The role of towns under 5 thousands people in the region structure and its impact on the quality of services in these towns
Abstract: The main aim of the paper is to show the interdependence of small towns of 2 to 4 thousand inhabitants with settlements that are larger, or smaller to them. It is the function of these small towns in the framework of their region that influences their internal form, which the paper tries to prove through the results of the analysis carried out on a sample of all towns in the South Bohemian region that meet the population range mentioned above. Some of the problems of small towns are much more related to the context of their region than to their internal structure and form. This paper focuses on the issue of the quality of amenities, with a particular focus on commercial amenities. The attractiveness of a city is often measured by its own inhabitants precisely in relation to the existence of these elements, and so the available comparisons, such as the company's individual 'Municipalities in Data' indices, which rank municipalities in the overall so-called Quality of Life Index, are very often based on comparisons of amenity elements. It is therefore clear that amenities are essential to the attractiveness of a settlement. Yet small towns, and rural settlements in particular, are logically the most problematic category of settlements in this perspective. The paper therefore brings a new perspective to these comparisons and focuses specifically on assessing the quality of amenities, which it does through in-depth data analysis. The results are then compared with the role of the town in the settlement structure expressed by its catchment area, or the transport relations between the town under study and its related settlements. As a result, the cities are divided according to their roles in the settlement structure of the South Bohemian region and the relationship between this role and the quality of amenities is found. Subsequently, with these results it is possible to determine which towns are below the regional average in this aspect and which, on the opposite, can serve as good examples of a small town. The paper is part of a broader work aiming to develop a comparative methodology that could help municipalities identify their reserves in amenity quality and then be able to address these effectively through urban and spatial planning tools.
