Cultural aspects of the challenges of the sustainability of the mediumsized cities in the region of Southern Transdanubia, Hungary Eszter Barakonyi Ivan Zadori Introduction The fundamental questions of sustainable development as well as the scientists, the researchers and the economic experts as well as the public opinion from the 1960er years. Because of the economic, social and environmental challenges that are occurring with increasing intensity, the need to shape the equilibrium at a global, regional and also local level is becoming more and more urgent, which can also secure the prosperity and wellbeing of the given community in the long term. The everincreasing globalization of economic and social processes of modern times have left the important part of the more or less closed societies and communities that are fundamentally challenged by the challenges of strong sustainability. In the earlier historical times, the geographic and natural characteristics and characteristics of the individual regions, settlements have decisively determined whether the individual communities can have longterm functioning economic and social systems. The logic of the individual processes has not actually changed even in our day, the difference is rather the fact that the circle of economic challenges and the securing of continuous competitiveness appears to be increasingly strong in addition to the previously more strongly emphasized environmental and geographic dimensions. The individual development paths and competitiveness factors are infl uenced by economic, social events, relationship systems, cultural characteristics of the earlier times. This cultural dimension can, on the one hand, result in such sustainability patterns which can also secure the success of the individual communities and regions in the long term. On the other hand, the cultural offer in the given areas can be a competitive advantage; in an optimal case as a determining sector; , Social and environmental systems of the given region can also be sustainable in the long term. In this lecture, I would like to give an overview of the sustainability challenges of the mediumsized cities in the region of Southern Transdanubia in Hungary, and the cultural aspects of these challenges. Sustainability, sustainable development The term „sustainable development”, although its main elements have already been used in studies, conferences and texts, is formulated for the fi rst time in 1987 by the Brundtland Commission, entitled „Our Common Future” The satisfaction of the present needs without jeopardizing the satisfaction of the needs of future generations. When determining sustainable development, three subsystems are interrelated: the environmental, social and economic system. Many deny the feasibility of sustainable development, yet several historical examples and the current practice point to the need to organize such a resource use which can be functional for the individual communities, or, as the case may be, for mankind. 100 Romanian Statistical Review Supplement nr. 12 / 2016 In a sustainable way, even situations that seem to be unacceptable to outsiders when the individual regions, municipalities, and communities can fi nd the „market gaps” where they can be successful can work. Beyond the effective adaptation patterns and diversifi cation elements, the symbolic, false and institutional components of the given cultures can be revaluated in market gaps, and they can appear as serious competitiveness factors by bringing interesting, special and lastselling elements to the outside world. According to some approximations, the emergence of the idea of sustainability is actually a cultural phenomenon: the selfrefl ection of humanity on the problems caused by its culture. Humans are born into the individual cultures, and they later also live within the framework of the symbolic, objectifi ed and institutional component of this culture. These human cultures, however, shape and change the impact of the constant challenges, so one must consider those effective adaptation patterns, or the resources accumulated through generations as parts of the culture, which can secure longterm favorable conditions for the individual, or the individual communities, settlements. However, this adaptation is not always successful: numerous historical examples show how far the individual communities or societies have been able to expand such a social system, which has proved to be functional for a time, and there are also numerous examples where the given Communities were not able to master the critical problems. Behind the „failures” are generally the depletion of resources and economic, social and environmental catastrophes, which become serious only when the given societies do not replace their needs and the conditional system of their socioeconomic activities with others, even with external resources, can complement. These processes are particularly relevant in those cases where there are no, or only limited, possibilities for the inclusion of external resources (e.g., in the case of islands or islandlike regions). The human culture is adaptive, but the answers can never be perfect, since even the environmental conditions can not be regarded as static. On the other hand, the individual adaptation solutions can bring additional costs, risks, or even the successful adaptation patterns can fade away (a kind of forgetting A time nobody will remember, no one will have a meaning to what the exact cause, the cause of the given cultural adaptation was). Cultural adaptation is generally opportunistic, since one wants to construct advantages from the resources available in the given time, and in most cases it is not a question that one should reckon more seriously with the possible future consequences. What does all this mean in the case of a settlement? In essence, whether the given settlement can fi nd the economic, social and environmental equilibrium, or cultural patterns, which in addition to the weak sustainability, ie the possibility of including the external resources, can ensure the sustainability of the given settlement in the long term. In this process, the cultural offerings of the settlements can also be seen as a factor of competitiveness, whether the management of the former cultural elements, or the formation of new cultural products and services that can place the given settlement on a new path of development. Revista Română de Statistică Supliment nr. 12 / 2016 101 The region of Southern Transdanubia The region of Southern Transdanubia is 15% of the total surface area of Hungary, its population is 9% of the total population of the country. It is a planning and statistical region formed by three counties (Baranya, Somogy, Tolna), without regional administrative roles, without common cultural and identity elements, so it is not a classic region in the European sense. Their emergence is connected with the accession of Hungary to Europe, because of the strain on union projects. The region is bordered to the north by Lake Balaton, to the east by the Danube, to the south and south-west by the river Drava and Mur. In the appearance of the Hungarian tribes it was inhabited rather sparsely, except for the southern regions it is mostly covered with coherent forests. Until the middle of the 16th century, the share of urban settlements in the Western European sense was quite small despite the earlier Roman, then the later (Celtic, Slavic and Avarian) settlements. The important settlements are: Pécs (Bishop’s Center) Somogyvár, Szekszárd, smaller towns (Tolna, Kaposvár, Paks, Dunaföldvár, etc.), the seat of the Queen (Segesd), and the centers of the Babócsa. The smaller settlements are essentially Rodedörfer, where the main source of the livelihood of the forest (wood, livestock), on the tobogganes agriculture, on the shores of the fi shes and on the marshes is a complex fi sherman, hunter and collector’s life. A large part of these settlements are destroyed in the Turkish period, or their former role changes (eg Somogyvár, the former clan, county or church center is only a simple farming village at the end of the 17th century and the former appearance gets it Never back, its 102 Romanian Statistical Review Supplement nr. 12 / 2016 role is taken over by other cities). In the 17-18th century there are signifi cant population movements, intensive settlement (Hungarian, Slavic, German), yet the former settlements mostly do not revive. A large part of the area is a backward agricultural region, where the peasantry is decisively operating a traditional soil management, the market processes affect the region less by the middle of the 19th century. The 19 th century generated signifi cant changes: industrialization, systematic exploitation and depletion of natural resources and mineral resources began slowly, market production appeared, bourgeoisization began, traffi c, accessibility (roads, railways) improved, and urbanization began. At Lake Balaton the (domestic) tourism appears from the second half of the 19th century. These changes result in the transformation of the earlier cultural elements, the way of life and management, and the settlements, which have adapted well to the new economic, social conditions, show a signifi cant economic, social and cultural development. In addition, the number of those (mainly smaller) settlements is already high at this time, where there is no serious development, their population preservation remains low. The loss of territory after the First World War does not affect the