Q1 region
- 1. C.2.2 1. Region Regions are the areas widely divided by physical geography (physical characteristics), human geography (human impact characteristics), and environmental aspects (the interaction between the environment and humanity). These areas are marked by numerous unique properties which are distinct from the outside and homogenous inside. The atmospheric regions and hydrospheric regions include the areas covered by the climate above water masses and land. These geographical sub-regions and regions are described by their defined transitional boundaries while the law defines jurisdiction areas like national boundaries. Regions are a result of the relationship between natural and social elements or phenomena in reality (Haggett, 2001). Classification of regions is used to identify the most important types of regions based on various criteria and aspects. There are four basic criteria. These are (Klapka a Tonev, 2008): industrial, methodological, taxonomic, form. Industry criterion is a simple classification of regions based on different industries. For instance, in a geographical approach the first (highest) level includes regions physical-geographical (FG), socio-geographical (HG) and complex geographical. FG and HG regions may be further divided into smaller units (climatic regions, industrial region, etc.) These are not regions with the same content. The aim to create a complex region is therefore very difficult. There are two solutions to this. Either the complex region is identified based on natural conditions for its origin and subsequent development of core socio-economic areas or the HG region is pronounced complex as the organization of socio- economic phenomena reflects the natural potential of the area. According to practical use, regions may also be divided into administrative and specific-purpose. Administrative regions are created to exercise public administration, i.e. state and regional administration. Due to continual administration of a region, stability in time of these regions is important. Administrative regions cover the whole area of a state with the relationships of subordination and domination in the area of the management of administrative activities existing between them. Specific-purpose regions are created to deal with specific problems such as decrease of economic underdevelopment of a certain area, etc.
- 2. From the point of view of economic development of regions we distinguish regions growing, stagnating and problematic. Growth regions are identified by creating new production industries and services and also by the growth of inhabitants due to population growth and migration. Due to this, further development of the region is initiated in the form of high intensity of creating new companies. In stagnating region there are no significant changes from the economic point of view. Problematic regions usually show low long-term economic efficiency or the presence of more unfavorable socio-economic phenomena (e.g. literacy of people). One of the ways to identify problematic regions in the Czech Republic is the Act No. 248/2000 Coll. on the support of regional development. This act identified four basic types of regions based on the support needed: structurally-deficient regions, economically weak regions, rural regions and other problematic regions. Currently, this classification has been modified and only 3 categories are identified: structurally-deficient regions, economically weak regions and regions with high unemployment rate. Their current location (as of February 2010, more here ) can be seen in the figure below. Regions with state subsidies in February 2010 (Source: own according to the Ministry of Regional Development). NB.: formed military areas Ralsko and Milovice-Mladá are included in the economically weak regions Methodological criterion - tells us why a specific region is identified. Klapka and Tonev (2008) identify the following: region as toolof research – region is a statistical unit for which data is gathered for further processing, region as object of research – region is the ultimate object of research and by identifying it the scientific task is complete, region as toolof area management – this is called a planning region for which a plan of development is prepared based on analysis. Examples include NUTS II regions in the EU or euroregions. Taxonomic criterion considers geographical location of regions including various levels of territorial areas. From the taxonomic point of view regions are divided into two groups: individual and typological regions. Individual regions are identified based on special features (lower left fig.) and many of them have their own name (Valašsko, Krušné hory, Slezsko, counties, etc.). Typological regions are defined based on general and typical characteristics observed in regions (lower right fig) – the selection of the same types (e.g. national parks, regions with dense railroad network, least densely populated regions, etc.).
- 3. Individual (left) and typological regions (Source: Klapka and Tonev, 2008) There may be many more typological regions based on the observed phenomena than individual regions. When identifying individual regions, always one element is matched with one region, for typological regions there might be more elements. An example of identification of individual and typological regions (Source: Klapka and Tonev, 2008)