Dynamic changes in the landscape have been observed in recent years. They are particularly visible in areas with a high degree of anthropopressure. An example of such areas is metropolitan regions ...and their immediate rural surroundings. The purpose of this article is to identify changes in land cover in the rural municipalities within metropolises and detect the processes of landscape transformation in rural areas, which are extremely sensitive to anthropopressure. The dynamics of land cover changes in the years 2000–2018 were determined using a change index (ChI), and their directions were determined using the indicator of changes in types of land cover. Corine Land Cover for level 2 groups (1.1–4.2) was used as research material, and the Upper Silesia-Zagłębie Metropolis was selected as the model area. The greatest changes in the landscape were observed in built-up areas, industrial areas, meadows and mining areas. This is due to the disappearance of the mining industry that was traditional for this region and the ongoing suburbanization process, as well as the re-industrialization of modern industry and the abandonment of arable land in rural areas.
During the second half of the 20th century, a number of settlements disappeared for various reasons, especially in the hilly landscapes of northern Moravia and in the Czech part of Silesia. ...Currently, in the relevant localities, it is possible to identify preserved original landscape structures (scattered greenery, water elements, original woody plants, terraces, etc.) and other historical landscape elements with heritage potential. The typical elements of the above-mentioned localities of abandoned settlements are agrarian stone walls that document previous agricultural land use. These structures are generally located outside the original building plots on the edges of previously farmed land. Another important historical element is the unused access roads to arable land, which are still visible in lidar pictures. Numerous elements of the extinct settlements also include the remains of building materials and local quarries of building stone. This paper presents and classifies the historical landscape elements and their typology and proposes a methodology for identification and documentation.
The paper presents the results of the study on participative mapping of landscape values and conflicts and a subsequent interpretation of the indicated localities from respondents’ point of view. The ...study focused on younger groups of landscape users—lower-secondary-school students (aged 11–15) and university students (aged 20–25)—in comparison with experts’ points of view. The research presumed that the perception of landscape values and issues are determined by age, level of education and by experience in the field. The study was conducted in the southeastern area of the Czech Republic (49° N, 16° E) via online data collection. Based on the obtained records, we conclude that, in terms of the typology of the valuable and problematic locations, the individual groups of respondents did not differ significantly and the selection of location types was similar across all groups. Lower-secondary-school students rather identified cultural values associated with everyday activities, and the descriptions contained emotional overtones. University students preferred natural values associated with formal values based on general consensus or conflicts associated with society-wide impacts. The experts base served as the benchmark for other groups.
A thousand villages disappeared in Czechia during the course of historic development. There are two basic causes of the disappearance of villages: artificial human intervention (planned changes or ...hostile liquidation) and gradual depopulation due to remoteness and poor conditions for development, possibly in combination with natural disasters. The greatest number of extinct villages is related to the period after World War II, when many villages in the borderland, from which the German population was displaced, were demolished or abandoned. The aim of the article is to clarify the causes of the extinction of villages, its impact on the landscape and on the settlement system, as well as the possibilities of preserving the historical and cultural memory of extinct places. Finally, the danger of extinction of villages at the present time is discussed. This article points out that it is currently not necessary or effective to have the dense network of settlements that was present in the Middle Ages, when the population density was conditional to the limited technological potential of agriculture and transport. The main argument for preserving villages is their spiritual and cultural value, and their genius loci. However, this can be preserved without keeping the physical structure. At this time, the smallest settlements are changing from being permanently inhabited, to becoming second homes sites.
The paper is aimed at the variability of historical landscape elements on the territory of the selected extinct settlements, to classify and to evaluate their development in the context of changes in ...anthropic pressure between the years 1945 and 2022, focusing on the Moravian-Silesian Region. The article presents a methodology for identifying physically extinct settlements and historical landscape elements by using statistical data, historical and current maps and field verification. Territorial dispersion and classification according to cases of the extinction, and according to individual landscape elements are elaborated. Research has confirmed a link between the cause of the settlement’s demise: the expulsion of German residents and proximity to the state border, a military training area, the construction of water reservoirs, mining and development projects, and surviving groups of historical landscape elements. The results can serve as a methodology for research in other areas. On a practical level, they can be used for landscape planning, territorial dispersion of tourism, and educational purposes.
The Hranice hypogenic karst region includes urban, spa and agricultural areas and industry complexes that affect water quality in the region. Emerging organic contaminants (EOCs), especially ...pesticides and pharmaceuticals, are released into the complex aquatic system. These substances and their metabolites can affect aquatic and human life, as well as the regional development of the wider area traditionally associated with the spa. In this study, we conducted preliminary screening for pesticides and pharmaceuticals at 33 sampling sites and across different location types, including surface water, drainage water, a shallow well, groundwater and thermal karst water. Sampling occurred between February 2022 and June 2023. The results generally confirm that current land use is causing pollution in the karst system. The monitored substances were present in all water types, and in most cases the concentrations of pesticides were lower than those of their metabolites. Chloridazon desphenyl (DESPH) is the most widespread pesticide in surface, ground and hypogenic waters. Its concentrations in surface waters were 5.7 ng·L
−1
–2,230 ng·L
−1
, in groundwaters were 11.3 ng·L
−1
–1,490 ng·L
−1
and in karst hypogenic waters 5.4 ng·L
−1
–378 ng·L
−1
. Diclofenac was the most widespread substance from the pharmaceutical group. Its concentrations ranged from 5.6 ng·L
−1
–549 ng·L
−1
in surface waters, 8.4 ng·L
−1
–112 ng·L
−1
in groundwaters and 5.1 ng·L
−1
–47.4 ng·L
−1
in karst hypogenic waters. Directly in the karst hypogenic waters, the following EOCs were repeatedly detected: atrazine and its metabolites, simazin, metazachlor ethane sulfonic acid (ESA), metolachlor ESA, alachlor ESA, chloridazon DESPH, diclofenac, ibuprofen, azithromycin, bisphenol A and diethyltoluamide (DEET). The initial research hypothesis is that hydrothermal karst waters are of sub-recent age and deep circulation and, unlike surface and groundwaters, are not contaminated by recent pollutants. A certain component of these waters is therefore a shallow and shorter circulation.
•Research consists of identifying values of the suburban landscape in Podolí u Brna.•Does suburbanized village have any landscape values?•Results confirmed historical and contemporary landscape ...values in studied suburbia.•Landscape values are important factors to keep or create the local identity.
The perception of the landscape has changed in relation to the transformation of the countryside from an agricultural space to a multifunctional space. The aim of this paper focuses on evidence of landscape values in the territory of Podolí u Brna, a suburban village on the fringe of the city of Brno. The main question driving this research is whether it is possible to find important landscape values in a territory undergoing intensive suburbanization and what changes in individual landscape values are caused by the process of suburbanization. Historical maps, documents and aerial photographs were analysed. The results confirmed that an intensively cultivated suburban landscape with transport infrastructure has both historical and contemporary values with six landscape values being identified. It was also confirmed that new technological barriers have originated in such a landscape. The protecting of landscape values is an important factor in creating and maintaining a local identity.
In surroundings of the larger cities there are possible to observe one of the symptoms of today’s postmodern society – suburbanized surface. A number of primary and secondary negative effects of this ...process are undisputed. To identify these influences in specific locality, analyze of structural and functional changes of territory are appropriate to make first. Spatial indicators are a suitable analytical tool for the synthetic evaluation of these changes. The indicators are simple and able to document the changes within land use categories in the time period, to identify just those categories with the most significant transformations and to objectify the main landscape processes. In frame of the suburbanization, Brno’s agglomeration is polarized (northern and southern part with individual development) with redistribution of dominant functions (residential and commercial). To rationalize land use and to balance the spatial disparities by planning tools, it is just this specific phenomenon which is detailed analyzed by these indicators (with emphasis on the period between 2000 and 2011) and on their basis are derived recommendations for strategic development. The greatest changes recorded in the studied territory relate to agricultural land resources. Should we take into account the surveyed territory as a whole, the loss of arable land between the years 2001 and 2011 was ca. 1% and the proportion of built-up area increased by about the same.
The paper deals with the macrostructural and microstructural landscape changes in six selected microregions in Moravia and eastern Bohemia. Changes of the landscape macrostructure were evaluated ...based on the statistical data from 1845, 1948, 1990 and 2013. Changes of the landscape microstructure were compared on the base of old maps, aerial images and field experiences. According to the available data the area of an arable land was the largest in 1845. Since then it has been decreasing – more in mountain areas, less in lowland ones where it was replaced by forests, grasslands and urban areas, depending on the vegetation period, physical character and vicinity of urban centres. Results show that the microstructure recorded great changes during the communist period: large expanses of fields, irrigation and drainage measures, windbreaks, non-rural buildings in the countryside. Contemporary changes are connected mostly with urbanisation of the landscape.
Rural regions are perceived mostly on a local, regional or national scale, but globalization impacts also on the countryside. Both production and consumption in rural regions are similar throughout ...Europe, being directed from the very limited number of global centers. Local authorities do not always react appropriately. Present trends in rural businesses, migration of rural population, sustainable rural development and capacity-building are investigated in 10 European case study regions within the DERREG project of 7th EU framework program. Preliminary findings for the South Moravia case study are presented in the paper. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
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