The impact of proximity on the relations between settlements – the case of Győr-Moson-Sopron County

Abstract

Today, the concept of proximity can be interpreted in many aspects. Besides the geographical proximity in the traditional sense, other dimensions of proximity have been formed that came to the fore due to the economic, social and technological changes of recent decades. Regional science places emphasis on examining these dimensions because proximity influences many regional and
economic relations and development. In the present study, the author will focus on two dimensions of proximity – the geographical and the relational proximity.
The first part of the article presents the theoretical framework of proximity and network relations that gives the background to the empirical research. In the analysis, the relations and networks will be examined in one of the most developed counties of Hungary, which will be introduced in the second part of this study. The author gives an overview of the results of the quantitative research,
the aim of which was to explore the different types of relations between towns in the county and to gain an insight into the underlying different dimensions of proximity.