190 settlements in our country are already without a single inhabitant, and Sofia produces nearly 44% of the country's gross domestic product. The new National Concept for Regional and Spatial Development by 2040 promises a more balanced Bulgaria, in which small towns will be a place for the future, not for leaving.
“A smaller population is a typical characteristic of a small settlement, but in no case is it a diagnosis or a sentence for its remaining on the periphery of policies or its exclusion“, explained Senior Assistant Professor Dr. Desislava Botseva on the air of “Social Network” on NOVA NEWS. According to her, the problem begins when large parts of the population leave a given territory permanently to seek personal and professional fulfillment elsewhere.
According to Botseva, the concept until 2040 is not an investment framework and does not guarantee the return of people to small settlements. It represents the “spatial logic“ of future development and an attempt to unite different policies - demographic, economic, infrastructure. The basis is the idea of moderate polycentrism, in which, in addition to Sofia, other strong centers capable of developing the territories around them should be built. Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Burgas, Varna, Pleven and Ruse are indicated as potential balancers.
According to her, the key is not simply in the construction of roads or individual infrastructure sites, but in the functional connectivity between the regions. “Building a road is not automatically a panacea for solving the problems and ills of a smaller settlement or a region”, Botseva emphasized. She gave as an example the region of Plovdiv, Maritsa and Rakovski, where municipalities are jointly developing their industrial potential. According to her, it is precisely the combination of the efforts of universities, local authorities, business, the non-governmental sector and local communities that can create a working model. And in order to attract people to small settlements, there must be a real choice: “If we cannot create a basic minimum of public services, of opportunities for life and development, it is quite clear that we cannot have a multi-profile hospital, a specialized high school, or a variety of businesses in every settlement.”