Search

Modern town and regional planning was shaped institutionally under the conditions of industrialisation and the associated growth in the economy and population in towns and industrial agglomerations. The aim is to manage this growth and create the conditions for its continuance with the smallest possible negative impacts on conditions. The main resources for ensuring problem-free growth consists of seeking out suitable areas for the construction of new housing and industrial plants, and the regulation of construction activity on these new development areas. The generation of intelligent, effective parking solutions improves the quality of our lives. There is a shortage of building land in cities and the country, and over recent years in particular it has become a sought-after and expensive resource. This article focuses on the history of changes, conditions and administration in planning. At the theoretical level it focuses on the consequences of changes caused by the change in the approach to planning and management of changes to the environment. It describes management decision-making, aspects of territorial development and spatial planning. It offers a detailed specification of the basic elements in the decision-making processes and analysis phase of the decision-making processes. The authors also focus on planning for improvements in the parking situation as there is a lack of parking space in every country. There is an explanation of the different parking methods of various systems, including classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The topic of visual smog is becoming more and more topical and is coming to the forefront of the interest of Czech society. This is not only a problem today, but only in recent years, it is increasingly perceived. However, visual smog has plagued postmodern society for a long time. Many advertisements, trailers, colours and various interactivities can be seen in the public space. Advertising is becoming a part of everyday life, it forms life not only in urban but also in rural settlements. Some people do not even perceive advertising in a public space and may say that they are not interested, but the environment in which everyone's life takes place is generally important for the lives of all involved. Advertising affects everyone consciously or subconsciously. Public spaces are the business card of the city and it is important how people perceive it aesthetically and how they feel in it. These aspects further affect such things as crime or cleanliness in a given place. The aim of the article is to find out how citizens and development actors perceive visual smog in rural and urban settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Topical Issues of Tourism: Tourism & Its Impacts on Society is the property of College of Polytechnics Jihlava and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this article is to present spatial and functional transformations undergoing in the structure of Wieliczka town and its surroundings. Wieliczka is an important medieval town with rich historical heritage. The Salt Mine, which is on the list of the World Unesco Heritage, is its main tourist attraction. Wieliczka is situated in Krakow metropolitan area and despite having its own administration is heavily under Krakow's influence. Transformations of its functional and spatial structure concern two spheres. The external sphere is connected with the close Krakow neighborhood. This results in a rapid expansion of the town. The internal sphere, including the town centre where undertaken activities are going to improve the quality of the town environment and the condition of infrastructure, especially in the Salt Mine surroundings. Dynamic development of suburban Krakow tissue more and more is blurring the borders between Wieliczka and Krakow. This process is not conducive to preservation of their attractive view relationships. It is also not good for the look of this small town, which is becoming stylistically varied. This field research done by the author in the range of the space use, view and composition relationships, as well as the analysis of available planning documentary and literature, indicate some tendencies to shaping functional and spatial structure of a small town which is situated nearby a robustly growing big city. Despite preserving the stylistic separation between Kraków and Wieliczka, during the last years, there was a significant territorial expansion in both places. The sphere where Krakow and Wieliczka meet is varied in form and function. It doesn't create an attractive space, which should integrate the local environment. Undertaken action in the interior town tissue concern the town centre and are connected with the Market Square revitalization, public spaces and the area around the old restored mine shafts. These activities have an essential impact on the development of tourist interest. The analysis of this chosen case can help to undertake a study of functional and spatial structure in different parts of cities and towns. It can also help to choose the best way of city development, which allows to preserve its separation, character and local conditioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 1989, Romanian economy has big changes in structure and functions. These changes were influence especially the economy of small towns. The most Romanian small towns are mono-industrial. For this reason, after disappear of main industry branch of these towns, appear many changes in demography field. Therefore, the unemployment rate increase, and the migration from this towns grow up. In Fetesti, town situated on the left branch of Danube and to the highway Bucharest-Constanta (the capital-Black Sea), the industry in post-communist period is dead. The tows survive only by commerce and by transport activities. The town is small and is not interesting for tourism, even if it is situated in one of main touristic areas of Romania, the Danube. The scenery of future economic development is to attract the business interest in this small town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financing rural electrification projects successfully requires the understanding and implementation of certain factors connected wholly or partly to the make-up and functionality of the project. Among these factors are aspects related to project affordability, reliability, sustainability, and present as well as future development. In this paper, a variety of basic financing aspects have been discussed and examined, regardless of the original aim(s) and objective(s) of the project, e.g. whether for the purpose of establishing off-grid electricity supply (in the form of renewable energy system) and/or to extend the supply from the national grid to the town or the village concerned. For these reasons, a number of financial aspects, as well as financial institutes/organisations with their resources and structures, have been examined and discussed. The purpose behind the discussion is simply to provide a window to the world of finance, in particular where rural electrification is concerned. This kind of approach is part of a wider mechanism to help in speeding-up rural electrification in the countryside of the developing countries, in general, and South Asia, in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The attack on the World Trade Center had an enormous impact on Muslims in Jersey City. In particular, it sparked a critical turning point in the construction of Muslim identities, in-group community cohesion and social interactions with others in Jersey City. It was not so much the attack itself, but what came in its aftermath?the state war on terrorism (with its transnational and local variations), the media images and stories linking Arab Muslims with terrorists, and the social and economic backlash against Arab Muslims?that caused such profound social effects. In the face of intense scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), detentions by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and hostility and hate crimes by neighbors and employers, paradoxically, Muslims in Jersey City have not attempted to ?blend? into American life and hide their ?Muslimness.? On the contrary, they have embraced a more traditional adherence to religious practices of Islam, striving to represent what they call ?the true? Islam. The analysis in this paper is part of a broader project examining the impact of September 11th on social interactions among diverse groups in Jersey City. Here, I draw on two years of ethnographic research (September 2001 to September 2003) to discuss some of the most urgent social effects of 9/11 on Muslims in Jersey City. My aim is to identify the critical challenges facing Muslims, to document the ways Muslims have responded to these challenges, and to consider the implications for Muslim community life and intergroup relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies show that residential segregation is lower in American suburbs than in central cities, and also lower in the areas with recent construction. These studies offer speculation for this trend, including less racial tension and history of segregation in these areas. However, existing studies of segregation do not distinguish different types of suburbs. As the racial and class diversity of American suburbs increases, it is crucial to understand how segregation manifests not only between city and suburbs, but also among suburbs. A case study of three new towns, built mostly after the 1970?s, with master-plans, examines the levels of segregation in these new communities. Findings from the 2000 Census indicate that these new towns are overall much less segregated than their surrounding areas. Nonetheless, there are differences between new towns, and the level of racial diversity in new towns is not always higher than their surrounding areas. Moreover, variation among the new towns suggests that the planning process may impact the level of segregation in a community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this presentation, I rely on two years of ethnographic research (September 11, 2001 to September 11, 2003) to illustrate the impact of 9/11 on community life in diverse neighborhoods of Jersey City, where Arab Muslims have come under intense investigation for alleged ties to terrorism. Using intensive participant observation, informal interviews, and oral histories, this research has examined how the tragedy of 9/11, its collective trauma and the subsequent ?war on terrorism? has affected the social construction (and reconstruction) of identities, social interactions, boundaries and trust among diverse groups in Jersey City. Here, my aim is to display images and ethnographic data illustrating the following trends.  How FBI investigations and sensationalized media images linking Arab Muslims to alleged terrorists in Jersey City have crystallized into the social construction of Jersey City as a ?Terror Town.?  How this distinct place image of Jersey City as a ?Terror Town? has led to a moral panic among non Muslims, who have assumed an urgent responsibility to defend their neighborhoods by scrutinizing Arab Muslims, reporting suspicious activity, patrolling local mosques and committing hate crimes.  How this moral panic and hostile local climate has affected the construction of Muslim identities, in-group community life, and intergroup relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]