Expert insight into the spatial aspects and challenges facing metropolitan regions in Central Europe – Case study Bratislava region

Abstract

Territorial development of metropolitan regions is broadly problematized in several international documents, strategies and policies. Following from their analysis there is a pending requirement of safeguarding sustainable development as the basis of any urban and metropolitan development concepts. Although there are several concepts addressing particular aspects of sustainable urban development in the world, all of them are basically framed by a square defined by four core concepts. Two of them are more structural, focused on spatial patterns and two processual addressing the life processes of socio-ecosystems of cities. These four concepts - Compact City, Polycentric City, Smart City and Eco/Green City, are mentioned in the New Leipzig Charter – The transformative power of cities for the common good published by the European Commission in 2020. Currently, there is no consensus on defining the criteria for identification of metropolitan regions and their territories that would reflect the diversity and specifics in metropolitan regions across the EU Member States. The OECD favours the definition of a metropolitan region not as an administrative unit but as a nodal territory. In addition, the definition of metropolitan regions clashes with the fuzzy nature of their borders, which change over time and in relation to the aspects of their identification. Paper handles the issue of metropolitan regions in Central Europe with the focus on Bratislava metropolitan region. The paper is based on research project Territorial Prognosis Bratislava 2050 developed by Spectra Centre of Excellence with the aim to identify and describe crucial trends and challenges for the development of the Bratislava region based on global megatrends and local specifics and processes and to identify principles for future sustainable development of the region until 2050. Within the broader relations, it is necessary to take into account the development in the functional urban area of the Bratislava-Vienna agglomeration, the so-called core territory of Central European metropolitan region, which also extends to the neighbouring self-governing regions (Nitra and Trnava), the federal states of Burgendland, Niederoesterreich and Vienna and the county of Gyor-Moson-Sopron in Hungary. The outcome of the case study defines trends and their projection for the future territorial development of the Bratislava region based on thematic analysis of economy, social ecology, socio-cultural and environmental, transport, housing, services, social infrastructure, technical infrastructure and energy.