Abstract
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Urbanization process in Bulgaria is not an entirely new phenomenon. During the entire period of the second half of the 20th century the rural population diminished for the account of an increase of the urban population. Since 1990 the urbanization process has rapidly evolved. As a consequence, the historically established dispersed point structure of the human settlements network was destroyed. Large cities have spatially grown, disrupting the former compact structure and developing settlement formations of a new type, namely urban agglomerations. Large cities evolved as powerful centers with diverse regional functions, concentrating manufacture, business, commerce and banking, tourism, health care, university education, science, research and development activities, culture and spiritual life. These highly urbanized areas consist of the large cities and the agglomeration formations gravitating around them. They occupy 15% of the country’s territory. Because of the high population density, which is continuously increasing, local governments in the urbanized centers fail to meet adequately the citizens’ demand for housing, services, transportation, public utilities, healthy and clean environment.
Parallel to the formation of urban agglomerations the problem of the so-called “peripheral areas” evolved, due to the underdeveloped settlements and negligible population density. Poorly urbanized peripheral areas are usually the underdeveloped rural, mountainous and border areas, which occupy approximately 80% of the country’s territory. These are areas with low population density and disperse structure of villages and small towns, situated at a great distance from the large cities. Sucked away by the urbanization process, these human settlements bear the characteristics of the periphery – underdevelopment, low living standards, steadily diminishing population and functions, predominantly agricultural orientation. The economic, social, environmental, and cultural problems faced by the local governments in the peripheral areas grew into general regional problems of the spatial development.
The main purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the role of the city-regions in the context of the fiscal decentralization reform in Bulgaria. Obviously, city-regions dominate the life of the country; they attract human and financial resources, causing severe disparities in the socio-economic development. In the process of striving for fiscal decentralization, city-regions divert resources to the detriment of the underdeveloped peripheral areas thus centralizing economic, social and political life. The paper is focused on the main achievements and crucial challenges of the fiscal decentralization process in Bulgaria, outlining the possible scenarios for the future of the city-regions, both engines and blockers of the fiscal decentralization.
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