freed to shift towards new configurations in which the key relationships are no longer determined by agglomeration, but instead connect enterprises and other actors in “relational space”. Globalisation results in a disruption of settlement hierarchies, and rural–urban interaction patterns are partly supplanted by “translocal” linkages (Hedberg and Carmo 2012), driven by organised proximity. It seems likely that such views will gain credence in a post–COVID-19 context, due to the rapid change in the spatial organisation of non-manual work.

Business Linkages: Embeddedness Versus “the Strength of Weak Ties” The city-region narrative and the translocal globalisation are competing interpretations of current regional development trends. This is not to imply that one is “true” and the other is “false”. The reality is likely to be a complex combination of both. One way in which to better understand what is going on in a specific geographical context is to study patterns of business linkages. Significantly, the business linkage literature has in recent years featured a debate over the relative importance of local embeddedness, composed of a dense mesh of frequent local interactions, versus less frequent and extenuated links with actors outside the local area, termed “weak ties” by

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Granovetter (1985). It is usually argued that embeddedness is important for day-to-day support, whilst global linkages provide strategic market intelligence and knowledge to fuel innovation. More recently, Bathelt et al. (2004) have coined the term “local buzz and global pipes” to convey this concept. A broad consensus has emerged that both kinds of linkages are important (Bosworth 2008, Kalantaridis 2006, Kalantarides and Bika 2006, De Noronha Vaz 2006), but the balance between them varies considerably according to the kind of activity, characteristics of the locality and so on. How does the business linkages discussion relate to the discourses on agglomeration and translocal linkages? Although there is no direct read-across between these theories, embeddedness is surely dependent upon geographic proximity, whilst “global-pipes” would seem to be analogous to translocal linkages. The objective of this chapter is to better understand which of these narratives best describes the distribution of SMEs in the context of twenty-first-century rural Scotland, by considering the implications of available secondary data about the changing distribution of SMEs.This will entail a focus upon three principle “axes” of differentiation; (i) between urban and “non-urban” areas (including small towns and villages), (ii) between towns and villages and the surrounding countryside and (ii) between accessible (rural and small-town) areas and remote areas.

Data Sources The key data sources for this chapter are derived from the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework (Box 1).This sets out a series of goals and objectives which steer policy, and, through associated indicators, assess progress towards overarching goals. In the context of the issues explored by this chapter, we have selected four indicators in particular: (a) (b) (c) (d)

Business stock rates Share of high-growth enterprises Share of growth industries Business demography

For each of the key indicators the Scottish Government provides subnational data, either for urban and rural areas,or for Council Areas (municipalities).In the case of both (a) and (d) the National Performance Indicator is expressed in terms of a ratio to the adult population. Due to the disproportionate impact of ageing in rural areas, it is more helpful to use working-age population (WAP), as the denominator. Underlying the four key indicators in the IDBR is a database of private and third sector businesses, derived from administrative sources. The business population included in this database is defined by two criteria; payment of value-added tax (VAT), and participation in the Pay-As-YouEarn (PAYE) income tax system. In specific terms this means that a “registered business” must either have an annual turnover exceeding £85,000 (2019 threshold), or have at least one paid employee. Although such registered businesses account for just 51% of Scotland’s private sector, businesses with at least one employee account for 95% of private sector turnover (Scottish Government 2019, p. 7). Nevertheless, it is important to keep in mind the fact that sole traders and other non-registered businesses are more common in rural and small-town contexts than in the cities.

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Box 1: Scotland’s National Performance Framework The Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework is structured around eleven “Outcomes”, relating to (in alphabetical order): • • • • • • • • • • •

Children and young people Communities Culture Economy Education Environment Fair work and business Health Human rights International Poverty

The “Fair work and business” outcome is associated with the following vision statement: We successfully attract and retain new talent and fully support business and social enterprise. Our achievements are underpinned by a strong culture of research, innovation and development. We take seriously the wellbeing and skills of our workforce and provide good quality, fair work, training and employment support for all. Employers actively fulfil their corporate responsibilities. The first of the indicators used to track progress in relation to this vision is the business stock rate (per 10,000 adults), the second is the percentage of businesses which are high-growth enterprises as a share of all registered enterprises. The first of these is available for the six-fold urban–rural classification of data-zones, the second for Council Areas. The vision statement for the “Economy” outcome is as follows: We have a strong, dynamic and productive economy which creates wealth and employment across Scotland. Our economy is competitive, and we have good international trade, investment and export networks.We are considered an attractive place to do business. Our economy is inclusive and focused on improving the lives of all our people. We ensure the benefits of economic growth, wealth and opportunities are fairly shared. Access to labour markets and jobs is evenly shared between us. Our sustainable economic growth is not achieved at the expense of our social interests or those of the environment. As such, our economy is ecologically accountable as well as socially responsible.We regard the green economy and our rich ecological capital as a valuable development opportunity and actively progress advancements in these areas. One of the indicators for this outcome is “Entrepreneurial activity”. National monitoring is carried out using a survey-based indicator, “Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) rate”, which is defined as “the proportion of the adult working age population that is actively trying to start a business, or that own/manage a business which is less than 3.5 years old.” The sampling frame of this survey cannot support disaggregation below the national level. However, the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) provides data on business births, deaths and survival rates at a Council Area level.

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Urban–Rural and Accessible–Remote Classifcations It is important to be clear that the National Performance Framework (NPF) is, as its name implies, designed to monitor progress and policy impacts for Scotland as a whole. Furthermore, some national indicators do not make sense as a means to assess progress for different parts of the country. Others are simply not available at this level. Nevertheless, we believe that the NPF objectives and indicators are a good starting point for an assessment of entrepreneurial performance in rural and urban parts of the country. For each of the key performance indicators described above, the Scottish Government provides data showing variation across the country. In the case of business stocks, data is provided according to the official urban–rural typology.1 This distinguishes, at a fine-grained (output area) level between the following types of area: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Large urban areas (>125,000 people) Other urban areas (10,000–125,000 people) Accessible small towns (3,000–10,000 people, 10,000) Remote small towns (3,000–10,000 people, >30-minute drive from a settlement of >10,000) Accessible rural (10,000)

It should be noted that this classification, widely used by the Scottish Government, is a hybrid between land use and functional approaches.The boundaries of the two urban categories and the small towns are derived by combining maps of built-up areas (settlements) with population-size criteria. However, the remote/accessible distinction reflects underlying assumptions about daily mobility patterns and service provision.This is a pragmatic solution which is helpful in many analytical and policy contexts, but which also has limitations which need to be kept in mind. One of these is that the small towns are so tightly bounded as to be, in many cases, invisible on the maps provided by the Scottish Government. Furthermore, although these small towns probably play a key role in patterns of economic activity in the surrounding countryside, they are not taken into account in the definition of accessible and remote rural areas.Thus, for example, centres of considerable functional importance in the Highlands and Islands, such as the Islands capitals, fall into the “remote small towns” category, and their (relatively dynamic) immediate hinterlands are classified as “remote rural”.These, and other characteristics of the classification will be acknowledged in the analysis of indicators which follows. The Growth Industry, High-Growth Enterprises and Business Demography data are available only at the Council Area (municipality) level.This may be summarised using a rural–urban classification devised by researchers working for the Scottish Government (Scottish Government 2018).2 This distinguishes four groups of Council Areas: (a) (b) (c) (d)

Islands and remote Mainly rural Urban with substantial rural Larger cities

Clearly, in this case, both the indicator data and the classification are more “broad brush” than the six-fold classification of data-zones described above. All Council Areas (even the first category) contain towns, if not cities. Nevertheless, where data is not available for smaller geographic units, this classification of Council Areas is favoured by the Scottish Government as an analytical frame which sheds light upon differences between the more rural and urban areas of the country.

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Comparing Levels of Entrepreneurship in Urban and Rural Scotland The four selected indicators, (business stock rates, share of high-growth enterprises and sectors, and business demography) will now be explored, to see what light they can shed on the relative vitality of urban and rural businesses and entrepreneurship.

Business Stock Rates Using IDBR data provided in the Scottish Government’s Business in Scotland publication, together with Small Area Population Estimates (SAPE) data provided by National Records for Scotland, it is possible to calculate average Business Stock Rates for each of the six urban–rural categories for the six-year period ending in 2020 (Table 19.1). Before discussing what these data show, it is important to mention some words of caution about interpretation: •

• • • •

The number of businesses recorded in the Scotland total include some which have several “business sites” in different parts of Scotland.These individual sites are counted separately in the different urban–rural categories – which therefore do not sum to the Scotland total.This explains the fact that average stock rates for Scotland as a whole are lower than one would expect, given the rates for the constituent urban and rural categories. Small businesses, below the turnover threshold may “voluntarily” register for VAT in order to reclaim VAT charged on input purchases. It is thought that many farmers fall into this category, and it may be that this has an inflationary effect upon rural business stock rates. Classification of businesses according to size (micro, small, medium or large) is determined by total UK-wide employment of the business (not the individual site). Residential population data are used as denominators. Commuting patterns are likely to boost the business stock rates in cities and towns, where arguably the business stock denominator should also include the population within adjacent suburban or rural “workforce catchments”. In a slight departure from the Scottish Government’s convention we have used the workingage population as the denominator for the stock rates, because we feel this is more appropriate when considering rural areas characterised by demographic ageing.

Table 19.1 Business Stock Rate in Urban and Rural Scotland 2015–2020 Registered Businesses per 10,000 Working Age Residents Average 2015–2020

Large Urban Other Urban Accessible Small Towns Remote Small Towns Accessible Rural Remote Rural Scotland

Micro

Small

Medium

SME

Large

All

All Excl. AFF

330 286 359 428 634 855 381

106 97 93 171 124 167 105

16 13 13 21 14 15 11

452 396 465 620 772 1,037 497

14 11 14 21 14 13 7

466 407 479 641 786 1,051 504

463 397 456 587 581 687 454

Sources: Derived from Scottish Government, Business in Scotland 2020 (Tables 9, 10), and National Register of Scotland Small Area Population Estimates (SAPE) 2015–2019 Table 1a Notes: 1. Size categories defined in terms of employees as follows: Micro