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Around the Bloc: Hungary Sets Date for EU Quotas Referendum
Viktor Orban’s government accelerates its campaign against EU refugee policies in the wake of Britain’s Leave vote.
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Viktor Orban’s government accelerates its campaign against EU refugee policies in the wake of Britain’s Leave vote.
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Botswana is known as a wilderness and safari-tourism destination,which attracts high-end overseas visitors to the country. Since the 1990s the country’stourism policy has been based on a so called ‘High Value – Low Volume’(HVLV) strategy referring to the aim of attracting limited numbers of tourists withhigh expenditure patterns. However, while such tourism operations have contributedto the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country and offered investmentopportunities for international companies, the position of Botswana as a HVLVdestination is increasingly criticised. It is seen as offering too narrow prospectsfor the growth of the industry and for the local participation and benefit sharingin tourism in future. Hence, there is a need for diversification of the product withdeeper involvement of local people to tourism. Therefore, communities and Botswana’scultural and heritage attractions are increasingly seen as one of the futurecornerstones of tourism development. This paper provides an overview of culturaltourism with specific reference to existing cultural and heritage attractions andthe potential thereof for tourism in Botswana. The paper concludes that while therole of culture is still underutilised in tourism, the cultural tourism in Botswanahas the potential to contribute to a more equitable distribution of tourism-baseddevelopment and the related benefits for local communities.
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Sustainable development is characterized by the existence of two components: the natural and the socio-economic one. It seems that the key to real action to protect the environment is to use instruments of sustainable development for enhance social cohesion. In the context of social exclusion characteristics can be assumed that individualizing operations, using full potencial of educational system, creating better conditions for the development of enterprises, enabling easy access to specialist psychological support, including basic therapeutic support, are basic actions need to be done. Necessary is also a change of mind: the minimum wage, intervention buying-in, subsidies and cheap loans to farmers, benefits for the poor and unemployed, and ways to design competitions for EU funds, not only do not help, but sometimes are even harmful for sustainable development
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The main objective of the paper is to present Polish eastern border problems in a particular geopolitical context including efforts such as shopping tourism, which helps overcome border problems and associated limitations. National borders serve as a factor of separation between different political and institutional systems, but on the other hand, borders can be a source of contact between different groups of people or different societies. It is important to understand the nature and various types and functions of borders and the related factors that make nearby regions special destinations for tourists. National borders may prove highly valuable to local autonomy as well as tourism planning and destination marketing organizations making border area economics less prone to recession. The paper describes the main motivations for borderland tourism – that is shopping – giving many different reasons to travel across national borders. Shopping tourism close to Poland’s eastern border is characterized via an analysis of commercial endeavors, the frequency of border crossings, as well as the structure and average costs. National border area tourism plays an important role in local economies, making them more prosperous and/or enlarging the black market zone. The European Union’s Schengen eastern border is a special example of the occurrence of these problems. This borderland faces serious economic and demographic problems due to the political function of the eastern border as a strong barrier to development. In this situation, it is important to examine relevant trends and observe if tourism is one of the ways for local area residents to deal with economic stagnation.
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The aim of this article is to draw attention to the two approaches to the concept of sustainable consumption. This consumption, so popular among consumers, policy makers and entrepreneurs is meant to refer to the concept of sustainable development and to be an alternative to consumerism. The alternative, which in effect is to contribute to the reduction of environmentally and socially devastating effects of consumer culture. In the first part of this article I attempt to present philosophical , cultural and legislative basis for the concept of sustainable consumption. In the second part, I discuss the theoretical and practical problems of this kind of consumption. The problems are a result of dominative approach to sustainable consumption based on the idea of innovation and rationalization of production as a successful and sufficient way to approach sustainable consumption. In economic discourse such approach is called weak sustainable consumption as an opposite to strong sustainable consumption.
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The paper presents the results of a study of the human impact on the evolution of a landslide lake. An example of a landslide lake subjected to strong anthropogenic influence is that of the Pucołowski Stawek lake in the Gorce Mts. Historical data analysis, interviews with local inhabitants, and several surveys of the lake area and shoreline at various moments of its history have enabled us to reconstruct the lake’s evolution since the early 20th century. Research has shown that since the first field description in 1932, the lake did not become overgrown (as it is very common for this type of lake), until the late 1980s. The reason for its preservation has been human activity. The subsequent acceleration of the overgrowing of the Pucołowski Stawek lake has been connected with the cessation of mowing, grazing and peat extraction in the lake basin. This has led to the full disappearance of this water body and the reservoir to fen type peat bog. In December 2011, the owners of the lake deepened the lake basin and removed organic sediments at the same time. This led to lake reactivation, although with a changed shoreline. The area of the lake basin decreased about 22% compared with its size in 1968. The same is true of the shoreline development factor which is now 1.08 compared with 1.23 in 1968. Dynamic plant succession has been observed since 2012 in the Pucołowski Stawek lake, and the lake area has decreased about 27% compared with its size in 2012. The consequences of the action which led to the deepening of the lake significantly affected the fauna and flora of the reservoir, causing improvement in amphibians’ habitat conditions. Human activity in this area has led to water reservoir reactivation, giving it unique landscape value as well as increasing its biodiversity by restoring adequate habitat conditions.
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Outdoor advertising is increasingly being used as a medium in marketing. It allows a simple and effective way to reach potential customers. Outdoor advertising as „the only medium that cannot be turned off” is growing faster than traditional means of marketing communication; it results in an increase in the intensity of its occurrence in public space. However, it is accompanied by negative consequences such as the degradation of the quality of public space and the aesthetics of the landscape. The aim of the study is to answer the question: Is the quality of the mountain landscape significantly threatened by widespread outdoor advertising? The study area consists of the Tatras on the Polish and Slovak sides. Significant differences were found in the occurrence of outdoor advertising on both sides of the border. Much more advertising media exists in the Polish (northern) part of the study area where they have the highest concentration along major roads and at tourist destinations. In the Slovak part, the distribution of advertising media has a lower intensity. The final finding is that chaos exists in areas of high landscape value in terms of advertising volume.
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The Kraków Metropolitan Area (KOM) is a specific functional region comprising a big city that is the Kraków metropolis, together with its neighbouring complex of settlements with a variety of mutual interactions. The social and economic space requires multi-dimensional enhancement of its interrelations and partial rehabilitation of its developed areas; it constitutes, at the same time, a potential which strengthens the position of Kraków as a European city. A clear structure of the metropolitan area and its internal links through green seams provide the basis for functional and spatial integration of the metropolis. The greenery, comprised in larger natural structures such as river parks and green wedges, enhances the area's polycentric concept. The shaping of the urban tissue of Kraków and its suburban zone by composing and building a network of open spaces is the basic criterion for developing a coherent metropolitan area with a sustainable structure. Many problems of the urban environment and its surroundings can be fully understood through their analyses in various scales. In order to better illustrate this complex system of interrelations, reference should be made in analyses to the macroregional scale then narrowing them to the regional scale, to ultimately go down to the metropolis. The issues covered in the paper concern open areas which should not be discussed without a broader spectrum because the notion of green areas is understood to mean primarily spaces which are networked and intertwined with the settlement structure. Some of them are clear, for instance the greenery which accompanies water courses, and easy to identify. Marshlands are mostly linearly continuous and this makes them coherent in their nature. Other green areas (apart from larger forest complexes) are not of essential significance for the integration of the metropolis. The example of Kraków shows that the KOM (1) has a big potential expressed through its natural environment in the form of green areas. The anthropopressure, however, is so high that open spaces are being absorbed by developments. It is riverside areas which have retained a clear structure of interrelations and they should be perceived as the future for the links in the metropolitan area.
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The main aim of this paper is to present the concept of regional distance as a measure of economic diversity at the regional level. Additionally, the paper is devoted to the identification of regional inequalities in Poland, based on the metric presented. Estimates of the regional distance between specific regions (NUTS 2) and the mean level of development of the national economy or Mazowieckie Voivodship (the region with the highest GDP per capita in Poland) were based on calculations conducted using logarithmic equations. Two different distances were calculated: (a) the mean number of years required to achieve the present reference area level of development, (b) the mean number of years necessary to achieve the reference area GDP per capita, taking into consideration the growth rate of the reference area. The empirical example of regional distance application revealed significant inequalities between regions of Poland at NUTS 2 level.
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Rivers have been an important element of urban development for centuries, affecting human life and providing a number of functions connected with commerce, defence, transport, communication and culture. Today's river-city relationship takes on a completely different dimension and is considered through the prism of the beauty which shapes the urban landscape and is a key element in integrating its inhabitants. It affects the city's economic fabric, for instance through increased tourism and investment. Besides, it provides an impetus for the implementation of numerous architectural and urban projects whose task is to integrate its space or, as is often the case, insure the future viability of the riverside, including former port areas. Therefore the aim of this paper is to analyse projects which represent so-called best practice in the restoration of city riverside areas using examples from Western European cities which have experienced the implementation of such projects. The paper presents an analysis of cities selected due to the availability of source materials: Düsseldorf, the largest revitalised area, followed by London and Hamburg, the smallest. It should be emphasised that the author will continue her research on the former port areas, focusing mainly on the German sites.
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The article presents range of issues related to the social and economic aspects of functioning of the islands of Wolin and Usedom. The author begins with a brief analysis of the geographical location and accessibility of the area. Subsequently, the author presents an overview of the most important historical facts and finally focuses on the fundamentals of contemporary existence of the islands ‒ maritime economy, tourism and trade. An important issue also are transport and logistics, both in the local and international scale. Particular emphasis in the article is placed on the barriers and forms of cross-border cooperation of local governments of the two islands, in the framework of the Euroregion „Pomerania” and the limitations and opportunities influenced by the border location of the islands. Finally, the author comes to conclusion, that despite of many difficulties, the past experience of a neighborhood cooperation between Usedom and Wolin, allows optimistic predictions of the future development of the area, which is in the interest of both, Poland and Germany.
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The article analyzes Polish borders, territory and geopolitical position during the 1st, 2ndand 3rd Republics, including communist period. It argues that the most coherentterritorially is Poland in the post-war borders. From a political-geographical perspectiveit assesses the contemporary western Polish border positively, and the eastern bordernegatively. It draws attention to the importance of the degree of integration of theinternational environment around Poland for its security and sovereignty, arguing that sofar it has been better for Poland to have more neighbors than less.
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Political and economic transformations in Poland in the 1990s influenced the functioning of trade in Poland, also in Łódź. The Polish market saw new types of retail outlets, including shopping centres, and, therefore, influenced the changes in the development of cities or their parts as well as the behaviours of the residents and other subjects. In relation to those changes that have yet to be complete this article presents the development and the characterization of shopping centres with FMCG products (Fast moving consumer foods) in Łódź. However, the main purpose of the work was to ponder the multi-aspect nature of “spatial behaviours” often applied solely to the behaviours of people (customers) and present elements associated with these behaviours. Spatial behaviours connected with new retail outlets such as shopping centres, initially of the 1st and 2nd generation and later of the 3rd and 4th generation appearing in Łódź in the 1990s were and still are subject to change. On the one hand, it is connected to the transformation of space occurring as a result of building these modern complexes and their influence on their surroundings, as even the smallest complexes are large enough to form the areas of influence and shape the city space and even areas outside the city. Shopping centres have transformed many cityscapes, influencing, among others, the changes in land development, the structure of business entities (specialized retail outlets – Praktiker, Castorama, Obi – were created in their neighbourhoods), infrastructural investments, the reorganization of traffic. However, it should be remembered that the range, force and nature of a shopping centre’s influence on its surroundings depends on its following features: the location, accessibility, working hours, size, the type and form of offered services. On the other hand, the location and attractiveness influence the spatial behaviours of decision-makers associated with the shopping centres, city residents, the owners of business entities, providers/customers and also, above all, the population which constitutes the potential clients. Shopping centres, with their wide variety of offers, have been attracting customers, and, therefore, changing migratory directions, shopping habits, the ways of spending free time. They have created a fashion for visiting these “temples of consumption” and, by extension, influenced the life of local people.
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The aim of this paper is to characterize three main concepts of region developed in the period of the 2nd Republic. First of all, the Author describes the ethnographic concept of region, created by Kazimierz Moszyński. He focuses on tangible differentiators of region. Józef Obrębski, who is Moszyński’s disciple, takes as a basis the ethnographic concept of region and adds to it the idea that a region is formed in contact between members of a regional group with the Other. Józef Chałasiński, the author of the third concept, shares Obrębski’s view and adds that it is in contact with the Other that is developed the most important factor in the region-building process, namely regional identity. The paper offers information on the theoretical tradition of sociology of region in today’s Poland.
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W artykule przedstawione zostały wyniki badań ekosystemów leśnych pod wpływem immisji przemysłowych w Górnośląskim Okręgu Przemysłowym oraz proces powstawania pustyni industriogennej. Wskazano, że wyniki wieloletnich badań procesów degradacji środowiska przyrodniczego stanowią podstawę i mogą być wykorzystane w procesie dydaktycznym przyczynowo--skutkowego odzwierciedlenia relacji człowiek–środowisko. The article presents the results of forest ecosystems under the influence of industrial immissionin the Upper Silesian Industrial Region and the emergence of desert indium-striogennej. It waspointed out that the results of years of research processes of degradation of the natural environmentare the basis and can be used in the teaching process of cause-and-effect relationships reflectthe human-environment.
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Migration is an integral part of human history. It was caused by various factors, for example to gain the new lands. Today's immigration to the European Union has significantly increased for several years. This raises the question about the capacity of the Union, that is, the question about the ability to receive such a large number of immigrants. The current European Union immigration policy dates back to the 90s and is still adapted to current needs. The immigration is perceived from the perspective of Europe's demographic problems. The member States' position on the admission of migrants is now extremely diverse, which threatens the security of Europe. The current wave of migration is accompanied by numerous demonstrations of opponents who fear the Islamization of Europe. At the same time, many Europeans become resistant to the needs of newcomers to Europe and to their human rights.
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This article discusses the work of various scholars in geopoetics, such as Elżbieta Rybicka, Kazimierz Brakoniecki, Edward Kasperski or Anna Kronenberg. Konończuk also outlines debates on the sources, theory and research methods of geopoetics, presenting the field’s founding texts by Michel Deguy and Kenneth White, and suggesting that research on geopoetics ought to be included within the remit of the theory of the poetic imagination.
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The main idea of the following paper is to bring to a wider professional community methodology of the map´s preparation for lexical-word-formation series of the international research project Slavic Linguistic Atlas, which has not yet been given more attention. As an example we use the preparation of a separate dialect map Sl 1844° ‘старая женщина’ (‘old woman’), a legends pertaining to it and a commentary for the upcoming volume within aforementioned series of Atlas – Family relationships.
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Relationship between migration and replacement of population has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention. Migration is considered to be a key factor in the growth and replacement of populations. Net migration sometimes exceeds natural change and drive population growth. Migration can compensate for missing births in low-fertility areas, provinces, or countries. Although past and recent general fertility trends, regional inequalities, and migration patterns in Turkey have been well documented through demographic surveys and censuses, the relationship between migration and the replacement of population by region in the country has not been adequately examined. Thereby, in this study, we explore the contribution of migration to the replacement of population in Turkey. Turkey’s regions, at the NUTS 1 level, are very diverse in their levels of fertility and migration, which makes it very interesting to study the two processes in tandem. We use a recently proposed methodology of studying the population replacement levels through the indicators of Combined Reproduction and Times to Half-Replacement, which can be computed from limited data and offers good insights into the demographic consequences of a given combination of fertility and migration levels.
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