Prevailing narratives versus reality of a small and medium town decline in a CEE country

It is a common narrative that small and medium towns of formerly socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are suffering a substantial decline due to better offerings in bigger metropolitan areas. Focused on Slovakia, this paper presents a methodology for assessing the future viability of small and medium towns, considering different socio-economic, infrastructural, and demographic aspects capturing their desirability. The proposed methodology aggregates different aspects into attributes by means of a data envelopment analysis model with common set of weights without explicit inputs (CSW DEA-WEI), and then converts these attributes into scores in the fashion of a multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA). The methodology offers a new perspective for rating the viability and sustainability of small and medium towns in the CEE region, and is amenable to adaptations elsewhere. Contrary to popular belief, it is found that small and medium towns remain attractive for life.