ANDĚL Jiří:
Social geographic changes in the Ústí nad Labem region during the transformation stage. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 1, pp. 63 – 77 (2002). – The article focuses the observation of social geographical changes that have occurred in the Ústí nad Labem region since 1989. On the one hand, we have been observing general trends typical for our society as a whole. On the other hand, we have traced certain inertia tendencies (ensuing from particularities in terms of location, population and economy) that differentiate the Ústí nad Labem region from the rest of the Czech Republic.
Key words: social geographical development – the factors of regional differentiation – Ústí nad Labem region.
ANDĚL Jiří:
The development of the settlement structure and population in the frontier districts in the Ústí Region. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 3, pp. 243 – 259 (2002). – The aim of this article is to demonstrate the uniqueness of the territory studied and the singularity of the genesis of its settlement structure. The article attempts to outline the causes and consequences of the development within a broad spatial and functional context. The origin and development of most of the settlements that have been developing in the territory of the basin districts since the early Middle Ages, have been determined by nature, their location, but also by politics. Compared with other eras, the population of the frontier districts is distributed relatively evenly and all the particular settlements are of small extent. The critical changes took place during the periods of industrialization and subsequent urbanization. The process is shown in the synthetic part of the article (population median, concentration median etc.). Later, significant settlement centres developed in the basin area. They have kept growing since the half of the 20th century, even to the exclusion of the settlements that were demolished as a result of extensive opencast brown-coal mining.
KEY WORDS: historical-regional geography – socio-geographical region – settlement structure – Ústí Region.
ANDĚL Jiří, SUCHEVIČ Sáva, ŠKUBNOVÁ Veronika:
Recreation Potential in the Background of Ústí nad Labem City. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 3, pp. 296 – 308 (2002). – The article evaluates the natural, cultural and historic preconditions of Ústí nad Labem for the recreational activities and their development. It defines localities of individual recreation and provides the results of a questionnaire survey carried out in some of them. The survey confirmed the hypothesis affirming that recreation places within the city are relatively closed and used dominantly by the inhabitants of the city.
Key words: recreation – natural preconditions – cultural and historical preconditions – recreation places.
BRÁZDIL Rudolf:
Meteorological extremes and floods in the Czech Republic – the natural trend or an impact of the global warming? – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 4, pp. 349 – 370 (2002). – Meteorological extremes and floods cause every year considerable material damage and losses of human lives. The article summarises the present state of the study of this topic in the Czech Republic. It defines the concept of meteorological extremes and discusses problems of the starting data. The fluctuation of extreme daily precipitation totals, drought, floods and strong winds is illustrated on several examples. The results indicate the ambiguity of the observed trends in connection with the process of the global warming, which, according to the present ideas, should cause the increase in frequencies and intensity of many extremes. The importance of historical-climatological data is stressed for extending the information about meteorological extremes and floods to the period before the beginning of systematic observations. The problem of impacts of meteorological extremes is discussed as well as measures aiming at the minimalization of material damage and victims.
KEY WORDS: meteorological extremes – precipitation – drought – floods – gales – Czech Republic.
BRÁZDIL Rudolf, VALÁŠEK Hubert:
Meteorological measurements and observations at Zákupy in 1718 – 1720. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 1, pp. 1 – 22 (2002). Meteorological observations of the physician Johann Carl Rost at Zákupy (north Bohemia) in the years 1718 – 1720, published in the overviews of meteorological observations from several European localities by a Wrocław physician Johann Kanold, are analysed. Whereas from October 1718 to December 1719 and from April to December 1720 it is only summary monthly information, from 21 December 1719 to 31 March 1720 Rost performed three times a day measurements of air temperature and pressure and observations of the wind direction and the course of the weather. These records are the object of detailed climatological analysis, completed by the reconstructed surface pressure field of these months. The summarising monthly information is compared with accessible data of Czech narrative sources. Rost’s observations are so far the oldest systematic instrumental measurements in the Czech Lands.
KEY WORDS: meteorological measurements – air pressure – air temperature – wind direction – Johann Carl Rost – Zákupy.
BRZÓSKA Martin, CHVÁTALOVÁ Alena, KUNC Karel:
Hydro-reclamation as an element of land regeneration in the Podkrušnohoří region. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 3, pp. 230 – 242 (2002). – The report deals with the reclamation and revitalization carried out in the brown-coal field area in the Ore Mountains foothills with extensive open coal mining. Three basic modes of reclamation (agricultural, forest, and hydro) are mentioned. Considering the environmental, technical, and financial perspectives, the decision to flood residual pit mines is assessed as the most convenient alternative. Utilization of new ponds will be multifunctional. There are nevertheless many risks relating to this project, unique in the Czech Republic. They are concretised in the example of the Chabařovice residual pit mine, which is already being flooded.
Key words: brown coal mining – hydro-recultivation – Czechia – Podkrušnohoří.
DOSTÁL Petr:
EU enlargement and the public opinion on the Czech Republic: an explanatory analysis. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 2, pp. 121 – 138 (2002). – The article provides an analysis of the public opinion in EU countries on the anticipated Czech membership. Public opinion and mass interest articulations are central to studies on European integration. Macro-geographical structure of the EU and its enlarged periphery of associated countries is examined in order to derive basic explanatory assumptions. The differentiation in the support for the Czech membership is explained with the help of structural variables and public opinion variables. Statistical analysis (LISREL model) shows the importance of post-materialist value orientation of the EU populations for their support given to the enlargement with the Czech Republic. The public in rich and large countries and in French-speaking parts of the EU tends to give less support for the Czech accession indicating that a strong integrative sense of a larger European community still has to emerge.
Key words: European Union enlargement – public opinion – Czech Republic.
HAMPL Martin:
Regional organisation of society: principles and problems of the research. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 4, pp. 333 – 348 (2002). – The article focuses on general problems of human geography such as definition of subject of the study, nature of geographical regularities or possibilities of explanation. Two fundamental properties of geosocietal systems and their conditioning are emphasised. First, there is the qualitative heterogeneity of conditioning factors leading the specialisation of parts and corresponding territorial division of labour/activities in the framework of the geosocietal systems. Second, there is the functional and size differentiation of parts (settlements, regions, etc.) having its basic order in the hierarchical form of organization of these systems. Research themes of high priority in human geography have to be forms of hierarchies and mechanisms of their creation and the relation of hierarchical organisation to territorial division of labour.
KEY WORDS: human geography – regional organisation – hierarchy – complex regime – regularities of differentiation.
HYNEK Alois::
The Challenges of IGU Helsinki Symposium for the Czech geographical education. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 1, pp. 396 – 406 (2002). – Apologizing the traditional/conservative state of geographical education for years in the Czechlands causes serious troubles in an international communication evident by comparison with IGU-CGE Helsinki symposium, 2001. Prevailing individual and encyclopedia facts/concepts in the Czech geographical education describing geographical reality can only help for being competent at TV quizzes as the Millionaire. Not only reflexive, but also socially constructed geography ought to be accepted in geographical education. The competence and agency is the main challenge for geographical education at the starting point of a new Czech geography curriculum.
KEY WORDS: innovative practices in geographical education – international and the Czech situation – competence and agency in geographical education.
JANSKÝ Bohumír:
Changing Water Quality in the Czech Part of the Elbe Catchment Area in the 1990s. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 2, pp. 98 – 110 (2002). – The Elbe is the largest river of the Czech Republic. On the state boundary it has an average long-term flow rate of 315 m3/s and it drains 2/3 of Czech territory into the North Sea. The alluvial plain of the Elbe was from the very beginning of our history an important migration corridor and later it gained a substantial economic significance. The impulse for the cooperation of Czechs and Germans on the Elbe was the unification of Germany. In 1990 an “Agreement about the International Commission for the Protection of the Elbe” was signed, and in 1992 regular Czech-German expert seminars started to take place. Geographers from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University in Prague participated in the cooperation with German academic institutions. They introduced some new methodical approaches into the research of surface water quality and they achieved a number of valuable results. In twelve years of intensive scientific activities and substantial financial investments into the sanitation of sewage water from the largest pollution sources, water quality in the Elbe has improved markedly.
KEY WORDS: water quality – Elbe catchment area – Magdeburg Seminars – Czech-German cooperation – regional approach to water quality – negative influence of agriculture – development of surface water pollution.
JEŘÁBEK Milan:
Czech-Saxon Cross-Border Cooperation With Special Attention to the Elbe/Labe Euroregion. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 3, pp. 260 – 276 (2002). – The paper deals with cross-border cooperation, which, since the 1990’s, has become an indelible element of regional development of Czech borderland areas. The most important role is played by the Interreg initiative and the CBC PHARE programme. The level and the uality of practical cross-border cooperation are, among other factors, mainly affected by general conditions and geographical position. Particular cases of cross-border cooperation are carried through in various fields (e.g. the arts) on all macro, mezzo and micro levels in a wide range of forms (e.g. partnerships between settlements). Euroregions play the cardinal part in initiating and co-ordinating European integration. The Elbe/Labe Euroregion is one of the 5 Euroregions, which are located on the Czech – German border. Cross-border cooperation is there mainly carried through particular projects, the specification of which is outlined in this paper. The greatest attention is paid to conception issues and to the development of regions.
Key words: Borderland areas – cross-border cooperation – European integration – Euroregion – CBC PHARE – INTERREG.
LANGHAMMER Jakub:
Evaluation of non-point sources of surface water pollution. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 1, pp. 23 – 39 (2002). The non-point pollution sources represent an increasingly important component of the total pollution balance in the country as a result of a gradual reduction of the pollution load from point sources of surface water pollution. As this pollution component cannot be directly measured, various methods of calculation and modelling are used. The author has developed a new methodology for accurate evaluation of the spatial distribution of the pollution load from a river basin under the form of an empirical grid-based GIS model. The article describes this methodology and its application to the Berounka river basin with the aim to evaluate the spatial distribution of the load of the key pollution parameters.
Key words: water quality – non-point pollution – GIS – models.
KLIMEŠ Jan:
Analysis of the Causative Factors of Landslides Triggered by the Extreme Rainfalls in 1997, Vsetín District, Czechia. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 1, pp. 40 – 49 (2002). The main objective of this study is to determine and analyse the terrain conditions which contributed to the evolution of landslides after the 1997 rain event and to perform the slope instability hazard zonation mapping of the Soláň Brook sample drainage basin. The GIS means are used for compilation of the slope instability hazard zonation map.
KEY WORDS: landslides – causative factors – Vsetín District, Czechia.
KOPAČKA Ludvík:
Energy, economy and environment in the Czech Republic. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 2, pp. 139 – 155 (2002). – The author deals in this paper with contemporary situation and problems of energy and power industry in the Czech Republic with respect to the transition processes since 1989. The paper analyses the roots of structural deformations and concentrates itself on some aspects of production and consumption of primary energy resources and electricity. After historical introduction the paper attempts to analyze the core of energy problem, changes of the overall energy balance, special attention is given to the importance, exploitation and environmental impacts of the coal mining and to the crucial crossway between brown coal and nuclear energy by the production of electricity. Conclusion evaluates main results of transition in the energy industry and deduces strategic courses of the solution of the Czech energy as a part of the general economic development.
Key words: transition – primary energy resources – energy demandingness – energy balance – hard (brown) coal mining – electricity production – steam (nuclear) power plants – uranium industry – environment.
MÜLLER Bernhard, ROCH Isolde:
Problémy pohraničí a perspektivy přeshraniční spolupráce ze středoevropského pohledu. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 4, pp. 383 – 395 (2002). – Němečtí autoři přicházejí s pohledem „zvenčí“ na problematiku pohraničí a přeshraniční spolupráce, a to na úrovni středoevropské a česko-německé. V obecné části vycházejí z všeobecně známého Martinezova modelu. Předpokládají, že s ohledem na rozšíření Evropské unie dojde k nárůstu významu pohraničí. Mezi aktéry přeshraniční spolupráce a příslušné struktury – vždy s odpovídající funkcí – patří na jednotlivých řádovostních úrovních: celostátní instituce, euroregiony, rozvojové agentury, obce, jakož i různá sdružení (spolky), firmy či iniciativy. Dále jsou analyzovány zkušenosti z česko-německého pohraničí, kde jsou využívány programy Interreg a Phare CBC. Nejvíce realizovaných projektů se řadí do cestovního ruchu a ekonomického rozvoje, územně se koncentrují do Euroregionu Nisa. V sousedských vztazích lze definovat pozitivní, ale i negativní aspekty. Zlepšení v této oblasti je navrhováno prostřednictvím opatření („stavebních kamenů“) jako předškolní výchova, školní vzdělávání, další vzdělávání pedagogů, hospodářské podniky, práce s veřejností). Tím bude dosaženo perspektivního cíle: decentralizované kooperace a vytvoření zóny ekonomické integrace.
KLÍČOVÁ SLOVA: česko-německé pohraničí – Euroregion Nisa – přeshraniční spolupráce – střední Evropa.
POŠTOLKA Václav:
Czech Geography and Environmental Issues after 1989. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 1, pp. 50 – 62 (2002). The contribution brings the author‘s personal views and attempts reflecting some of the important events, outcomes and trends in the Czech geography dealing with environmental issues in the first period after the 1989 turnover. The environmental issues permanently provide a large and significant – but after 1989 much more open and challenging – arena to geography. The author illustrates and tries to stress in a critical way based on several selected examples and activities that both geography / geographers activities and geographical studies / aspects / approaches did not effectively use this opportunity nor did they penetrate into the newly evolved and newly forming science and practice policies. On the contrary, the Czech geography’s position in terms of environmental issues can be seen as defensive and therefore also weakening, especially in comparison with the development in the former German Democratic Republic and Poland. For instance, the Institute of Geography, Czechoslovak Academy of Science, which prepared and published the unique Atlas of Environment and Population Health of Czechoslovakia (1992) was abolished. Geography, however, must not resign from its role and ambitions to be one of the very important, maybe key disciplines dealing with the environmental issues.
Key words: Czech geography – environmental issues – 1989-95 events – priorities and projects – affected areas – Atlas of Environment and Health.
POŠTOLKA Václav:
Developement, particularities and problems of territorial administrative division of north-western Bohemia. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 3, pp. 277 – 295 (2002). – The area of the North-Western Bohemia (NWB, covered by three from the 1st January 2000 in the Czech Republic 14 existing new counties) will be divided from 1st January 2003 – in compliance with ongoing public administration reforms – to 33 new and smaller „districts“ (instead of more than 40 years existing 14 districts). The paper deals with internal territorial division of public administration units (counties and districts) of the NWB area in the past (see enclosed tables). In order to assess and classify both necessity and significance of recently proposed centers and their future areas the author applies to assess their „population size“ (which is one of key aspects used in the reform proposals). According to the new districts „population size“ – the average size is only 47 thsd inh. The author identifies group of the „smaller and disputable districts“, in which he looks one of very dispute and risky results of the reform. This is emphasized by comparison with the simultaneous development and achieved results of the territorial division in the neighbouring countries Saxony / Germany and Lower Silesia / Poland. After completion of this paper the Senat of the Czech Republic approved this proposal, but moreover the number of all the new „districts“ for the whole CR territory grow up from 194 up to 205 units (instead of 76 existing districts).
Key words: North – Western Bohemia – public administration division in the past and its new changes – new counties and new declared districts and their centers – disputable centers and districts – comparison with Saxony / Germany and Lower Silesia / Poland.
RYCHTAŘÍKOVÁ Jitka:
Czech mortality patterns: the past, the present, and regional dissimilarities. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 2, pp. 156 – 170 (2002). – In the interwar period, life expectancy at birth in the Czech Republic was close to the levels observed in France. After the World War II, three dissimilar stages in the development of life expectancy at birth became apparent in the Czech Republic: 1. between World War II and the mid-1960s characterized by mortality decrease; 2. from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, showing the deterioration of the survival rate; and 3) from the mid-1980s or the beginning of the 1990s to the present with a reappearance of a new decline in mortality. The recent improvements in the survival rate have been primarily due to the reduction of mortality from circulatory diseases and at older ages. Significantly diverse cause-of-death profiles were found in the Ostrava, Zlín, Karlovy Vary and the Central Bohemia regions, with similar deviations for both sexes in 1994 – 1997.
KEY WORDS: Mortality – Czech Republic – regional differences by cause.
VAISHAR Antonín:
Development of the settlement system in the Ostrava agglomeration and possibilities of its restructuring. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 2, pp. 171 – 188 (2002). – Large-scale coal-mining regions were showing specific settlement from the 19th century. The original typical system with towns as centres and their hinterlands was remodelled to a mosaic of coal pits, miner colonies (later housing quarters) and industrial factories interwoven with a dense web of infrastructure. The region of Ostrava is one of examples; here the mining of black coal linked up with the metallurgy of iron, heavy engineering and chemical industry. The region’s economic base has experienced a restructuring in connexion with social changes after the year 1989 with individual towns seeking new functions and place in the system of settlement.
Key words: settlement system – Ostrava agglomeration (Czechia) – coal mining and metallurgy restructuring.
VOŽENÍLEK Vít:
Terrain Sensitivity in environmental models. – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 2, pp. 111 – 120 (2002). – Environmental models involved many spatial components. A terrain (Earth’s surface) is often included as crucial factor of modelled processes. Terrain is a continuous phenomenon that is represented by various discrete or networked means. This dimensional variability in representation process impacts in both inherent terrain parameters (incl. surface forms) and modelled outcomes. The paper treats various aspects and shows them in examples.
Key words: Environmental models – terrain sensitivity – GIS – digital terrain models.
VOŽENÍLEK Vít:
Geoinformatic literacy: indispensability or nonsense? – Geografie – Sborník ČGS, 107, 4, pp. 371 – 382 (2002). – (Geo)information technologies have impacted most scientific fields. Geography takes part in this progress and educates new generation of decision makers which will be able to apply the latest scientific outcomes in many branches of science, society and landscape. This situation strongly requires geoinformatic literacy. The geoinformatic literacy consists of geographic, cartographic and informatic literacy. There are two main ways of applying geoinformatic literacy in geographic practice – awareness and using. A current multidisciplinarity in geographic applications requires awareness of fundamental knowledge of geoinformatics and their technologies. Geographers need either to understand GI-experts (involved in projects) or to process procedures of geoinformation technologies (GIS, GPS, remote sensing, geostatistics etc.).
Key words: literacy – geoinformatics – geography – education.