Balaton as a functional large lake region through the lens of governance – opportunities for integrated development

Abstract

In the 1990s, one of the most important discourses of decentralization processes was regionalisation, primarily based on the principles, practice and institutional system of the regional policy of the European Union. Integrated development is a procedure that takes into account connections and interactions, and as a result, planning becomes comprehensive and integrated. It is important to note that an integrated territorial policy does not only focus on certain areas and sectors, but examines them in their context. Regionalisation that does not follow middle-level administrative boundaries has been present in Hungarian regional planning for 25 years, resulting in the creation of the Balaton Region and the Balaton Development Council, among others. This study explores the governance of integrated territorial development based on functional regions and focuses on the large lake regions as functional spaces, presenting the results of an international research project.

The European regional development and support policy defines special types of regions (e.g. islands, sparsely populated areas). The ESPON LAKES international research project aimed to prove that there is also room for large lake regions in this kind of development policy. The special situation of large lake regions lies in the fact that they cross administrative borders, therefore, their development policy is divers. Their complex geographical and natural-environmental characteristics requires a wide-ranging multi-dimensional management ability that performs equally well in vertical and horizontal coordination resulting a real integrated territorial development. This international research project analysed the state of the integrated regional development of Lake Balaton, Lake Constance and Lake Vänern to point out areas for improvement related to regional governance and present good practices that can be exemplary for other large lake regions. This paper is focusing on the challenges of governance of integrated territorial development via the case of Lake Balaton. Additionally, the last part gives a short comparison of the three large lake regions.

The systems operating in the studied lake regions are the results of several decades of development policy, embedded in complex governance contexts that change over time. The dynamics of the regions are different, and the challenges they have faced during their history have also been different. In the case of Balaton, a more effective integration of sectoral aspects would be necessary. In the case of Lake Constance, the focus is still on the management of discrepancies related to borders and the permeability of borders. Ensuring the consistency of planning goals and procedures across national borders remains a challenge despite decades of collaborative experience. The Vänern lake region holds many opportunities, given the still early phase of cooperation and development structures. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that the affected regions of Västra Götaland and Värmland (Lake Vänern is located in these two regions) belong to different classifications of support areas of the European Structural and Development Fund, and each has its own main sectoral interest (maritime vs. forest management).

The comparison of Lake Balaton and lakes Vänern and Constance indicate that Lake Balaton and the institutional system and governance created around it over the past twenty years can serve as good practice for many European lake regions. In many respects, the challenges are different, but the coordinating role and operation of the Lake Balaton Development Council is exemplary.