Anotace:
Suburbanization is the most typical process that defines the development of urbanized areas in Central and Eastern Europe. However, in Ukraine, except for the largest cities, suburbanization processes seems to be underestimated. This paper is trying to estimate the actual extent of suburbanization in Ukraine, find out the relationship between the city size and the development of suburbanization, as well as evaluate successfulness of the common urban evolution theories in explanation of empirical evidence from one of the largest Eastern European countries. Analysis is based on the data on migration dynamics in urban cores, peri-urban areas and hinterlands of 66 cities with a population of over 40.000 located in 22 regions of Ukraine. It was found out that suburbanization processes in Ukraine are extremely widespread and define general course of current urban dynamics. Migration growth of peri-urban area comparing with main city and hinterland is observed in majority of studied cities (68%), including all cities with population over 100.000. The dependence of the stage of urban evolution from the city size appears to be rather statistical than absolute. In general, larger population corresponds with the further progression of cities in their evolutionary path and, consequently, with greater probability of suburbanization as the main or additional process. Despite of some regional specifics and irregularities, we may see a high correlation between identified stages of urban evolution and common theoretical models. Verification of these conclusions can be done through further in-depth research of certain cases.