393767, Tomáš Kubíček
Alternative approaches to functional regionalisation
Regionalisation is a traditional point of interest of a social geographic research. The topic
has both theoretical (main approaches and theoretical background) and practical impact (like
f. e. Integrated territorial investment, which is a financial tool of European union based on
functional urban areas). It is important to know, how the region works to establish good
infrastructure and services for inhabitants.
It is not problem to demarcate the functional urban area after population census, but as the
census is made once a ten years it is hard to do so in that meantime. So the focus of the research
will be mainly on methodological possibilities, usage of different methods respectively, in this
problematic data weak period.
There are 4 articles planned in an academic journals. In each article there will be different
method used to demarcate the Brno functional urban area. In the first one a mobile operators
data about inhabitants movement will be used. In this time there are 3 relevant datasets
available: 1) actual number of inhabitants in municipalities in South Moravian region (2018),
2) inhabitants movement from point to point in Brno metropolitan area (2016), 3) actual number
of inhabitants in municipalities in Brno metropolitan area (2016). There is also a 4th
dataset of
actual number of people in circa 60 municipalities (municipalities with extended powers and
microregional centres) but the author still does not have a license to the data.
The mobile operators data approach was used for example in demarcation analysis of
Prague metropolitan area for the 2014 – 2020 European period. The demarcation was made by
Ouředníček and col. This approach was adopted by the Ministry of regional development which
will demarcate metropolitan areas in the Czech republic for the 2021+ European period. General
trend of mobile operators data usage, mainly in public administration services, is obvious in
last years.
In the second article data from Transportation census (2016) and other official internet
sources like the Czech statistical office, the Ministry of transportation and so on will be used.
The problem of The Transportation census data is that we are not able to find out the starting
point and the final point of the drivers but we are able to see the transportation tendences in the
area what will be useful for the final demarcation of the region.
In the third article qualitive interviews method will be used. Using of this method for
demarcation of functional urban area is rather rare but in my opinion we should bear in mind
the perception of inhabitants to understand the area better. Interviewees will be mainly mayors
or other deputies of municipalities around Brno metropolitan area borders or local action groups
and so on. Semi-structured interviews will be used.
The last and the most important article will be a result of the first three where the author is
going to demarcate real metropolitan area based on data in the previous text. In the authors
opinion it is really important to look on the region in different ways and use different methods
to demarcate functional urban area which corresponds with reality.