Volume 41, Number 2

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Development of retail geographical structure in the Czech Republic: a contribution to the study of urban environment changes

Zdeněk Szczyrba

pp. 5–20

Abstract

In the last 20 years of transformation, the Czech retail business underwent fundamental changes in its territorial and organisational structure and in numerous cases reflects the model of retail trade transformation within the Central European region. After a long period of time of the development of the so-called socialist trading, the countries in the region were affected, with unprecedented intensity, by new, hitherto unknown forms of retailing within the expansion of foreign retail chains to their markets. Such changes took very marked effect in the urban structure of the landscape in these countries, for example in the Czech Republic. The following paper captures the basic extent of transformation of the Czech retail business and its reflection in the urban environment.

Key words

Czech Republic, internationalisation of retail, urban environment

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Migration from the countries of former Yugoslavia and its impact on international relations

Michal Šrubař, Miloš Fňukal

pp. 21–36

Abstract

The aim of the submitted article is to present an analysis of external migration from and to the territory of former Yugoslavia after 1990 and to identify its impact on international relations. In the first section the authors present the character and fundamental attributes of the migrations brought about by the breakup of Yugoslavia, and in the next section they attempt to determine material and temporal connections between the changes to the migration and integration policy of the destination countries in response to the humanitarian crisis in Yugoslavia. The authors also attempt to map the possible influences of the southern Slavic and Kosovo communities on international relations, primarily on the level of bilateral relations between the successor states of former Yugoslavia and countries hosting large communities of persons of southern Slavic origin. From the conducted analysis it ensues that migration after 1990 was primarily forced and was in connection with military conflicts and human rights violations on a mass scale. In addition to this, external migration was also stimulated by a strong economic motivation. The destination and potential destination countries progressively formulated a strategy for conflict resolution, which resides in a strict time limitation of the residence of refugees (status of temporary protection) and is intended to prevent their permanent settlement: the political endeavour was directed towards ensuring the security of the displaced persons directly on the site of the conflict or in the immediate surroundings thereof, and specific political solutions are also adapted to this target, in particular with regard to speed and effectiveness. Visa policy is also adapted towards this goal, and there is an evident trend to prevent any uncontrollable and unregulated mass migrations of population.

Key words

migration, former Yugoslavia, Europe, migration policy, international relations

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Sociological, demographic and spatial aspects of the singles phenomenon in the Czech Republic

Marián Halás, Lucie Formanová

pp. 37–52

Abstract

The growing number of single people, postponing marriages until later or alternative forms of cohabitation, are topics which are appearing more and more often in the headlines of not only glossy magazines for the so called “modern men” but also of daily broadsheets. We speak about a new lifestyle – singles. In Western Europe it is quite a common term, in the Czech Republic, however, it is a new trend which has been recently gaining popularity. The aim of the article is a complex evaluation of the singles phenomenon, mainly at the theoretical level with emphasis on its sociological and demographic aspects. In the brief empirical part we are going to try to analyze selected demographic indicators concerning the singles phenomenon (e.g. nuptiality, divorce rate, the average age of mothers at first birth, the proportion of children born out of wedlock etc.), their development in the whole area of the Czech Republic and partly also their spatial differentiation.

Key words

singles, sociological aspects, demographic aspects, spatial differentiation, the Czech Republic

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Retention in the floodplain forest in Litovelské Pomoraví

Aleš Létal

pp. 53–64

Abstract

The paper deals with the retention of floods in a specific landscape with well-preserved anastomosis river pattern of the Morava River. Water regime of the Morava River in the Protected Landscape Area Litovelské Pomoraví connected with regular floods led to the formation of unique floodplain forest ecosystem. Research activities were conducted with a typical floodplain forest with preserved naturally meandering watercourse and system of permanent and periodic river arms and linear depressions. Due to the unique system of floodplain forest, which is in the relatively well-preserved section to investigate the importance of floodplain forest, specific river system in conjunction with the retention of water during floods or extreme precipitation events. This article aims to reveal the possibility of retention in a specific type of river landscape with a few proven methods. The classic method is to use double-ring in filtrometer to measure infiltration in the environment of floodplain forest and meadows, which are dominant land-use types in the research area. To detect the capacity of water retention in the system of river branches and depressions have been used traditional total station survey combined with DGPS (differential GPS technique) to obtain accurate extent of depressions, channels and surface. The calculations were carried out in ArcGIS software with extensions. The research activities were performed within 3 years from September-April (2007-2009). The measurement in the floodplain forest can be realized only during the dormancy period after the winter, when the surface was free of herb layer (summer aspect) before spring floods occured.

Key words

floodplain forest, retention, infiltration

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Labour market in the Czech Republic during the present economic crisis

Václav Toušek, Václav Novák

pp. 65–80

Abstract

In their article the authors present a hypothesis that even at the time of economic crisis regional differences in the labour market situation may decrease. Temporal and spatial analysis of the Eurostat data on unemployment has unequivocally proved that the economic crisis has deepened the differences in the level of unemployment between the individual EU member countries. However a similar unemployment data analysis for 77 districts of the CR has lead to the knowledge that in the Czech Republic the differences in unemployment have decreased. This fact was significantly influenced by two main factors, namely the large-scale character of the economic crisis, and the well-chosen tools of regional politics in the CR prior to the crisis (support of direct foreign investment, support of the construction of industrial zones etc.). The authors have chosen the coefficient of variation as the basic indicator for metering of regional differences.

Key words

economic crisis; unemployment; regional differences; coefficient of variation

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