Author: Human Geographies - Journal of Studies and Research in Human Geography

By Posted on Posted in Volume 11, Issue 1, 2017 Tagged with , , ,

The contribution deals with the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union on agriculture of the Czech and Slovak Republic, focusing on livestock production. The analysis is focused on ten years’ development of livestock production after the entry of the Czech and Slovak Republic into the EU. Both countries are evaluated in the mutual comparison of selected indicators such as gross agricultural production, stock of animals, intensity of production or agricultural employment. Part of the contribution is the demonstration of the regional differentiation and trends in livestock production taking place in the Czech and Slovak Republic. In conclusion, we examine the consequences of decline in livestock production in the Czech and Slovak Republic reflected in the foreign trade between these countries, and it is closely connected with state sovereignty in livestock products.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 11, Issue 1, 2017 Tagged with , ,

The quality of dwelling, one of the main components of the urban and rural living conditions, is the result of political, legislative, economic, demographic contexts. The present paper approaches the complex issues of dwelling quality in the Romanian Danube Valley, based on the territorial disparities (LAU2 level) of three types of statistical indicators: dwelling stock (% of finished dwellings, % of finished dwellings out of the total number of dwellings), dwelling development indicators (living floor/m2 dwelling, living floor m2/inhabitant, density of dwellings) and comfort indicators (access to drinking water, sewerage, electricity, etc.). Differences in the Danube Valley dwelling quality are revealed by the Dwelling Quality Index (DQI).

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 2, 2016 Tagged with , ,

This article aims to map the manner in which the first industrial units crystalized in Bucharest and their subsequent dynamic. Another phenomenon considered was the way industrial sites grew and propagated and how the first industrial clusters formed, thus amplifying the functional variety of the city. The analysis was undertaken using Historical GIS, which allowed to integrate elements of industrial history with the location of the most important industrial objectives. Working in GIS meant creating a database with the existing factories in Bucharest, but also those that had existed in different periods. Integrating the historical with the spatial information about industry in Bucharest was preceded by thorough preparations, which included geo-referencing sources (city plans and old maps) and rectifying them. This research intends to serve as an example of how integrating past and present spatial data allows for the analysis of an already concluded phenomenon and also explains why certain present elements got to their current state.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 2, 2016 Tagged with , , , , ,

This paper aims to provide a regionally integrated image of Botoșani County, by identifying base typologies concerning the administrative units inside the region it belongs. The analysis of the study focuses on the social and economic sectors aiming to underline the inequities from within. The state of the rural environment in region of Moldavia is statistically analyzed based on data provided by the Romanian Censuses for 2002 and 2011. This analysis serves to fulfill the purpose of this paper, which is to place Botoșani County in its integrated regional position argued from a complex perspective but capable to emphasize it at territorial level. The main results of the analysis concerning the economic and social typologies are acquired through the standardized values of the indicators used, through highlighting the existing positive and negative deviations, and also by setting a profile for each base administrative unit. This study is descriptive and analytic, being meant to highlight the evolution of the demographic, economic and social domains in Moldavia and Botoșani County in the period 2002–2011, the tendency of classifying the NUTS 3 administrative units by the deviations from regional means.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 2, 2016 Tagged with , , , , ,

Territorial changes of agriculture land use between 2008 and 2013 were studied in the Brno Metropolitan Area, consisting of the territory of 167 municipalities around the city of Brno, Czech Republic. The article describes the ways of thinking about land use changes and evaluates differences of land use changes between agriculture system LPIS and Cadastre. Analyses identify differences between databases and detected partial outdated data in Cadastre and therefore conclude, that the most common source is not in some cases precise to express the situation of decreases of agriculture land. The largest decreases were caused according to LPIS by a construction of solar power plants, sand quarries, and urbanization. The end of the article is focused on raising awareness about the possibilities of reducing the negative impact of changes in agricultural land, which emphasizes the education about land use changes irreversibility as the most important.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 2, 2016 Tagged with , , ,

Deindustrialisation is one of the most complex and dynamic processes that have shaped the global economy over the past half century. This article aims to highlight the factors behind this process and their implications in the national state industry. In Romania, deindustrialization has profoundly marked recent history, after 1990, through the closure of hundreds of factories and the loss of over 2.5 million jobs. The process resulted in the rising of unemployment and of the crime rate and generated the phenomenon of poverty. The research results were obtained by studying the economic policies adopted by eight governments between 1990 and 2006. The study underlines that deindustrialization in Romania was a consequence of an accumulation of internal and external factors whose impact was amplified by the failure of government policies.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 2, 2016 Tagged with , , ,

The paper is aiming to discuss the role of deindustrialization in generating socio-economic dislocation at regional level. The change of industry along the way from the centrally-planned to market oriented economy, while redefining the spatial patterns of growth and decline, has combined with emergent forms of social and economic inequality. The specific aims of the paper are twofold. First, having the privilege of a two and a half-decade long perspective, the paper looks back at the period of deindustrialization, pinpointing the successive waves of employment decline in the wider context of the extensive process of economic restructuring. Second, using methods of spatial analysis, the paper examines the new distribution pattern of industrial change in the Danube region, specifying in empirical terms the relation with evolutionary trends and regional specialization. The findings pinpoint at the consequences of the far-reaching deindustrialization process on the regional economic base of the Danube towns.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 1, 2016 Tagged with , , ,

This paper examines effects of postsocialist deindustrialization through a case study from Bucharest City, Romania. The paper use scientific papers and real estate company reports to analyse the postsocialist transformation of former industrial buildings in Central-Eastern European countries, and an industrial site survey and GIS mapping for Bucharest City. The results show a common pattern for the postsocialist countries, with effects on diminishing the role of industry in the total economy, the tendency to convert the plants to residential and commercial use. In several cases the plants are fragmented in small production units or abandoned awaiting for a new purpose. Socio-economic transformation suggests a transition to service sector for the labour market. The paper concludes that transformation of postsocialist plants might required attention from owners and public administration, especially for the buildings with the historical and architectural meaning.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 1, 2016 Tagged with , , , ,

The process of urbanization in Romania was a very tumultuous and slightly different one compared to other Central and Eastern European countries, being marked by the constant willingness to increase the degree of urbanization. The communist period was the most significant from this point of view, by considering both the number of newly declared towns and urban population growth. The urbanization of communist era corroborated with the excessive and forced industrialization has generated imbalances in the urban system and created distortions in the urban hierarchy. However, the legislative inconsistency and the lack of urban regulations during the post – communist period have lead to the increasing number of new (quasi) urban units (many of which without urban amenities) to the chaotic sub-urbanization of cities and urban decline. In many cases, the ability of local authorities to manage the urban development in the early years of transition has been hampered by inadequate legislation that regulates the urban growth in a completely different socio-economic system. Thus, the lacks of specific urban policies and urban regeneration plans have determined indirectly a hypertrophic evolution and an uncontrolled suburban expansion. Bucharest, the capital of the country has been most affected by these processes determining multilayered space transformation within the city and open space conversion to commercial and residential use, both affecting the urban environment and quality of life of urban-rural communities. The paper focuses on the patterns, the driving forces and the consequences of two opposing processes: socialist forced urbanization vs. post-socialist chaotic urbanization unfolding across the national urban landscape.

Read more ›

By Posted on Posted in Volume 10, Issue 1, 2016 Tagged with , , , , , ,

This paper aims to present a generic theoretical framework of interpretation as field of study, ultimately related to and focusing on tourism interpretation and heritage interpretation. It primarily introduce and discusses the international evolution of interpretaion as field and the pillars of interpretation; namely the priciples of interpretation as firstly introduced by Freeman Tilden. Secondly the paper attempts to analyse to what extent modern interpretation is currently experienced in selected Romanian museums through the means of relevant case studies. There are two selected case studies as significant and symbolic institutions for the Romanian museum network: The Peasant Museum – Bucharest and The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance – Sighetul Marmației. Thirdly, the paper drafts a broader picture showing on what extent priciples of interpretation and heritage intepretation are familiar to Romanian museums and how much of them are in use.

Read more ›