Contemporary Human Geography of Czechia

This course covers selected topics from the human geography of Czechia. Its introductory part will provide a historical background and the discussion of the position of Czechia within the EU. Then, the course will cover the following topics: urban and regional systems, internal migration, economic geography (focused mostly on industry, agriculture and the service sector, including tourism), urban geography, including the post-communist urban transition of Prague, international migration, and the medical geography of Czechia.

summer term, 10 credits, 1/1, exam

 

Requirements

Each student will be required to prepare a three-page review of three professional articles (by 9 April) and a 15-page paper on a selected topic under the tutorship of participant teachers (by 14 May) with the presentation (.ppt) followed. Based on the paper, each student will give a ten minute Power Point presentation during the final class. Students are required to attend at least eight lectures.

 

Sylabus

1  Introduction to the course  (Jiří Vágner, Martin Ouředníček)

2   Czechia in Central Europe-Historical Background  (Leoš Jeleček)

3   Agriculture and Rural Space of Czechia  (Ivan Bičík, Radim Perlín)

4   Socio-economic and Industrial Geography  (Ludvík Kopačka)

5   The Post-communist City: Changes in the Spatial Structure of Prague  (Luděk Sýkora)

6   International Migration and the Czech Republic in European Context  (Dušan Drbohlav)

7  Development of Czech Urban/Settlement Systems (Zdeněk Čermák)

8   Tourism and Second Homes  (Jiří Vágner)

9   Health Geography of Czechia  (Dagmar Dzúrová, Ladislav Kážmer)

10   Geography of Elections  (Tomáš Kostelecký)

11   Urbanisation and suburbanisation processes in Czechia  (Martin Ouředníček)

12   Presentations of essays and discussion  (Martin Ouředníček, Jiří Vágner)

 

Literature

ČORNEJ, P. (1992): Fundamentals of Czech History. Práh Publ. House, Prague, 47 p.

DOSTÁL, P., HAMPL, M. (1992): Urbanization, Administration and Economies: Future Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Changes. In: Changing Territorial Administrations in Czechoslovakia, Amsterdam, pp. 191-203.

GARDAVSKÝ, V. (1994): Geopolitical Development of the Czech State. Sborník České geografické společnosti, 99 (2): 71-79.

HOLEČEK, M. et al. (1995): The Czech Geography in Brief. Publishing House of the Czech Geographical Society, Prague, 56 p.

KREJČÍ, O. (2005): Geopolitics of the Central European region: the view from Prague and Bratislava. Veda, Bratislava, 493 p.

KREJČÍ, P. (2008): Don’t be afraid of Czechia, it needs your help! Klaudyan, 5, č. 1, pp. 30-37 (www.klaudyan.cz).

MAGOCSI, P. R. (1993): Historical Atlas of East Central Europe. A History of East Central Europe. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 218 p.

PÁNEK, J., TŮMA, O. ET AL. (2009): A history of the Czech Lands. Karolinum, Prague, 639 p.

TURNOCK, D. (1989): Eastern Europe: An Historical Geography, 1815-1945. Routledge, London.

DOSTÁL, P. (2002) EU enlargement and the public opinion on the Czech Republic: an explanatory analysis. Geografie - Sborník České geografické společnosti, 107 (2): 121-138.

DOSTÁL, P. (2006) Quo Vadis European Union? The core, peripheries and the public opinion. In: Acta Geographica Universitatis Comenianae, 48: 7-32.

DOSTÁL, P. AND MARKUSSE, J. (2001) Westward geopolitical orientation and public opinion: explaining visions across post-communist countries. In: Migracijske i etničke teme, 17 (4): 327-352.

BIČÍK, I., JANČÁK, V. (2003): The changes of rural space in Czechia in the period transformation (1990-2005). Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Geographica, 1, UK, pp.

BIČÍK, I., JELEČEK, L (2003): Long Term Research of LUCC in Czechia 1845-2000. In: Jeleček, L. et. al. (eds.): Dealing with Diversity. 2nd International Conference of the European Society for Environmental History, Prague 2003. Proceedings. Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Dept. of Social Geography and Regional Development, Praha, s. 224-231.

BIČÍK, I., JELEČEK, L. (2009): Land use and landscape changes in Czechia during the period of transformation 1990 - 2007. Geografie - Sborník ČGS, 114 (4): 263 - 281.

BIČÍK, I., KUPKOVÁ, L. (2007): Land use development in Czechia and the possibilities of generalization and modeling. In: Dostál, P., Langhammer, J. eds.: Modeling natural environment and society. Geographical systems and risk processes. Prague, Charles University, Faculty of Science, P3K, p. 179 - 204.

PERLÍN R, KULDOVÁ S. (2008): Typology of rural areas, Countryside-our world, Czech University od Life Sciences , Prague, pp.487-510.

PERLÍN R., ŠIMČÍKOVÁ A. (2008): Criteria of a successful rural municipality, EUROPA XXI, New functions of rural and industrial space in Central and Eastern 17: 29-44.

TURNOCK, D. (1998): Privatization in Rural Eastern Europe. The Process of Restitution and Restructuring. Edw. Elgar Studies of Communism in Transition, London.

KOPAČKA, L. (2004): Convergence and Divergence Trends in Czech Economy Before and After the Geopolitical Break in 1989. European Spatial Research and Policy, 11 (1): 31-60.

KOPAČKA, L. (2002): Energy, Economy, and Environment in the Czech Republic. Geografie - Sborník ČGS, 107 (2): 139-155.

MAREŠ, J. (1980): Historical changes in the location of the Czechoslovak industry. Historical Geography 19: 305-320 + 16 figures.

KIRÁLOVÁ, A. (2006): Tourism in the Czech Republic. In: Hall, D., Smith, M., Marciszewska, B. (eds.): Tourism in the New Europe. The Challenges and Opportunities of EU Enlargement. CABI Publihing, UK. 320 p.

SPILKOVÁ, J. (2008): Changing face of the Czech retailing in post-communist transformation: risks of extreme polarisation under globalisation pressures. In: Dostál, P. (ed.): Evolution of Geographical Systems and Risk Processes in the Global Context, Prague, P3K, pp. 157-171.

VÁGNER, J. (2007): Tourism Development in the Visegrad Four Countries in the Period of EU Access. Acta Universitatis Carolinae - Geographica, 39 (1-2): 75-89.

VÁGNER, J., MÜLLER, D., FIALOVÁ, D. (reviewed): Second Home Tourism in the Central-European and in the Nordic Countries: A Comparison of Czechia and Sweden. Geografie, 2, 2010.

HAMPL, M. (1999): Long-term trends of settlement development. In: Hampl, M. et al.: Geography of Societal Transformation in the Czech Republic. Charles University, Prague, pp. 27-43.

ČERMÁK, Z. (1999): Distinctive Features of Migration in the Czech Republic as Part of the Transformation of Central European Countries. In: Geography of Societal Transformation in the Czech Republic. Edited by Hampl, M. DemoArt, Praha, pp. 209-222

DRBOHLAV. D., ČERMÁK, Z. (2005): Population Migration and Mobility in the Current Czech Republic - Reflections on Some Conceptual Frameworks. AUC-Geographica 37: 11-26.

DRBOHLAV, D. (1997): Migration Policy Objectives for European East-West International Migration. International Migration, 35 (1): 85-108.

DRBOHLAV, D. (2004): Migration Trends in Selected EU Applicant Countries. Volume II - The Czech Republic. The Times They Are A-Changin. IOM, Vienna. 136 pp.

DRBOHLAV, D., ČERMÁK, Z. (1998): International migrants in Central European Cities. In: Enyedi, Gy. ed.: Social Change and Urban Restructuring in Central Europe. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, pp. 87-107.

DRBOHLAV, D., ČERNÍK, J., DZÚROVÁ, D. (2005): Dimensions of Integration: Migrant Youth in Central European Countries: Country Report on the Czech Republic. IOM, Vienna, pp. 51-100.

DRBOHLAV, D., HORÁKOVÁ, M., JANSKÁ, E. (2005): Current Immigration Debates in Europe: A publication of the European Migration Dialogue. Migration Policy Group, Brusseles, pp. 65-94.

OKÓLSKI, M. (2004): Migration Patterns in Central and Eastern Europe on the Eve of the European Union Expansion: an Overview. In: Górni, A., Ruspini, P. ed.: Migration in the New Europe. East-West Revisited. Palgrave Macmillan. Pp. 23-48.

SÝKORA, L. (1999) Changes in the internal spatial structure of post-communist Prague. GeoJournal, 49 (1): 79-89.

SÝKORA, L. (2009) Post-Socialist Cities. In: Kitchin, R., Thrift, N, eds: International Encyclopedia of Human Geography, Volume 8, pp. 387-395. Oxford, Elsevier.

SÝKORA, L., BOUZAROVSKI, S. (2012): Multiple Transformations: Conceptualising the Post-communist Urban Transition. Urban Studies, 49 (1): 43-60.

OUŘEDNÍČEK, M. (2007): Differential suburban development in Prague Urban Region. Geografiska Annaler: Human Geography, 89B (2): 111-125.

OUŘEDNÍČEK, M., TEMELOVÁ, J. (2009): Twenty years after socialism: the transformation of Prague´s inner structure. Studia Sociologia, 54 (1): 9-30.

OUŘEDNÍČEK, M., TEMELOVÁ, J., POSPÍŠILOVÁ, L. EDS. (2011): Atlas of Socio-spatial Differentiation of the Czech Republic. Karolinum Press, Prague.

MACKENBACH, J.P. ET AL (2008): Socioeconomic inequalities in health in 22 European Countries, New England Journal of Medicine, 358, 2468-81.

DZÚROVÁ, D., SPILKOVÁ, J., PIKHART, H. (2010): Social inequalities in alcohol consumption in the Czech Republic: a multilevel analysis. Health and Place, 16 (3): 590-7.

KITCHELT, H. (1992): The Formation of Party Systems in East Central Europe. Politics and Society 20 (1): 7-50.

KOSTELECKÝ, T. (2003): Political Parties after Communism: Developments in East-Central Europe. Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, pp. 39-74.