The paper aims to analyze the “soft” factors of local development and to understand the nature of the socio-economic differences between municipalities in an inner periphery in Bohemia. The partial goals are to explain which internal conditions are conductive to the formation of these ties of cooperation, to reveal which power structures are involved in the ties of cooperation, and to assess the direction of these interactions. The conclusions are formulated and discussed in relation to the concept of institutional thickness. Our research confirmed the key differentiating role of mayors in local interactions and the importance of administrative boundaries – especially boundaries of self-government regions. These boundaries had the effect of constraining the formation of formal and informal relations between actors in territorial development. The research also provides evidence of the continued existence of links between municipalities that were formed during the communist period. The data come from the author’s field survey among the mayors.
Historical cultural landscapes represent numerous values and meanings that are important for today’s society. These cultural landscapes document the specific development of local communities and may reflect their approaches or attitudes toward the environment. Man-made landscape elements are created for special purposes and represent specific values (historical, cultural, environmental, economic, etc.). The analysis of these landscape elements allows us to find out for what purposes the society decided to use the landscape, respectively what functions the landscape performs and what historical or cultural values it represents. The following text presents a typology of historical cultural landscapes based on a cluster analysis of cultural landscape features. Using this method, a typology of landscapes is created that reflects the functional use and values of landscapes based on the analysis of cultural-historical elements and differentiates the rates and methods of land use by human beings. The output of the cluster analysis is visualized in a dendrogram, based on which seven basic landscape categories were defined and described.
The article examines the effects of the social networks of a range of actors on the local development of municipalities located in Czech peripheral border regions. Its main goals are to shed light on and understand the role of social interactions in the development activities of individual municipalities in border-region peripheries and reveal the spatial differentiation of these municipalities. The borderland Cheb district (western Bohemia) is affected by the shrinkage process, and the concept of institutional thickness is used as the explanatory framework. One of the key conclusions is that the more disadvantages there are, the more important institutional thickness is as a development factor. The research data are drawn from 24 semi-structured interviews with the mayors of municipalities that within the system of state administration are municipalities without extended powers. The research also confirmed the diversity of individuals holding the position of mayor and the differences in the specific role mayors play in local development, as well as how important it is for municipalities to be active in microregional associations. It also showed that the internal differentiation of development opportunities and the formation of formal and informal ties are also determined by the quality of horizontal and vertical cooperation.
Theoretical research on geographical organization is, in Czechia, mainly associated with Martin Hampl (1940−2022). This paper refers to his extraordinary work. In this article, integrated systems of centers are first defined by two methods: by applying M. Hampl’s method and by using the new criterion of reciprocal mobility. Subsequently, both delimitations are compared, and a typology of these systems is made. Next, the commuting microregions of the integrated systems of centers are created on the basis of commuting patterns from municipalities. The regionalization performed is then a tool to verify the concordance of the regional organization determined by the polynodal cores and given by the Hampl’s mononodal microregional centers. We assume that in reality a more valid regional system will have greater regional integrity of the defined regions and its hierarchization will be more consistent with the theoretical assumptions of the rank size rule. We view the resulting findings both as a stimulus for discussing the methodology for delineating integrated system of centers and as a basis for comparing the expected results of the current national census of 2021.
This article analyses occasional work commuting mobility within three major metropolitan areas in Czechia in the context of future HSR routes. The main aim is to explain uneven commuting flows of inter-metropolitan travelers through their level of income, given their potential for the use of HSR from a demand perspective. To achieve the goals, the paper uses quantitative data analysis methods performed on a selection of 228 respondents who realized at least one business trip between Prague and Brno or Prague and Ostrava between January and September 2019. The results reveal that the level of income plays a significant role in the issue of using potential high-speed lines for occasional long-distance commutes.
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