The Civis and the In-migrants

Abstract

Scholars engaged in research into the history of Debrecen have long been eager to get an answer – beyond their specific research inquiries – to the question whether the development of the city had had unique features and if they had what would hallmark the unique character of development? Was there or is there a kind of “Debrecenness”? My study examines – with the help of a GIS relational database (DTTTA1870) – what peculiarities can be grasped in the transformation of the traditional spatial and social structure of Debrecen enforced by the political change and industrial modernization processes two decades after the change of feudal regime (1848/49). The analysis focuses on whether the alteration process of the factors determining the social status (residential segregation, neighborhood, spatial segregation and coexistence, other spatial and social hierarchical characteristics) in the cases of the “deep-rooted Debrecen residents” (cívis) and of the settlers showed specific types described in the literature or showed specific features.

Keywords

• Urban history
• industrial modernization
• geoinformation database (GIS)
• settlement
• residential segregation
• spatial pattern