Urban Development Trends In The Latgale Region At The Beginning Of The 21st Century

Abstract

The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of urban development trends in the Latgale region, observed at the beginning of the 21st century and to a large extent also outlines the direction of future development. The paper is based on the evaluation of spatial development planning documents,the analysis of the available statistical data and the review of the urban development projects subject to implementation, supplemented by some results of field studies on the urban environment quality. Though the urban environment and partly also the landscape quality has been improved during the last period, as well as in many areas with support of the EU programmes major urban environment development projects are being implemented, however the economic growth is stalling, depopulation processes are not contained, and the regional urban development index is expressly negative. In the course of the administrative and territorial reform the status of the majority of towns and cities of the Latgale region has significantly changed, and sustainable urban development in the region is still under real threat.