Geographica 46/1-2 (2015)

Acta Universitatis Palackianae Olomucensis Facultas Rerum Naturalium December 2015 Geographica 46 | 1-2
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Identification of urbanization axes in the settlement system of the Czech Republic

Jiří Nerad

Full text: PDF (1 MB)

Received: September 21, 2015
Accepted: December 12, 2015

Abstract
The paper submitted deals with the issue of urbanization axes in the settlement system of the Czech Republic. The empiric study of urbanization axes represents an unexplored topic in geography. In the context of this paper, urbanization axes consist of larger urban centres with intensive mutual relationships. Prior to specifying them, the theoretical part describes general development of spatial and relationship organisation in settlement systems. Further, it deals with bases of study of spatial interurban interactions emphasizing the interurban relations between commuting to work and the transport interaction. The methodological part introduces the methods of urbanization axes specification. Every urbanization axis must fulfil two basic criteria. First, it must only be created by centres with a certain minimum complex size (population plus labour market size), and the second criterion consists in their mutual intensive communication. The main analytical part of the work analyses these criteria. The result of the analysis was identification of nine comprehensively interconnected urbanization axes in the territory of the Czech Republic.

Key words
the Czech Republic, urbanization axis, synthetic graphic method, spatial interactions, interurban interactions