Strategic Directions: Evaluation of Village Development Strategies in the Case of Applicants for the Hungarian Village Renewal Award

Szabolcs Bérczi, Zita Szabó and Ágnes Sallay
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Szabolcs Bérczi: Doctoral School of Landscape Architecture and Landscape Ecology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Zita Szabó: Doctoral School of Landscape Architecture and Landscape Ecology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary
Ágnes Sallay: Doctoral School of Landscape Architecture and Landscape Ecology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Village roles have changed significantly in Central Europe over the last century and a half. In our article, we mainly deal with the conditions in Hungary. Based on the relevant literature, we follow the changing role, problems and presence of Hungarian villages. Our research focuses on evaluating village development strategies; thus, an essential part of the article is the presentation of the European and Hungarian village renewal movement, as the 50 settlements examined are also part of the settlements launched at the Hungarian Village Renewal Award competition. In this research, the 50 settlements were divided into three groups according to their role in the settlement network. The settlement group analysed their development priorities by summarizing the Hungarian Village Renewal Award applications. As a result, it was found that the development directions of the villages belonging to the individual settlement groups can be well separated from each other. The choice of the settlement development strategy is greatly influenced by the distance from the central settlements and the settlement network situation. We compared our results with the analysis of the strategies of some foreign villages (located in the former socialist bloc) and then examined the Hungarian village surveys of the last century and a half, focusing on land use changes and their role in development. As a result of the analysis, it became clear that the importance of land use in the life of villages in the initial period decreased spectacularly over time and was replaced by employment and the role of the settlement network. The main result of our research is that we have proven that the strategic priorities of village development can be grouped based on the position of the villages in the settlement network, and the priorities are mainly determined by the size of the central settlement and the distance from it.

Keywords: village; strategy; development priorities; land use (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:11:y:2022:i:5:p:681-:d:807974

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