The Role of Small Towns in Local Place Making
Self-promotion and reinterpretation of local identity is becoming increasingly important in rural communities. Local identity building is succeeded very differently by rural municipalities and regions. The paper analyses the role of small towns in local identity creation. There are varying interpret...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Sciendo
2016-12-01
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| Series: | European Countryside |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/euco-2016-0029 |
| _version_ | 1818343702341353472 |
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| author | Csurgó Bernadett Megyesi Boldizsár |
| author_facet | Csurgó Bernadett Megyesi Boldizsár |
| author_sort | Csurgó Bernadett |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Self-promotion and reinterpretation of local identity is becoming increasingly important in rural communities. Local identity building is succeeded very differently by rural municipalities and regions. The paper analyses the role of small towns in local identity creation. There are varying interpretations of places in Hungary as ways of achieving meaningful territorialisation. Small towns based on their leading and central position within the micro regions can dominate the place-making processes. Using the example of six Hungarian rural micro-regions we analyse how rural small towns position themselves by local image building. The aim of this paper is to investigate interactions between territorial position and innovative capacity of rural towns through the analysis of symbolisation process and image building. We purpose to introduce a concept of a place oriented approach and demonstrate its usefulness for analysis of rural innovation and place-based development. The case-studies are based on qualitative methods: document-analysis, semi-structured interviews, transect walking and participatory observation. The paper analyses the process of local community and identity building in six rural micro-regions. We seek to understand how small towns position themselves in place-making, the aim of ‘placing’ themselves in the territorial hierarchy of the settlements of micro region. Our results suggest that small towns play very different roles in local image building. Characteristics and territorial scope of local cultural heritage significantly determine the innovative capacity of small towns in local image building where there is a wide range of meanings procedures and processes of place-making. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T16:34:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4fa8089d36364a97853983ad3a0934ea |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1803-8417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T16:34:47Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Countryside |
| spelling | doaj.art-4fa8089d36364a97853983ad3a0934ea2022-12-21T23:38:26ZengSciendoEuropean Countryside1803-84172016-12-018442744310.1515/euco-2016-0029euco-2016-0029The Role of Small Towns in Local Place MakingCsurgó Bernadett0Megyesi Boldizsár1Senior research fellow, Institute for Sociology of HAS Centre for Social Sciences, Országház u. 30, H-1014 Budapest, HungarySenior research fellow, Institute for Sociology of HAS Centre for Social Sciences, Országház u. 30, H-1014 Budapest, HungarySelf-promotion and reinterpretation of local identity is becoming increasingly important in rural communities. Local identity building is succeeded very differently by rural municipalities and regions. The paper analyses the role of small towns in local identity creation. There are varying interpretations of places in Hungary as ways of achieving meaningful territorialisation. Small towns based on their leading and central position within the micro regions can dominate the place-making processes. Using the example of six Hungarian rural micro-regions we analyse how rural small towns position themselves by local image building. The aim of this paper is to investigate interactions between territorial position and innovative capacity of rural towns through the analysis of symbolisation process and image building. We purpose to introduce a concept of a place oriented approach and demonstrate its usefulness for analysis of rural innovation and place-based development. The case-studies are based on qualitative methods: document-analysis, semi-structured interviews, transect walking and participatory observation. The paper analyses the process of local community and identity building in six rural micro-regions. We seek to understand how small towns position themselves in place-making, the aim of ‘placing’ themselves in the territorial hierarchy of the settlements of micro region. Our results suggest that small towns play very different roles in local image building. Characteristics and territorial scope of local cultural heritage significantly determine the innovative capacity of small towns in local image building where there is a wide range of meanings procedures and processes of place-making.https://doi.org/10.1515/euco-2016-0029small townplace-makinglocal identitylocal image |
| spellingShingle | Csurgó Bernadett Megyesi Boldizsár The Role of Small Towns in Local Place Making European Countryside small town place-making local identity local image |
| title | The Role of Small Towns in Local Place Making |
| title_full | The Role of Small Towns in Local Place Making |
| title_fullStr | The Role of Small Towns in Local Place Making |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Role of Small Towns in Local Place Making |
| title_short | The Role of Small Towns in Local Place Making |
| title_sort | role of small towns in local place making |
| topic | small town place-making local identity local image |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/euco-2016-0029 |
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