Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft, Band 157

The EU’s enlargement of 2004 was a relevant and courageous step aiming at the creation of conditions for the promotion of security, prosperity and regional co-operation in Europe. However, after that process the European spatial development policy discourse has taken a ‘territorial’ character. The notion of territoriality and the prevalent ‘territorial’ discourse produced an evident eclipse of the notion of ‘European space’ that had been developed in the early 1990s. The same EU’s concepts of enlargement and political integration produced a sharp system of inclusion and exclusion, defined by full membership status and by fortified, scrutinised and increasingly militarised external borders. Due to this pragmatic notion of territoriality and boundaries, the idea of the EU as a ‘non-Westphalian new empire’, characterised by softening of borders and sharing of political power across multiple and multilevel politics became unrealistic, as shown by the recent migrant crisis.

Schlagworte: EU´s enlargement, Borders , territorial cohesion, European Neighbourhood Policy, migration crisis

The article examines and evaluates the recent course of metropolitan development in East-Central Europe by identifying its signs that appear at various levels of spatial scale. It looks into on-going transformation of selected large urban centres into metropolitan cities, the development of metropolitan areas as well as the evolving city-region and inter-urban relations. Changes in settlement patterns and urban hierarchy, which are observed at a national level, are discussed in somewhat greater detail with a focus put on the growing role performed by the capital cities. These trends are presented against a conceptual background and are also confronted with some earlier forecasts concerning the path of metropolitan transition. Finally, selected, in particular demographic factors that are likely to bear on future urban development in the region are briefly referred to.

Schlagworte: metropolitan development, settlement systems, capital cities, city-hinterland relations, East-Central Europe

Commemoration events, such as those marking the enlargement of the European Union (EU), are opportune occasions to reflect on ‘what we know’ about a subject and to identify some neglected and challenging opportunities for scholars in regional studies as well as social, policy and environmental sciences. I use this occasion to look at a series of knowledge base questions, that is, how much do we know about certain topics that are important to the EU’s present and future. There is a number of indicators one might use to answer this question, such as the number of library volumes on a certain topic or journal metrics. I use Google, the major electronic database, to examine the extent of our knowledge base about EU members and potential members and related topics, including boundaries and immigration, which are central themes in annual EU deliberations. A second perspective is gained by looking at our knowledge of EU capital cities vis-à-vis ethnic minorities, religious and linguistic diversity. I chose these issues as these are important in on-going discussions about regulations and policies. I map the member country and capital city data, because I think it is the appropriate method to see the extent of gaps in what we know about these topics. I preferred schematic graphics of cores, semi-peripheries, peripheries and deep peripheries to traditional maps with state borders we are all familiar with, because they are more appropriate to depict our knowledge about Europe’s cyber worlds. Cyber boundaries are fluid, dynamic and uneven. From these schemes, it becomes clear that the geographic knowledge base is very uneven. They reveal some consistency in our knowledge about member countries and capital cities, but also a fair degree of unevenness and irregularities. The EU knowledge world contains some cores and peripheries, but also some ‘knowledge islands’ and ‘archipelagoes’, which offer challenges for future scholars.

Schlagworte: knowledge geographies, Cyberspace, core-periphery mapping, European Union

The concept of replacement migration was developed by the United Nation Population Division and introduced in 2000. The principal idea of this concept is based on a quite simple approach: How much net-immigration is necessary to reach certain goals concerning the size and structure of the future population? For example: How much net-immigration is needed to keep the population size constant or to stabilise the relation between the labour force and the retired people (dependency ratio)? For the first time the concept of replacement migration is applied to Austria, and concrete projections are presented in this article. The projections clearly demonstrate the need for further net-immigration, but also emphasise the necessity to introduce different political measures to keep the labour market functioning and to stabilise the age-related welfare system. If demographic change ought to be compensated only by migration, the sheer size of future migration flows would exceed any reasonable limit.

Schlagworte: Austria, migration, replacement migration, welfare state

Transboundary Protected Areas (TBPA) represent a potential strategy for sustainable cross-border development. Experts consider them to be versatile tools for cross-border co-operation in the areas of environmental protection and peace building. Against the backdrop of public planning of these protected areascapes, the chapter will analyse the case of a TBPA nature park located alongside the Austro-Hungarian border. Írottkő-Geschriebenstein Nature Park will serve as a model for discussing the framework conditions necessary for protected areas to play a role in cross-border co-operation at the interface of different political systems. Which mechanisms need to be considered for TBPA to act as stimuli or even models of regional development based on regional governance? Despite common ideas and statements in support of the cross-border nature park on the part of both Austria and Hungary, numerous barriers to co-operation seem to persist. From an analytical standpoint, trust, legal frameworks and jurisdictions, weak transfer links and bureaucracy, in addition to different manifestations of responsibilities as a civil society constitute those fields of action that are partly superimposed on the matters of content and need to be addressed on a deeper level in cross-border co-operation.

Schlagworte: bilateral co-operation, nature park, Green Belt, Írottkő-Geschriebenstein, governance arrangements

Transport interactions perfectly reflect real spatial interactions and inter-urban relationships. They represent the mobility of passengers, information or goods, including commuter flows, commuting to services, etc. Delimitation of functional transport regions based on passenger-car traffic flows represents a traditional approach in geography, but has recently been neglected. The article explains why road-network traffic flows should be reconsidered for the purposes of delimiting functional urban areas (FUAs) and demonstrates that delimitation of functional regions based on passenger-car traffic flows is an efficient way corresponding to former approaches to the delimitation of functional urban regions in Slovakia. This study utilises periodical and well-available road-traffic survey data as of 2010, interpreted in GIS environment.

Schlagworte: road transport, traffic flows, functional regions, transport regions, Regionalisation

Since 1989 Warsaw [Warszawa] has been marked by considerable functional change, accompanied by modernisation of its physical tissue. Yet, there are some factors that can retard Warsaw’s future development. Among them, the most important appears to be the persisting social and economic disparities between the city and its surrounding region. This problem is discerned in strategic spatial policy documents and tends to be addressed in two ways: One of these aims at the generation of spill-over of economic activity towards the peri-urban zone and an enlargement of the city labour market via investment in transportation infrastructure. Another approach is to promote functional polycentricity at the regional level by focusing on the development of the so-called sub-regional centres – several medium-sized cities situated within the radius of ca. 100–120 kilometres from Warsaw, with the goal of strengthening interurban, intra-regional linkages. In this paper some limitations of the above-mentioned approaches are exposed, and an alternative path for the evolution of the city-region relations is outlined, based on the concept of the urban-rural region. This concept emphasises the importance of environmental assets as factors in attracting migrants and economic activities including knowledge- intensive functions to peripherally situated, smaller urban and rural places. In the case of the Region of Warsaw with its extensive, amenity-rich rural countryside, such a development perspective may seem especially relevant. Against this background, in the paper some results are presented and interpreted that are derived from a research project conducted by the author focusing on the development of cultural-cognitive functions in selected small and medium-size towns in the Region.

Schlagworte: Warsaw, metropolitan region, urban-rural region, cultural-cognitive functions

In this paper, we report on the Zipsers’ community in Vişeu de Sus/Oberwischau, Romania. This ethnic group is one of the most relevant examples out of the German-speaking ethnic groups in Eastern and Southeastern Europe that living together and sharing space with other ethnic groups lead to characteristic adaptations and influence the appearance of another ethnic substratum visible through its own culture (language, tradition, religion, etc.). Our aim was to show that multiculturalism may in some cases, such as the Zipsers’ in Vişeu de Sus/Oberwischau, support identity and traditional culture preservation. The material of our research rested on respondents’ autobiographies and on ethnographic inquiry as resulted from interviews, questionnaires and observation, on statistical data from censuses, on information from earlier studies and on our theoretical reflection. Results showed that the specificity of this ethnic group and especially of its perpetuation was exactly the multicultural substratum that enabled respecting the Other, communication and help-based ethnic relationships, that is “living together”. We concluded that the Zipsers’ construction of ethnic identity was done depending on the Other, as a result of social transformation and of fragmenting triggered by political events.

Schlagworte: Zipsers, identity, interethnic relationships, qualitative research methods, ‘the Other’, multiculturalism

Die Staaten des Golfkooperationsrates (GKR) gelten laut UNWTO (2014) als die weltweit am dynamischsten wachsenden touristischen Herkunftsmärkte mit einem jährlichen Wachstum im zweistelligen Bereich. In Österreich haben sich die Ankünfte und Übernachtungen aus dieser Region allein zwischen 2010 und 2014 mehr als verdoppelt. Insbesondere die Pinzgauer Region Zell am See-Kaprun profitiert von arabischen Reisenden, jedoch entfallen über 90% der Reisen auf die Sommermonate Juli und August, was Herausforderungen sowohl für die Destination als auch für Bereiste und andere Touristen zur Folge hat. Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Wahrnehmung der arabischen Touristen durch deutsche Reisende und hinterfrägt mögliche Auswirkungen auf das aktuelle Reiseerlebnis sowie auf künftige Reiseentscheidungen. Die empirischen Ergebnisse zeigen, dass arabische Reisende aufgrund ihres äußeren Erscheinungsbildes, ihrer Gewohnheiten und Verhaltensweisen zwar Aufmerksamkeit erregen und Befremden auslösen, Reiseverhalten und Kundenloyalität der deutschen Gäste dadurch jedoch nur marginal beeinträchtigt werden.

Schlagworte: Zell am See-Kaprun, arabische Reisende, deutsche Touristen, Wahrnehmung, Kundenloyalität

The paper discusses geographical characteristics of Slovenia from the perspective of tourism development and presents main processes that have marked it in the last decades. Tourism has significantly affected the appearance as well as economic and social structure of many Slovenian regions. The paper focuses on the role of various factors, which influenced tourist attraction of Slovenia and its regions, as well as on changes in tourism supply and demand in the last decades and their relation to some of the political and economic events. Recently, Slovenia has experienced an above-average rate of tourism growth. Several of the nation-state’s geopolitical decisions impacted the growth of the tourism economy: Slovenia became a member of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) (2004), introduced the Euro as the national currency (2007) and became a full member of the Schengen Space (2009). However, impacts of these changes were not comparable to the impacts of political and economic disruptions, related to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, which caused drastic decline in foreign tourists’ numbers at the beginning of the 1990s. Despite long-term growth trends, tourism in Slovenia is already facing many challenges (e.g., unreliable snow cover in the winter season in Alpine resorts as a result of the climate change impacts). Moreover, the growth of tourism has caused some environmental and social problems (or at least contributed to them) in those areas where tourism development has been the most intensive. Nevertheless, impacts of tourism have been rather limited. One of the important reasons why, so far, tourism has not caused any large-scale environmental or social problems is the fact that Slovenia has not developed real mass tourism. In the European context, Slovenia remains an only moderately developed tourist destination. Due to the growing competition on the global tourism market a continuous adaptation to the changing tourism demand is of crucial importance, taking into account not just short-term gains, but especially tourism sector’s long-term viability. From this perspective, also sustainable tourism principles should be considered more relevant.

Schlagworte: tourism development, Slovenia, tourism regions, natural and cultural heritage

The main goal of the research is to apply the typology of tourist resorts based on the level of tourism development to the example of South Dalmatia, the southernmost littoral part of Croatia. The research is based on the methodological instruments of geographical analysis and synthesis and includes analysis of statistical data, GIS analysis and visualisation of spatial data in GIS using thematic maps. The typology was formed using the following indicators on the level of settlements: (1) number of tourist beds, (2) number of tourist arrivals, (3) number of overnight stays, (4) co-efficient of tourism functionality (number of tourist arrivals per 100 inhabitants), (5) density of tourist beds (number of tourist beds per square kilometre), (6) density of tourist arrivals (number of tourist arrivals per square kilometre), (7) tourist class assigned to the tourist resort according to a Croatian regulation that categorises basic tourist resorts into four classes using quantitative and qualitative criteria to determine the level of the sojourn tax and the possibility of founding a tourist board. To achieve the final typology, every indicator was scored for every tourist resort. The typology confirms the uneven spatial distribution of tourism development in South Dalmatia with its focus on the Dubrovnik urban region. The higher level of tourism development is concentrated almost exclusively on the coastal resorts, while the interior is characterised by sporadic and low tourism development. However, even in areas with a lower level of tourism development, some settlements – small ones particularly – are highly dependent on tourism and, therefore, characterised by high pressure of tourism on the physical and social environment. The typology resulted in determining a certain number of first- and second-level tourist resorts, tourist centres that are carriers of tourism development in South Dalmatia, and a large number of small settlements with a simpler tourism supply, although more or less oriented to tourism. Therefore, the typology can be treated as a first step towards a functional tourism regionalisation of South Dalmatia forming functionally complete tourism units that have a quality tourism supply and that are capable of successful management of tourism development and tourism impacts, which is now partly present only in leading tourist destinations.

Schlagworte: typology, tourist resorts, South Dalmatia, Croatia

Economic transition initiated in the former Communist countries in Europe in the 1990s has had a strong impact on all spheres of life including tourism. Depreciated stateowned spas were subject to transformation resulting inter alia in ownership change. The article highlights and evaluates the relationship between progress in privatisation and ability to acquire EU funds by the example of 16 spas located in similar-sized settlements in Poland. It shows that a regulated legal status, thus providing companies with stability, has created optimal conditions for EU fundraising.

Schlagworte: spas, system transition, privatisation, health tourism, EU funds, Poland

Ökonomische Bildung soll junge Menschen befähigen, in den ökonomisch hochgradig durchdrungenen Lebenswelten selbstbestimmt, verantwortungsbewusst und im demokratischen Rahmen mitgestaltend zu handeln. Neben Orientierungs-, Urteils- und Handlungsfähigkeit sind auch Sachkenntnisse erforderlich, aber nicht ausschließlich. Tests zum Wirtschaftswissen prüfen lediglich die Erinnerungsfähigkeit und im besten Fall noch Zusammenhänge, jedoch nicht die eben erwähnten Fähigkeiten. Wenn man die beiden grundlegenden Paradigmen der ökonomischen Bildung, nämlich das der ökonomistischen (kategorialen) Bildung und das der lebensweltorientierten sozio-ökonomischen Bildung gegenüberstellt, wird deutlich, dass der im Fach Geographie und Wirtschaftskunde (GW) und in der GW-Fachdidaktik zentrale Gesellschafts-Raum-Wirtschafts-Kontext mit dem zweitgenannten Paradigma übereinstimmt. Somit orientiert sich die fachdidaktisch legitimierte Themenauswahl im Paradigma der sozio-ökonomischen Bildung primär an den vier Handlungsfeldern Privathaushalt, Konsum, Arbeit und Gesellschaft. Besonders in der Sekundarstufe I, in etwas geringerem Ausmaß auch in der Sekundarstufe II der Allgemeinbildenden Schulen, versteht sich die sozio-ökonomische Bildung nicht als verkürzte Vermittlung der Betriebswirtschaftslehre und der Volkswirtschaftslehre. Inwiefern sich die Unterrichtspraxis der Sekundarstufe I an den vier Handlungsfeldern der ökonomischen Bildung und somit an fachdidaktischen Erfordernissen orientiert, war zentrale Fragestellung eines an Wiener Schulen (Neue Mittelschule sowie AHS-Unterstufe) durchgeführten empirischen Studienteils (n = 527). Weiters wurde in diesem Abschnitt der Studie erhoben, als wie bedeutsam und als wie schwierig Themen und Themenfelder der ökonomischen Bildung von GW-Lehrern wahrgenommen werden. Die diesbezügliche Auswertung erfolgte mittels qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse und Kontextanalyse. Wertet man die geschätzte Bedeutung von wirtschaftskundlichen Themenfeldern aus, so ergibt sich, dass Themen der Gesellschaftsökonomie mit über 54% der Nennungen als am wichtigsten eingeschätzt werden, mit weitem Abstand gefolgt von Arbeitsökonomie und Konsumökonomie. In Bezug auf die Themenbereichen zugeschriebene Schwierigkeit wird die Gesellschaftsökonomie mit 81% der Nennungen ebenso an erster Stelle angeführt. Für den GW-Unterricht lassen sich folgende drei Schlüsse ziehen: (1) Schulen sollten ihre Kontakte zu Experten und Unternehmen nützen. (2) Alltags- und Lebensweltbezüge sind bei fast allen ökonomischen Themen und Fragestellungen herstellbar und daher auch herzustellen. (3) Da es auf zahlreiche Fragen keine eindeutige und sichere Antwort geben kann, sind kontroversiell gestaltete Lernarrangements zu präferieren. Dies alles wird, wie nachgewiesen werden konnte, bereits zum Teil in der Sekundarstufe I umgesetzt, sollte jedoch im Sinne einer sozio-ökonomischen Bildung, die zur Mündigkeit von jungen Menschen beiträgt, intensiviert, erweitert und vertieft werden.

Schlagworte: ökonomische Bidung, sozio-ökonomische Bildung, ökonomistische Bildung, Wirtschaftswissen, Gesellschaftsökonomie, Mündigkeit, Emanzipation, Partizipation

Dieser Artikel setzt sich mit der geopolitischen Kartographie in Österreich zwischen 1917 und 1937 auseinander. Anhand von vier Beispielen (Erwin Hanslik, Zeitschrift „Grenzland“, Wehrgeographie und Karl Springenschmid) wird gezeigt, dass geopolitische Karten damals nicht einheitlich definiert waren. In der Regel waren die Karten durch ein einfaches Kartenbild, ihre Gestaltung in Schwarz-Weiß, eine suggestive und propagandistische Wirkung und ihre Kombination mit politischen Gesichtspunkten gekennzeichnet. Im Gegensatz zu heutigen Karten fehlten zum Teil dynamische Gestaltungselemente (Pfeile, Keile), die eine Bewegung versinnbildlichen. Daher gehören die meisten dieser Karten einem Übergangsbereich zwischen Politischer Geographie und Geopolitik an. Die kartographischen Ansätze erstreckten sich von einer natur- und sozialwissenschaftlichen Konstruktion diverser Räume über die deutsche Volks- und Kulturbodentheorie bis hin zu einer wehrwissenschaftlichen Betrachtungsweise.

Schlagworte: Geopolitische Kartographie, Österreich, Zwischenkriegszeit, Erwin Hanslik, Karl Springenschmid

Im Zuge des Projekts genderATlas wird ein interaktiver Online-Atlas für Österreich entwickelt, in dem Daten entsprechend genderspezifischen Fragestellungen in ihrer räumlichen Dimension innovativ aufbereitet und einer breiten Öffentlichkeit zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Wesentliche Zielsetzungen der Gestaltung sind die Darstellung räumlicher Ausprägungen und Dynamiken geschlechtsspezifisch strukturierter Lebenswelten, eine einfache technische Zugänglichkeit zu Informationen unterschiedlicher Detailliertheit, ansprechende und leicht verständliche graphische Aufbereitung von Daten und die Nutzbarkeit auf verschiedenen technischen Endgeräten. Im vorliegenden Artikel werden methodische und konzeptionelle Überlegungen, die der Gestaltung des Online-Prototyps genderATlas zugrunde liegen, dargestellt und anhand beispielhafter Umsetzungen erläutert. Erstens soll der partizipative Zugang des Projekts in Form der kontinuierlichen Einbindung der Zielgruppe sowie die methodische Entscheidung, den Online-Atlas als flexibel gestaltbares Beitragssystem zu konzipieren, diskutiert werden. Zweitens werden die gewählten Indikatoren und kartographischen Realisierungsstrategien betrachtet. Neben der Reflexion dieser methodischen Entscheidungen werden zuletzt Chancen und Schwächen von Online-Atlanten für die Behandlung von Genderfragen sowohl aus theoretischer als auch praktischer Sicht erörtert.

Schlagworte: Kartographie, online-Atlas, nutzerorientierte Kartographie, Gender

In diesem Artikel wird ein neues Ausstellungskonzept aus Niederösterreich vorgestellt, das das Ziel verfolgt, die gesamte Ausstellungsregion nachhaltig aufzuwerten. Dazu werden die Leitidee, die wichtigsten Umsetzungsschritte, die bisherigen Erfahrungen sowie die theoretischen Hintergründe dargelegt. Dieser Artikel möchte dazu anregen, dass dieses neue Konzept auch in anderen Regionen angewandt wird.

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