Governance characteristics of big cities in border regions of Hungary based on their role in EGTCs and INTERREG projects

Abstract

Big cities are playing an increasingly important role in European spatial policy nowadays. Governing big cities is no longer the sole responsibility of local governments; the number of actors (civic organizations, stakeholders, universities, economic actors, companies etc.) involved in governance is constantly expanding. Moreover, big cities cohabit with their agglomerations, that may as well cross national borders.

The aim of this paper is to examine the governance practices of big Hungarian cities in border regions through the analysis of six cities with over 100,000 inhabitants: Győr, Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen, Miskolc and Nyíregyháza. These cities are located in border regions, and in many cases are also considered a natural regional center by the population of the cross-border areas. The crossborder governance effects of the examined cities are analyzed in two dimensions: participation of large cities in a formalized cross-border territorial cooperation organization, such as the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC), and participation in the implementation of crossborder projects, where indicators are the ongoing INTERREG projects of the six cities. Our ????ndings indicate that although the appropriate institutional framework has been developed, most of these Hungarian cities do not use their opportunities. Only half of the examined large cities have EGTC membership but two large cities (Pécs and Győr) show real activity.

The examination of project-based collaborations indicated only three implemented projects in the border area connected to two cities (Győr and Szeged). In terms of cross-border governance structures, two (Miskolc, Debrecen) of the six large cities do not show any activity while in the case of Nyíregyháza the formal framework has been established, but no real activity could be traced. The study argues that Hungarian big cities need to place more emphasis on strengthening their cross-border governance, organizing and coordinating their natural surroundings in the future. It is necessary to establish multi-stakeholder, functioning EGTCs in the border regions, to identify and involve key partners across the border, and to identify the common development needs of the border region.