Contribution to regional division of Slovakia based on the application of the Reilly's model

Abstract

The objective of the present article is an application of three versions of the Reilly’s model in a regional division of Slovakia at two levels: from the point of view of potential natural gravity towards regional centres, and from the aspect of an alternative proposal of administrative division of Slovakia at the regional level. In this contribution the geometric version of the Reilly’s model serves only as a complementary tool for an assessment of a regional organisation of Slovakia. A crucial part lies in the application of the topographic version; the oscillatory version possesses a correcting and refining role. Functional urban regions have been used as basic spatial zones in our analysis. The geometric version of the model is used for a preliminary assessment of possible infl uences of centres. Let alone several exceptions caused by physical geographical conditions (e.g. an overrated sphere of influence of Žilina) this version provides a relatively realistic image of the Slovak regional system.