1247 | 494 | A question of urban identity of newest town in Hungary | Viola Karsai, Henriett Maráz, András Trócsányi
Successful municipalities are usually backed by effective place marketing. However, this activity is based on a strong local identity, on which branding can be built and exploited in all public actions. In Hungary, one of the most obvious indicators of success is the promotion in the administrative hierarchy of municipalities, which is most often indicated by the acquisition of an urban rank. Since 1990, more than half of current urban settlements, nearly 200 municipalities, obtained the title through a competitive administrative process. In the specific post-socialist transformation of Central and Eastern Europe, urban reclassification is an individual path and the single manifestation of urbanisation. This sample, differentiated in size and functions, could be a model of successful settlements, in which it is worth examining how identity, its urban characteristics and success are related to one another. Accepting that formal change is significantly faster than functional ones, it is assumed that the municipalities that applied for urban status had a strong, but rarely urban identity. We seek to answer the question of settlements’ attitude that has undergone formal urbanisation to urbanity in their self-definition, communication and place marketing that builds on it. Around 200 municipalities were surveyed by means of a questionnaire survey of newest towns, supplemented by municipalities that have been classified as urban based on previous research or on their statistical indicators. We also investigated a pool of villages, those, who declare themselves urban in their self-definition. From this sample, ten municipalities were selected for further in-depth interviews and communication content analysis, based on their responses. _x000D_
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The study revealed that consciously managed image-building can be found only in municipalities with certain functions and that most of the identity change depends on local, municipal management.
Viola Karsai, Henriett Maráz, András Trócsányi
University of Pécs Doctoral School of Earth Sciences
ID Abstract: 494