SETTLEMENT GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF DEVECSER AND AJKA SMALL-REGIONS
Abstract
The settlements of Ajka and Devecser small regions were sometimes within one administrative unit (the center was sometimes Devecser, sometimes Ajka) amd sometimes within two regions. There are some special characteristics of the settlement structure of these two small-regions of Veszprém county. The region is characterized by tiny and small villages, today 70% of the settlements of Devecser small-region and 33% of Ajka small-region are tiny villages (with less than 500 inhabitants). There are also some small villages (500-1000 inhabitants) as well. In the last decade the number of tiny villages had been increased dramatically, especially in Devecser small regions. The population of these villages became smaller and older. In the last decade the increase of number of tiny villages became smaller, because of the lack of small villages. There is really strong outskirt population in these small regions, especially social institutions, wine-hills and manors. The population of these small settlements decreased rapidly in the last decades, but now it seems stabile. In the early decades of the 20th century Devecser was the centre of this region, but after 1960 Ajka became a socialist town and the functions moved to Ajka. There is a wine region, the Somló as well here, but we can see also population decline here.
