This article presents an attempt to classify Lithuanian LAU-2 regions (elderships) according to the level of their urbanization. The research was based on inductive methodology. Data on changes of the number of population in 2001 – 2018 was the primary source of the analysis. The typology of LAU-2 regions was based on 3 main criteria: formal status of the area (urban or rural), the location of the area in relation to urban centre and trends of change of the number of population in formally nonurban areas in 2001-2018. The final goal was the distinction of regions, which weren’t influenced by urbanisation (suburbanisation) processes and therefore potentially should be facing most severe processes of peripherisation and socio-spatial exclusion. The results suggest that actual share of rural areas and rural population is much smaller that statistical data show. Furthermore, territorial differentiation into urbanized and non-urbanized areas perfectly reflects "centre-periphery" model, though Lithuania withhold polycentric character of development. Three central urban regions - Vilnius, Kaunas, and Klaipėda act as major growth poles, while remaining country is shrinking fast. On the other hand, even smaller and decreasing urban centres are spatially expanding and changing rural areas around them. As a consequence number of population is growing in suburban regions. According to the research, 244 elderships, which occupy some 36% of the Lithuanian territory, are classified as urbanized or semi urbanised areas (it inhabits 83% of the population); the rest 312 elderships are classified as 'purely' rural peripheral areas. They cover 64% of the country’s territory and inhabit around 17% of its population.
This paper reports on a comprehensive evaluation of socio-spatial inequalities as a means of analysing spatial exclusion in line with demographic, social and economic components expressed using 20 key indicators. The utilised method of grouping into quartiles was able to demonstrate increasingly pronounced polarisation trends in Lithuania, with widening disparities to be noted, both between the major cities of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda and their regions, and between peripheral areas of the country. The level of spatial exclusion is seen to be highest in Lithuania’s north-eastern and southern regions, which have been identified as problematic. It is to these regions that a majority of the attention in this work has been paid.
At the beginning of 2020 Lithuania, and many other European countries, introduced quarantine and began restricting movement across the country’s borders. The imposed restrictive measures have greatly impacted and led to the stagnation of tourism sector. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions, the number of international tourist arrivals sharply decreased. In 2021 the majority of restrictions have been eased due to the decreasing morbidity, but it did not reinstate the tourism into the previous level. According to statistics, the decline in tourist flows in Lithuania in 2021 still continued, albeit the decrease was smaller. The increase in the number of local tourists (especially in 2021) has somewhat compensated the loss of international tourism, but has not changed it. The tourism business is still going through a difficult period. This article emphasizes the issues of local and inbound tourism business in Lithuania in the context of Covid-19 pandemic. The greatest attention is placed on the instruments proposed by the Lithuanian Government to mitigate the negative consequences of the pandemic on tourism service. The research combines secondary and primary data sources. Secondary data was used for the analysis of official Lithuanian statistics in order to introduce general trends of the development of tourism sector during the last decade. Primary data was received using the methods of focus group and survey (a questionnaire to collect data sets from tourism business enterprises in Lithuania). The statistical analysis revealed that the difficult situation was noticed in all fields of tourism sector, however, the main losers of the pandemic were those relying on the international tourist. The analysis of official documents disclosed, that even though the tourism business was able to benefit from the variety of offered governmental aid packages in 2020–2021, the quantity and quality of support was not enough and strongly criticized. Our survey results pointed out the instruments that were most effective among the tourism enterprises. Moreover, from the collected answers we noticed, that at least part of tourism enterprises took the opportunity to use the support not only for compensation of pandemic related costs but also to look forward and the received financial support invested in innovative solutions in the tourism business, so pandemic potentially had some positive effects as well. Also, the survey results reviled that there are considerable opportunities for tourism related development of the nature rich, non-metropolitan regions, though at the moment these activities quite often remain outside the market relations and do not produce new incomes and jobs.
Lietuvos socialinių tyrimų centro Visuomenės geografijos ir demografijos institutasSANTRAUKA Šio tyrimo tikslas -atskleisti depopuliacijos įtaką bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų tinklo kaitai Lietuvos probleminiuose regionuose. Tyrimo objektas -22 retai apgyvendintos savivaldybės (toliau -RAS), kuriose kaimo gyventojų tankumas siekia iki 12,5 gyv./km². Tyrimo metu patvirtinta, kad depopuliacija, prastėjantys demografiniai rodikliai, mažėjantis mokinių skaičius prisideda prie bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų tinklo nykimo. Tai ypač akivaizdu RAS: 2001-2017 m. gyventojų skaičius šalyje sumažėjo 18 proc., RAS -28 proc.; 2001-2016 m. bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų skaičius šalyje sumažėjo 49 proc., RAS -62 proc. Ši tendencija ypač ryški Šiaurės Rytų ir Pietų Lietuvos savivaldybėse. Prielaidų, kad artimiausiu metu pasikeis demografinė situacija ir tendencijos, nėra, vadinasi, mokyklų tinklas ir toliau trauksis. Daugiausia galimybių išlikti turi mokyklos, esančios didesnėse gyvenvietėse, savivaldybių administraciniuose centruose. Jos turėtų užtikrinti ne minimalų, o visuomenės poreikius atitinkantį išsilavinimo lygį.Siekiant pristabdyti bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų tinklo nykimą RAS, turėtų būti mažinami reikalavimai kaimo mokykloms (leista formuoti mažiau mokinių turinčias klases, mažinti privalomą krūvį mokytojams), skiriami priedai prie atlyginimo mokytojams, dirbantiems RAS, labiau apgalvotai reorganizuojamos mokyklos ir kt.Reikšminiai žodžiai: depopuliacija, probleminiai regionai, retai apgyvendintos teritorijos, bendrojo ugdymo mokykla, socialinė atskirtis, teritorinė atskirtis. 1 Straipsnis parengtas pagal VI nacionalinėje mokslinėje konferencijoje Geografija: mokslas ir edukacija skaitytą pranešimą Depopuliacijos įtaka bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų tinklo kaitai Lietuvos probleminiuose regionuose 2001-2016 m. Tyrimą finansuoja Lietuvos mokslo taryba (sutarties Nr. GER-005/2017). Jis įgyvendintas bendradarbiaujant su Lietuvos socialinių tyrimų centro doktorante V. Baranauskiene. Viktorija Baranauskienė, Vidmantas Daugirdas Geografija ir edukacija. 2018 (6) ĮVADASMokykla ir visa šalies švietimo sistema yra mūsų tautos išlikimo pagrindas. Pastaraisiais dešimtmečiais mažėjant šalies gyventojų skaičiui, mažėja ir mokinių skaičius, nyksta mokyklų tinklas. Mokyklos buvo ne tik likviduojamos, bet ir reorganizuojamos: dauguma mokyklų buvo sujungtos, prijungtos prie kitų mokyklų, paverstos kitų mokyklų skyriais, pakeisti mokyklų statusai (pvz., pagrindinė mokykla tapo pradinio ugdymo įstaiga arba mokykla buvo reorganizuota į progimnaziją ir gimnaziją), mokyklose nebuvo komplektuojamos tam tikros klasės arba jos sujungiamos (LR švietimo ir mokslo ministerija, 2004(LR švietimo ir mokslo ministerija, , 2008(LR švietimo ir mokslo ministerija, , 2015(LR švietimo ir mokslo ministerija, , 2017. Be to, kai kurios mokyklos, daugiausia pradinio ugdymo, išliko įregistruotos kaip švietimo įstaigos, tačiau realiai neveikė, nes jose nebeliko mokinių. Todėl bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų tinklo kaitą yra gana sudėtinga vertinti. Šio tyrimo tikslas -atskleisti depopuliacijos ...
In the world which globalizes and levels out the differences of language dialects, their usage becomes an expression of a natural ethnic identity. The studies of their actual changes can reveal the ongoing processes in society. Unfortunately, studies of this kind are very few. To the authors’ knowledge, there has been no research focusing on regional patterns of dialect usage. Based on the data provided by the research project Sociolinguistic Map of Lithuania: Towns and Villages, the authors analyse the use of dialects in 67 towns of Lithuania with the population exceeding 3,000 people. The aim of the article is to determine regional peculiarities of sociolinguistic use and attitudes towards dialects, i.e. the distribution patterns of regional identity.The first section of the article is devoted to the opinions about the links of the distribution of the most beautiful, most common, most prestigious and hardly understandable dialects to the ethnographic regional structure of Lithuania. It has been determined that in smaller Lithuanian towns, especially the ones situated in the regional kernels, the usage of the dialects is still vital and regional identity is still very strong, whereas the residents of big towns, except Klaipėda, value the dialect of the region of their origin more than the dialect of their current region. The Žemaitija and Aukštaitija regions are dialectically strongest in Lithuania. Their dialects tend to spread. Meanwhile, the positions of the dialect in the small region of Dzūkija and regional identity of its population are weaker.The second section analyses opinions about the value of dialects and the necessity to preserve them. The residents of regions and towns with homogeneous ethnic structure are more determined to encourage the younger generation to use their native dialect. The same attitude is also characteristic of the population residing in kernels of regions.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.