Small towns, compared to larger cities, are specific group of municipalities with weaker performance in many spheres of socio-economic development. The aim of the paper is to comprehensively evaluate development of twelve small towns in the region of East Slovakia over the centuries up to present. The paper deals with question how their demographic and economic developments have been reciprocally influenced under particular historical circumstances. Using various sources of statistical data and employing traditional historical, mathematical-statistical and cartographical methods, regularities and patterns were identified that enabled us to categorize small towns and evaluate their development trajectories and current roles in the settlement system. In the most cases, they are still valid nodes for their hinterlands even though their past situation has been unfavourable.
Abstract:The main aim of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of regional policies dealing with peripheral rural areas in the Visegrad countries from a historical perspective. As it is demonstrated in the paper despite the common political and ideological framework the goals and means of regional policy remained rather different in these countries during state-socialism. The systemic changes demanded the re-conceptualisation of regional development policy and the reconfiguration of the institutional background. As the comparative policy analysis showed in the early 1990s there was a lack of coherent regional policy that would efficiently mitigate growing regional disparities or foster regional competitiveness. The conceptual, legal and institutional foundation of the new regional policy took place in the second half of the 1990s, with some time lag among the countries. In the formulation of strategic documents regarding regional policy the foreseen EU accession played a very important role. The preparation of national development plans were based on the EU's standardized development handbooks, therefore a considerable similarity among the new member states' regional policy documents can be observed. One can say that earlier differences in regional development priorities were gradually eliminated by the European integration among the new member states. However, rural areas were considered in regional economic development policies only in the context of agriculture and tourism development. In addition to local infrastructural development, preservation of natural and cultural heritage, job creation only agriculture and tourism were defined for EU and national subsidies.
In Slovakia, a national project IT Academy-the education for the 21st century-was launched to promote student interest in science, mathematics and informatics across secondary education; and to also prepare students for the digital age. Geography education has an opportunity to undergo a process of reconceptualization and change in response to an increased use of technology. Recent trends in geography education which are occurring as a result of technological developments have resulted in the map, a primary tool of a geographer, becoming substituted by digital technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS). However, digital advancements have not been reflected in the teaching and learning of geography. Therefore, based on such an assumption, the aim of the current study is to encourage Geography students to acquire knowledge and develop skills through the purposeful use and implementation of geospatial technologies. The paper presents learning activities about World Political Map and World Population for secondary school students who are studying Geography, which are designed to make Geography lessons more inquiry-based with real-life application. The activities were piloted and evaluated by Geography teachers all over Slovakia. In conclusion, the statements from teachers confirm the project is relevant for gradual reform of geography education in our country.
The aim of this paper is to examine how small towns have tackled the economic transformation in the postcommunist period. It aims to contribute to the comprehensive research of post-communist transformation at different hierarchic levels of settlement system. The study is spatially focused on the Lower Spiš region in Eastern Slovakia as it includes various kinds of small towns at relatively small area. Based on data provided by population censuses in 1991, 2001 and 2011, we assess development of economic performance of the towns by number of jobs, sectoral structure of jobs, ability to provide jobs for local economically active population, and spatial extent of commuting zones. The results prove that post-communist small towns remained important subregional centers of employment and commuting in general. They sustain even though some of them were affected by the recession of industrial sector and their economic base was established or substantially supported by the socialist industrialization. The growth of small towns´ economic importance was recorded in the proximity of the major regional town -Spišská Nová Ves, mainly thanks to decentralization of economic activities.
In the first part of the paper the aim is to provide the reader with a theoretical insight into models of government structure at the local level and provide evidence from European countries that underwent reforms during the second half of the 20 th century. In the Slovak Republic (Slovakia) the renewal of local self-government in 1990 brought changes to the administrative boundary map with more than 200 municipalities re-established bringing the current number to 2,929 local administrative units. This has resulted in some discussion regarding a reduction in the number of local government units in this country. The second part of the paper is focused on Košice; the second largest city in Slovakia with 234,000 inhabitants. The city is organised at two administrative levels; one covering the whole city, the other covering 22 wards. When compared to cities of a similar size, Košice has been criticised for its high number of city wards and councillors, with the concomitant financial inefficiency it can bring. There has been an ongoing debate on reducing their number since 2010. The paper reports on the search for an administrative structure that would best tailor to the citizens´ needs and provide effective management in Košice. It uses traditional methods of qualitative research (historical method, content analysis and synthesis) accompanied by statistical data organised in tables and figures.
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