Spatially Determined Risks of Social Exclusion: Risk Tree Building

Abstract

The development of every Ukrainian’s life space is an extremely important aspect of social policy, which should be aimed at improving the state of human development and the constant expansion of development opportunities, the progress in the relevant spheres of social life. The identification, certain ordering and the classification of risks for human development, in particular regarding the prevention of social rejection, using spatially determined factors should become the primary stage of community development policy formation. Understanding of the disadvantages and advantages that are characteristic of the geographical location of territorial entities, the level of their provision with social services and other social benefits allows a conscious approach to the prevention of threats of social rejection in communities.The purpose of the article is to study the spatially determined risk of social rejection, to determine its hierarchical structure through the construction of a risk tree. This article examines the hierarchy of threats of social rejection due to spatially determined factors based on the author’s concept of the space of human development as the latter’s spatial model and the content of the notion of spatially determined risk to human development, which emerges from it. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the author has determined the hierarchical structure of spatially determined risks for human development, which allows to create a theoretical and methodological basis for the assessment of risks in question. In particular, it has been determined that the structuring of risks allows to distinguish seven main groups. They are: risks of the geographical environment; risks caused by the state of environment; risks caused by the state of artificial environment; risks of spatial and temporal availability; risks caused by the state of economic environment; risks caused by the state of social environment; risks caused by the conditions of everyday life. In order to achieve the goal, the research used a number of general scientific methods — a systemic approach (for determining the main elements of the risk tree for spatially determined risk to human development as a system), the method of analysis, synthesis, generalization (for forming the elemental composition of individual branches of the risk tree for spatially determined risk of social rejection), as well as the logical-graphic method (for building a risk tree for spatially determined risk of social rejection).