Functional types of suburban settlements around two differently sized Czech cities
Introduction
The process of suburbanisation in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) was largely interrupted during the socialist period 1948–1989 (Bertaud & Renaud, 1997; Kok & Kovács, 1999; Musil & Ryšavý, 1983; Tammaru, 2001; Tammaru, 2005).1 Instead, the intensive development of large pre-fab housing estates on the edges of socialist cities had characteristics of urbanisation, especially to the extent that new apartments were mostly offered to a labour force living generally in the countryside, and only a few people resettled to these estates from the cities (Ouředníček et al., 2018). However, since the late 1990s, and following a fundamental transformation of the political, economic, and social system, residential suburbanisation in the form of migration from cities to settlements around cities has become the dominant process in changes to settlement systems within CEE countries, accompanied by the construction of new housing (Borén & Gentile, 2007; Sýkora & Stanilov, 2014 and others). People in the newly formed middle and upper classes of post-socialist cities, especially younger, educated, and high-earning couples with children, sought better and quieter living in suburban zones, in moving to family houses with gardens. However, since the economic crisis of 2008, suburbanisation has slowed down, as seen in the case of Czechia (Kubeš & Chvojková, 2020; Sýkora & Mulíček, 2014). Nonetheless, suburbanisation around the largest Czech cities remains strong (Ouředníček et al., 2020).
We argue that during the process of post-socialist residential suburbanisation, the villages around cities have gradually transformed from rural settlements to semi-suburbs (settlements with partial suburbanisation – Kubeš, 2015) and then to suburbs. The original farmsteads and other older houses, where the villages' inhabitants live, are located in the core, while new, mostly detached family houses, where the suburbanites live, are located on the edges. In this way, the suburbs have a partially polarised social and demographic structure (Špačková & Ouředníček, 2012). Suburbanisation has also affected some small towns near the cities to varying degrees. Near large cities and along major roads and highways, new areas of commercial suburbanisation are growing (Nuissl & Rink, 2005; Ptáček & Szczyrba, 2007; Sýkora & Ouředníček, 2007).
Our main objective herein is to describe and explain the causes of functional differentiation of suburban settlements in the settlement system of Czechia through analyses of two case study areas – the hinterlands of Prague, the capital city of Czechia, and the regional capital city of České Budějovice. Scholars have not yet studied comprehensively the functional differentiation of suburban settlements in post-socialist CEE countries. Post-socialist suburbanisation changed the originally rural character of the areas that surround Czech cities considerably, and brought new functions to former villages. Changes in the form and functions of settlements around Czech cities are crucial in the transformation of the Czech settlement system. Consequently, we aim to answer the following research questions:
- (i)
What are the basic types of suburban settlements in the case study areas, given their sizes, locations, and the importance of suburban-residential function?
- (ii)
Which functions and functional types of suburban settlements within the settlement system does the literature distinguish, and which are useful for functional classification of Czech suburban settlements?
- (iii)
What functions do suburban settlements in the case study areas fulfil in addition to their suburban-residential (bedroom) function – for example, do they have a service or industrial function?
- (iv)
Which functional types of settlements occur around the case study areas, what is the cause of their occurrence, and how are they distributed in the suburban hinterlands of the two case study cities?
We agree with Mikelbank that defining the types of settlements in suburban zones “serves as a springboard from which the behaviour of complex and diverse (suburban) phenomena can be more clearly understood” (Mikelbank, 2004, p. 936). Moreover, typologies of suburban settlements and landscapes help practitioners to plan and develop these settlements (see Forsyth, 2012; Šveda & Pazúr, 2018; or Mantey & Sudra, 2019). We believe these statements apply to both basic and functional types of suburban settlements.
Section snippets
Functions and functional types of suburban settlements
Although some relatively autonomous suburbs were established near English cities during the eighteenth century, the intensive development of suburbs associated with commuting to cities by car was first observed in the United States during the 1930s (Harris, 2010). These US residential (bedroom) suburbs were designed for car-equipped, middle-class migrants from cities, who daily commuted to work and for services localised in the city (Cohen, 1996; Harris, 1943). They took the form of areas of
Case study areas
The continuously built-up area of Prague has 1.25 million inhabitants (2021). According to Ouředníček et al. (2020), approximately 820,000 people live in the suburban zone of Prague. At the turn of the millennium, in addition to strong residential suburbanisation, commercial suburbanisation developed along several highways leading out of the city. The Prague study area (transect) is located in the southern part of Prague hinterland (Fig. 1). The landscape of the northern part of the area is a
Methodology
For the purpose of our analyses, we defined residential suburbanisation as migration of suburbanites from the city to the settlements around the city as supplemented by the construction of new suburban houses for suburbanites. Suburbanites and the original inhabitants mostly commute to the city to work. Thus, suburban settlements are characterised by large population growth, a significant proportion of suburbanites and newly built suburban houses, and a link to the city through commuting (
Basic and functional types of suburban settlements in the case study areas
The evolution of a settlement towards a semi-suburb and subsequently to village-core suburb is influenced not only by the settlement's distance from the city and its location along key roads, but also by additional conditions, such as the availability and price of building plots, activities of suburban developers, preferences and strategies of municipal representatives on suburban development, restrictions resulting from spatial planning, and attractiveness of the landscape near the settlement (
Discussion
In the Prague study area, distant suburbs and semi-suburbs have formed up to 30 km from the continuously built-up area of Prague. In the case of the hinterland of České Budějovice with a population of less than 100,000 inhabitants, semi-suburbs and distant suburbs have formed up to 13 km. In the USA, suburbs near highways can be found up to 80 km from large cities (Rae & Nelson, 2017), in Germany up to 60 km (Volgmann & Rusche, 2020), and in Poland up to 40 km (Lityński, 2021). The interface
Conclusions
Strong suburbanisation developed around the capital city of Prague since the mid-1990s, while it was nearly non-existent under socialism. It spread through spatial hierarchical diffusion. In the late 1990s, suburbanisation occurred around the Czech regional capital cities and, at the turn of the millennium, around other larger towns. Suburban settlements (semi-suburbs, suburbs, semi-suburban and suburban small towns) grew out of villages. Suburban residents mostly maintain links to the city
Declaration of competing interest
I don't know what to write there. The article is fine, we wrote it, we do not know of any conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
The article was created within the project of the Czech Science Foundation – grant number 18-14510S ‘Contemporary changes of social milieu within the Czech suburbs’.
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