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DOI: 10.5817/CZ.MUNI.P210-6840-2014-92
A CONTRIBUTION TO HUMAN GEOGRAPHICAL
REGIONALISATION OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC AT THE
MEZZO LEVEL
PŘÍSPĚVEK K HUMÁNNĚ GEOGRAFICKÉ REGIONALIZACI
ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY NA MEZOÚROVNI
DOC. RNDR. MARIÁN HALÁS, PH.D.1
MGR. PAVEL KLAPKA, PH.D.1
MGR. PETR TONEV, PH.D.2
1
Katedra geografie
Přírodovědecká fakulta
Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci
1
Department of Geography
Faculty of Science
Palacký University Olomouc
* 17. listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech Republic
E-mail: marian.halas@upol.cz, pavel.klapka@upol.cz
2
Katedra regionální ekonomie a správy
Ekonomicko-správní fakulta
Masarykova univerzita
2
Depart. of Regional Economics and Administration
Faculty of Economics and Administration
Masaryk University
* Lipová 41 a, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic
E-mail: tonev@econ.muni.cz
Annotation
The core–periphery dichotomy belongs among the basic axioms of the spatial organisation of society.
It exists at various hierarchical levels. It forms basis for human geographical regionalisations, when
resulting functional (or just nodal) regions have their central and peripheral areas. For the territory
of the Czech Republic is typical that the most distinct peripheries concentrate along the boundaries of
the spheres of influence of regional centres at the level of regional capitals. The main objective of this
contribution is to propose the regionalisation of the Czech Republic at the mezzo regional level (i.e.
the level corresponding to the primary dichotomic distribution of core and periphery), to compare it
to existing regionalisations at the mezzo regional level, and to confront the boundaries of resulting
regions with localisations of peripheral areas.
Key words
dichotomy core–periphery, travel-to-work flows, regional division, Czech Republic
Anotace
Dichotomie jádro–periférie patří mezi základní axiómy prostorového uspořádání společnosti. Existuje
na různých hierarchických úrovních. Vycházejí z ní i humánně-geografické regionalizace, kdy mají
výsledné funkční (nebo jen nodální) regiony svoje jádrové i periferní části. Pro území České republiky
je typické, že nejvýraznější periferie se nacházejí na hranicích sfér vlivu regionálních center úrovně
krajských měst. Hlavním cílem příspěvku je provedení regionalizace České republiky na mezoúrovni
(t. j. úrovni odpovídající primárnímu dichotomickému rozložení jádro–periferie), porovnání
s dosavadními ostatními regionalizacemi na mezoúrovni a konfrontace hranic výsledných regionů
s lokalizací periferních území.
Klíčová slova
dichotomie jádro–periferie, dojížďka do zaměstnání, regionální členění, Česká republika
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JEL classification: J01, J40, R10, R12
Introduction
Geographic space is not homogenous, its constituent elements are distributed in an uneven manner,
i.e. they are represented in various regions with different intensity. In most cases there is a natural
tendency toward balance in the differences. This balancing by means of spatial flows and interactions
cannot bring the total homogeneity and a certain level of differences in social and economic
characteristics (existence of developed and less developed areas) or in central and peripheral regions is
natural and belongs among basic axioms of spatial organisation. These differences contribute to the
spatial organisation of society at various hierarchical levels.
For the territory of the Czech Republic is typical that the most distinct peripheries concentrate along
the boundaries of the spheres of influence of regional centres at the level of regional capitals. The
main objective of this contribution is to propose the regionalisation of the Czech Republic at the
mezzo regional level (i.e. the level corresponding to the primary dichotomic distribution of core and
periphery), to make comparisons and confrontation of boundaries of resulting regions with
localisations of peripheral areas. The only published regionalisation at mezzo level after 2000 (Hampl,
2005) will be included in the comparisons as well.
1. Core–periphery dichotomy
The issue of peripheral regions and research of the core–periphery relationship is a long term subject
matter for many authors. Within the International Geographical Union it has been in the centre of the
attention of the Study Group on Development Issues in Marginal Regions, and the Commission on
Dynamics of Marginal and Critical Regions dating back to 1980, when within the Commission on
Rural Development the Subcommission on High-latitudes and Mountain Regions had been established
(Majoral et al., 1998). The group has produced a number of proceedings and contributions on
peripheral areas (e.g. Chang-Yi et al., 1994; Jusiila et al., 1998; Majoral et al., 2000; Valença et al.,
2008). Schmidt (1998) with respect to hierarchy reminds that position of each region on the core–
periphery scale is dependent on hierarchical scale and on comparisons determined by this scale. She
documents the multiscalarity of the core–periphery concept by the frequently posed questions,
whether it is better to be a periphery in a core, or a core in a periphery.
The recently rapidly development research of peripheral regions in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
is documented by a number of projects and publications (Havlíček et al., 2005; Musil, Müller, 2006,
2008; Džupinová et al., 2008; Halás, 2008; Rosina, Hurbánek, 2013). The crucial delimitation of
peripheral regions in the Czech Republic was proposed by Musila and Müller (either pioneering work
from the 1980s – Musil, 1988 or more recent works – Musil, Müller, 2006, 2008). These works use so
called general units as basic spatial units for spatial analyses. There are 1000 or so general units and
each consists of six municipalities in average. The general units comprise the municipalities with basic
central function (they have a post office, school, health centre, building office and registry office) and
their hinterlands. The work of Matyáš et al. (2007), which is based also on the general units (Müller
was the team member as well), will be used in this contribution for a comparison to human
geographical regionalisation. Spatial pattern of peripheral regions is logically very similar to all the
above-mentioned outputs.
2. Theoretical foundations and method
There are several works addressing the delineation of human geographical regions at the lowest
hierarchical level (i.e. micro level), either simple nodal regions (Hampl, 2005; Sýkora, Mulíček, 2009;
Halás et al., 2010) or more sophisticatedly delineated functional regions (Klapka et al., 2013).
However, there is, until now, the only recent publication addressing the human geographical regions at
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the mezzo level (Hampl, 2005), where its author follows his earlier publications based on the analysis
of commuting flows for respective censuses. Unlike the micro regional level based on the daily labour
commuting he uses the total daily and non-daily labour and school commuting for delineation of
mezzo regions. Methodical explanation of the regionalisation procedure is not very detailed, but the
author claims that he used only the flows among towns that are also centres at the lower level, not the
total flows (addition of daily and non-daily flows can be possibly considered as being
methodologically problematic, they are actually completely different processes). As mezzo regional
centres he identifies all regional capitals with the exception of Jihlava. Resulting human geographical
regions at mezzo level is presented in fig. 2a.
This contribution tries to put forward an alternative to the above-mentioned approach and findings. It
remains a question whether complex human geographical regions at mezzo level can be determined by
total labour and school commuting. Another question concerns a set of mezzo regional centres. If such
towns as Karlovy Vary or Zlín belong, it seems necessary to include Jihlava as well (more details in
Halás, 2010). However, these hypotheses have to be verified and supported by relevant evidence.
Coming out of a theoretical axiom of core–periphery dichotomy it is quite clear that when delineating
functional (or nodal) regions the peripheries have to be located near the boundaries of regions, i.e.
along the boundaries of spheres of influence of regional centres. Since the mezzo regional centres
seem to play a major role in the Czech Republic in this respect, peripheral regions are located along
the boundaries of the spheres of influence of these centres, which generally represent the level of
regional capitals. It can be further suggested that the dominant interaction determining spatial
organisation at the mezzo regional level does not lie in the total labour and school commuting but that
it is daily commuting flows, and preferably labour commuting flows, that are of importance. A
distance-decay function can be used to model the decrease in intensity of these flows. Boundaries of
human geographical regions can be determined by the identification of break points between the
spheres of influence for respective mezzo regional centres (fig. 1) and the resulting mezzo regions are
defined. The set of mezzo regional centres includes Jihlava (see above), Hradec Králové and
Pardubice organise one polycentric region, and individual distance-decay functions for all mezzo
regional centres are adopted from Halás et al. (2014). The procedure is analogical to the work of Halás
and Klapka (2010), including the role of secondary centres for mezzo regions of Ústí nad Labem and
Ostrava, and functional regions defined by Klapka et al. (2013) serve as basic spatial unit for the
analysis.
Fig. 1: Identification of boundary of nodal region by distance-decay function
Source: authors´ elaboration.
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3. Results
Delineation of resulting human geographical regions at the mezzo level is presented in fig. 2b.
Resulting regional pattern characterises very well regular coexistence of dominant Prague with the
regions of Plzeň, České Budějovice, Liberec and others along the outer rim of Bohemia, and relatively
contrasting relations, which are typical of adequate mezzo regional centres in Moravian-Silesian
space. The region of Jihlava fills up adequately space between Prague and Brno. A boundary between
mezzo regions of Brno and Jihlava is somewhat problematic, since the micro regions of Třebíč and
Velké Meziříčí (serving as basic spatial units in this analysis) stretch from west to east. Specific
geographical factors are responsible for that. In the former case it is the existence of nuclear power
station in Dukovany attracting considerable number of labour commuting flows, in the latter case it is
the existence of D1 motorway forming the axis of the Velké Meziřící region and acting as a factor
deforming the space. Actually the western parts of both regions incline to Jihlava and eastern parts to
Brno.
The regional pattern of the resulting mezzo regions layered over the peripheral areas (fig. 4) confirms
both hypotheses made above. The resulting boundaries of human geographical regions at the mezzo
level coincide with the localisation of peripheries. Meandering boundaries expressing ambiguity in the
mezzo regional affinity of areas occur most distinctly in the area of so called inner peripheries of
Bohemia (east of Doupovské hory Mts., between towns of Příbram, Horažďovice, Tábor and Písek
etc.). The existence of the region of Jihlava seems to be reasonable as well. This centre forms
adequate hinterland and should be included in the set of mezzo regional centres.
On the contrary, the boundaries of human geographical mezzo regions proposed by Hampl (2005) do
not correlate with the pattern of peripheral regions. It is best witnessed in case of the regions of České
Budějovice and Liberec. Leaving out of Jihlava from mezzo regional centres also does not appear very
well founded. The boundary between spheres of influence of Prague and Brno intersects the Vysočina
region into two parts, while the delineation of peripheral regions according to Matyáš et al. (2007 –
fig. 3) show that the Vysočina region has both its central and peripheral areas.
Fig. 2: Human geographical mezzo regions of the Czech Republic according to total commuting
flows (a), and distance-decay function based on daily travel-to-work flows (b)
Source: Hampl, 2005; authors´ elaboration.
a) b)
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Fig. 3: Human geographical mezzo regions of the Czech Republic according to total commuting
flows vs. peripheral areas
Source: Matyáš et al., 2007; Hampl, 2005; authors´ elaboration.
Fig. 4: Human geographical mezzo regions of the Czech Republic according to distance-decay
function vs. peripheral areas
Source: Matyáš et al., 2007; authors´ elaboration.
Conclusion
The contribution has attempted to verify the hypothesis that boundaries of human geographical
regions at the mezzo level coincide with localisation of peripheral areas. This hypothesis has been
confirmed and it has also been shown that dominant process determining the organisation of regional
and settlement systems is daily labour commuting both at micro and mezzo levels. It can be concluded
that sum for daily and non-daily interaction flows is not very suitable for delineation of human
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geographical mezzo regions, which would be denoted as complex regions (i.e. expressing general
spatial organisation of society). Non-daily labour commuting flows can be processed separately for
sure, but their analysis has shown that they determine the highest (macro regional) level of spatial
differentiation, where Prague is the only dominant centre. Non-daily school commuting flows are
limited to a very specific population segment (predominantly university students, to a lesser extent
also secondary school students, i.e. the age group 15-25 years).
If a mezzo level regionalisation based on different process were to be carried out, the resulting regions
could be correctly defined, but they cannot be called complex human geographical regions. Further
on, it appears that Jihlava is a full-bodied mezzo regional centre comparable to Karlovy Vary or Zlín
and forms adequate hinterland. Distribution of peripheral areas is determined always by the location at
the rim of functional regions with greater distance or bad accessibility to regional centres. In the
Czech Republic the centres occur at the mezzo level and include all regional capitals.
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This work was supported by the Internal Grant Agency of the Palacký University Olomouc under
Grant Human behaviour and activities in geographical environment: analysis and modelling of the
organisation of space [number IGA_PrF_2014012].