Hungarian Towns Research Articles

A városi térségek a közigazgatási struktúra és a „governance” keresztmetszetében

A városi térségek a fejlődés, a gazdasági növekedés fontos helyeiként ismét az Európai Unió és a nemzetállamok érdeklődésének homlokterébe kerültek. A globalizáció, a jóléti állam meggyengülése, a versenyképességi kihívások a városi vonzáskörzetek, agglomerációk és városhálózatok egységes térként való kezelése érdekében a kooperációhoz új intézményesülési formákat, új szereplőket és módszereket rendelnek. A városi térségek regionális dimenzióba kerültek, közös tervezési-fejlesztési tevékenység kereteivé váltak. S tapasztalható, nem szükségszerű megoldása a problémának a mélyreható intézményi változás vagy a fennálló közigazgatási szerkezet szétfeszítése, de sikeres kormányzás valósítható meg az urbánus terekben a „governance" alkalmazásával és hálózati struktúrák megteremtésével is.

A civil kezdeményezések hatása a városi kormányzásra

Az integráció, a kooperáció, az együttműködés fogalmaival leírható jövő és az ezekhez nélkülözhetetlen részvétel szükséges feltétele a helyi társadalom kibontakozásának. A helyi közösség, a lakópolgárok társulásai nem „belső ellenőrei", hanem egyenrangú partnerei a helyi hatalomnak. Sokkal hitelesebb, ha az együtt-tanulás eredményeképpen civilek maradnak, tehát ügyelnek arra, hogy autentikusak legyenek.

In Memoriam Tibor Jávor, MD, ScD, Professor of Medicine

In the 81 year of his life, Professor Tibor Javor deceased in Budapest on the 5 of April 2007. Tibor Javor was a physician, a university professor, and the director of the 1 Department of Medicine at the Medical University of Pecs, Hungary for 25 years (from 1968 to 1993). He was born in Debrecen (Hungary) on the 10 of April 1926. He passed the school-leaving examination there in 1944. In September 1945 he enrolled in the Medical Faculty of the University of Sciences in Debrecen, and he completed his studies with honours ‘summa cum laude’ in 1951. During his student years he was one of the founders of the People’s College of Debrecen that bore the name of Bela Bartok. From his third year at the university he worked under the direction of Professor Lorand Kesztyus, first at the Institute of Physiology, then at the Institute of Pathophysiology of the university. Between 1951 and 1954 he gained postgraduate scholarship at the 1 Department of Medicine at the Medical University of Szeged, Hungary under Professor Geza Hetenyi. He worked as an assistant professor at the 1 Department of Medicine in Szeged between 1956 and 1958, as a lecturer at the 2 Department of Medicine at the Medical University of Debrecen between 1958 and 1962, and then as a senior lecturer at the same university department between 1962 and 1968. In 1968, by open competition, he became director of the 1 Department of Medicine at the Medical University of Pecs, where he occupied this post until the 30 of June 1993. He passed specialist examination of internal medicine in 1958 (108/58 III.29), later he obtained specialist’s titles of gastroenterology (J-512/79) as well as of clinical pharmacology (J-511/79). In each speciality, he became a member of the board of examiners. He gained the title of candidate of medical sciences on the 11 of July 1957 (number of the document: 1371) and doctor of medical sciences on the 15 of May 1968 (number of the document: 801). In 1949 he married Kornelia Terner, MD. Their son Istvan Javor was born in 1954. Professor Javor’s work has been linked to three Hungarian major university towns (Debrecen, Szeged, and Pecs). In his professional activity he was first pathophysiologist, then

Evaluation of the Communication of the Heat-Health-Watch-Warning System in Hungary

P-508 Introduction: Within the PHEWE project Hungary set up a 3 level heat health watch warning system (HWWS) in 2004 based on the analysis of the Budapest mortality and meteorology database 1970–2000. Parallel the Institute triggered a communication campaign on health impact and adaptation methods. Several communication tools were used for raising the awareness of heat-wave, like distribution of leaflets in GP rooms, pharmacies. As for mass media, a 20-second video clip advertisement was broadcasted on the National Geographic Channel in August 2005, and leading health experts gave interviews about heat-related illness. Social activities like bottles of mineral water were distributed for the drivers stuck in traffic jams. To see the pitfalls of communication, a nationwide market research was launched in November, 2005. Material and method: We made a telephone-survey in the five biggest towns in Hungary. Sample size: 2500 over 18 years having a dwelling with telephone. The questionnaire contained 10 questions aimed to assess the knowledge and awareness of the people about heat, adaptation methods and heat-alert system. Results: Evaluation was divided into four parts. 1) Awareness of heat: Generally people could mention one harmful impact but people aging 30-59y could say more than two impacts. Most of them mentioned hypertension (27%), heatstroke 11%) skin problems (31%), cardiovascular diseases in 22%. Half of the interviewees considered support for elderly of high importance. 2) Preventions: 4/5 of the people took preventive steps but only 1/5 of them could tell exactly how: drinking liquid (20%), sit in shade (17%), in a room with air-conditioning (16%). 3) Communication plan: 25% of the interviewees, mostly between 45–59 years, saw any advertisement. Most of them in the television (78%), daily newspapers (57%), street boards (41%). 4) HHWWS: Large number of interviewees (59%) heard about the announcement of “heat-alarm” and found the guidance informative (42%) and suitable (39%). 2/5 of them would like to know more about heat-wave by the following communication tools: television (92%), radio (76%), regional newspaper (67%). Conclusion: Although the campaign lasted during summer, people are not satisfactory aware of the impact and adaptation methods. Based on the results and within the National Climate Strategy our aim is to launch a Climate-health Prevention Strategy and a “Buddy” Network to prevent health impacts and spread adaptation methods by involving the population in 2006. The PHEWE project is supported by the European Commission, DG Research within the 5th Framework programme, contract N° QLK4-CT-2001-00152.

Bács: A Balkan-Turkish town in Hungary

Bács, an Ottoman nahiye centre defended by a small garrison, was situated in the southernmost region of Hungary, the place of massive Serbian immigration. The town was left by its original Hungarian residents; its Muslim population, living in the two discrits of the fortress and the four civil mahalles, is known from the years around 1570 and 1578. About one quarter of the inhabitants were peasants, one sixth of them were men of religion, mainly cami personnel and sufis. 58 persons in 12 crefts around 1570, and 110 individuals in 33 crafts in 1578 testify to the relative importance of industrial activities. 25 tradesmen were engaged in transporting grain to Buda from the south. The town was preferred to Szeged by many sipahis of the same sancak as their abode. Unlike several Hungarian urban settlements and Ottoman centres in the northern parts of the country, Bács resembled a typical Ottoman kasaba.

Magyar Judah: Constructing a new Canaan in Eastern Europe

During the first half of the sixteenth century, Hungarian society underwent two dramatic changes. Firstly, Suleiman the Magnificent’s Ottoman armies advanced into the northern Balkans, causing the collapse of the Hungarian kingdom after the battle at Mohács in August 1526. Hungary subsequently became divided into three parts, with the Ottomans controlling the central and southern counties, the Habsburgs governing Royal Hungary from the Croatian coast to the mountains of Upper Hungary, and a series of native nobles elected to rule over the Transylvanian principality, which included the counties of the eastern Hungarian plain. Secondly, the spread of Protestant ideas about religious reform brought confessional division to Hungary. The initial reform was to a large degree driven by a desire to purify the Catholic Church, whose spiritual credentials were badly discredited by the Ottoman invasion. By 1570 German- and Hungarian-speaking towns and most Hungarian magnates and nobles had abandoned the Catholic Church. German-speakers and nobles in western Hungarian counties on the whole adopted Lutheranism. Calvinism meanwhile came to dominate religious life in the eastern counties, and also received broad support within Transylvania, although some Hungarian towns and Szeklers in Transylvania instead embraced anti-Trinitarianism. Confessional loyalty across Hungary was decided by a variety of factors including patterns of communication and trading networks, the pre-Reformation structures of ecclesiastical organization, and feudal, regional, and family ties. Linguistic barriers were also crucial in determining adherence to a particular religion, with Lutheranism widely supported by German-speakers whilst Calvinism was almost exclusively the preserve of Magyar-speakers. It seems clear that some sense of linguistic or ethnic community assisted both Protestant Churches to reinforce attachment to their confessions.

Characteristics and Origins of the Comecon Open‐air Market in Hungary

This paper looks at the evolution of the open‐air marketplace in Hungary in terms of the theory of path‐dependent development. The current post‐communist open‐air market has its origins in the economic peculiarities of the former communist distribution and production system and still bears many of these characteristics. The paper traces the distinctive ways in which this shaped open‐air trading in Hungary. Drawing upon historical and anthropological evidence, the paper also shows how open‐air markets had their roots in an even earlier pre‐communist period which shaped the path of development which they subsequently took. The second half of the paper draws upon a unique empirical study of four markets in four towns in Hungary in the post‐communist period to look in more detail at what are the characteristics of these open‐air markets. The paper considers to what extent open‐air markets have characteristics which can be found anywhere in the world and to what extent they are specific to the post‐communist situation.Cet article explore le développement des marchés en plein air en Hongrie à partir de la théorie du sentier de dépendance. Le marché en plein air post‐communiste actuel a ses origines dans les particularités économiques de l’ancien système communiste de distribution et de production et en garde de nombreuses caractéristiques. Cet article retrace comment ceci a modelé de façon distinctive le commerce en plein air en Hongrie. Utilisant des données historiques et anthropologiques, cet article montre aussi que les marchés en plein air avaient leurs origines dans une période pré‐communiste antérieure qui a façonné la voie de développement qu’ils ont prise postérieurement. La seconde partie de l’article utilise une étude empirique unique sur quatre marchés dans quatre villes de Hongrie durant la période post‐communiste afin d’explorer en détail les caractéristiques de ces marchés en plein air. Cet article demande jusqu’à quel point les marchés en plein air ont les caractéristiques que l’on peut trouver partout dans le monde et jusqu’à quel point elles sont spécifiques de la situation post‐communiste.

Mérni a mérhetetlent? A megyei jogú városok vizsgálata többdimenziós skálázással

In my study I adopt the methodology of multidimensional scaling for analysing the disparity between Hungarian towns. I analyse all the 22 towns of county rank, have more than 50 thousand inhabitants (except of Budapest). The difference between development levels of towns is analysed by 50 indicators based on data of 1996. We lay emphasis on development of towns to one another with 30 indicators composed of data resulted censuses of 1980 and 1990. There are three types of indicators: data of population and employment, data of infrastructure owned by inhabitants, indicators related to economic basis. We use ALSCAL routine of SPSS 8.0 program package, and it was nin in the Department of Regional and Applied Economics in JATE (Szeged).

Estimate of the annual per capita surplus dose due to the elevated indoor exposure to 222Rn progeny caused by the use of slag and spoil of uranium rich coal for building purposes in Ajka Town, Hungary.

Ajka is a mining and industrial town in Hungary. Brown coal rich in uranium (300 to 900 Bq kg(-1)) has been mined by the town since 1865. Slag and spoil of the coal were frequently used in the town for building purposes before 1960. Screening measurements of 222Rn progeny in indoor air were performed in 86 Ajka buildings. Elevated 222Rn progeny levels were found in houses that used the above by-products as building materials or foundations. Annual per capita surplus effective doses due to the exposure to elevated 222Rn progeny levels were estimated from the results of the screening measurements. The possibility of estimating the mean of the annual averages of 222Rn or 222Rn progeny concentration for a group of houses from the results of screening measurements is discussed in detail. The estimated annual surplus dose is 0.64 mSv for the population of the whole town and 1.86 mSv for the 7,000 occupants of family houses built before 1960.

Henry George and Europe

Abstract. The kingdom of Hungary still faced an unsolved land question as the 20th century dawned. More than half the land belonged to latifundia, large estates, archaically mismanaged with sweated labor. Unrest among the 6 million rural poor, a third of the population, brought forth embryonic land reform aspirations. The founder of the first farmers’party, Andras Achim, sought their expropriation and parcelling out. Publication of Henry George's writings in Hungarian by the sociologist Robert Braun and especially the activities of the physician and statistician Julius J. Pikler made the Georgist proposals known. In 1917 and 1918, Dr. Pikler's ingenious lobbying succeeded in winning over the city councils of Budapest and eight other Hungarian towns. The leaders of the 1918 republican revolution included land value taxation in their program. But the turmoil of 1919, Horthy's counter‐revolution and torrential currency inflation destroyed the Georgist advance.

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS IN THE PLANNING OF LOCATION OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

In planning the territorial allocation of economic activity one of the most important factors to be taken into consideration is the availability of manpower in the various region. However, during the early phases of central planning, this factor was somewhat neglected by planners. Two causes of this neglect may be mentioned. First, it was assumed that manpower supply would exactly follow the demand for manpower, partly by migration, and partly by an optimal development of the birth rate. Second, it was also assumed that demographic development was governed by deterministic laws which made it possible to forecast birth rates, the extent of migration, etc., without great difficulty. The demographic and economic history of Hungary, however, did not conform to these simplifying assumptions. Demographic processes, such as natural increase and migration, proved to be influenced by a great number of factors, not solely economic ones, but also factors of a sociological and psychological nature. This will be illustrated by research findings undertaken by the Demographic Research Institute of the Central Statistical Office. 2. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY The birth rate in Hungary fell in the years 1962-1965 to the lowest level in the World (around 13 per thousand population). It should be mentioned, however, that since 1966 some improvement can be observed. Studies were performed by the Demographic Research Institute on the causes for the decline and low level of the birth rate, and particularly the decline of fertility. One of these studies used the method of correlation and regression analysis based on fertility data in the various regions of the country. This method has been employed on a world scale by Weintraub [8] and Adelman [1], and by Vielrose [7] who studied the causes of fertility differences in Poland. Such a territorial cross-section method seems to be better suited to the analysis of time-series data than correlation and regression analysis in view of the methodological problems associated with the latter, e.g. the problem of lags, the lack of data for sufficiently long periods, etc. The data for 191 districts and towns of Hungary for 1960 (the year of the last census) were used as a basis for the computations. The variables taken into consideration were: * The author is associated with the Demographic Research Institute of the Central Statistical

The Life of Béla Bartók

I was born on March 25th, 1881, in a small place, called Nagyszentmiklós, which now, together with the whole county of Torontál, belongs to Roumania. My mother gave me my first piano lessons when I was 6 years old. My father, who was the head of an agricultural school, was gifted musically and active in many directions. He played the piano, organized an amateur orchestra, learned the 'cello in order to play that instrument in his orchestra, and composed some dance music. I was 8 years old when I lost him. After his death my mother had to work as a school mistress and struggle hard for our daily bread. We first went to live at Nagyszöllös (at present Czechoslovak territory), then to Beszterce in Transylvania (at present Roumanian territory) and in 1893 to Pozsony (Bratislava, at present Czechoslovak territory). I began writing piano music when I was nine years old and made my first public appearance as a “composer” and pianist at Nagyszöllös in 1891; it was therefore a matter of some importance for us to settle at last in a biggish town. Among Hungarian country towns at that time it was Pozsony that had the most vigorous musical life, and by moving there I was given the possibility of having lessons in piano and composition with László Erkel (Ferenc Erkel's son) and also of hearing a few operas, more or less well performed, and orchestral concerts. I had the opportunity, too, of playing chamber-music, and before I was eighteen I had acquired a fairly thorough knowledge of music from Bach to Brahms (though in Wagner's work I did not get further than Tannhäuser). All this time I was also busy composing and was under the strong influence of Brahms and Dohnányi (who was 4 years my senior). Especially Dohnányi's youthful Opus No. 1 influenced me deeply.