Beyond administrative boundaries: accessibility of services and the role of municipal centres in Czechia

This study examines patterns of potential accessibility to essential everyday services in Czechia to explore how closely municipalities with extended powers (MEPs) align with the functional service roles assumed in administrative practice. Using nationwide geocoded datasets and network-based distance calculations from all residential buildings to key educational, healthcare and leisure services, spatial disparities in accessibility were modelled and compared across municipalities. A typology of service roles and a set of functional service regions were derived to approximate everyday service hinterlands. The results suggest that administrative boundaries do not fully correspond to modelled accessibility patterns: many residents appear to have shorter access to services located outside their designated MEP, while some small municipalities emerge as meaningful providers. These findings reflect model-based opportunity structures rather than observed behaviour, yet they offer useful insights into the spatial coherence between administrative organisation and potential access to essential services.