Institute of Geonics AS CR, v. v. i.

Environmental geography

Industrial region, Ostrava
North Moravia

Brno Branch of the Institute represents centre of environmental geography. The research is focused on environmental and regional issues; special attention is aimed to problems related to Moravia. Regional geographical methodology (regional analysis and synthesis) is utilised for research. It enables relatively complex study of relations among environmental and social processes and phenomena in the landscape. So it forms a basis for research of environmental and social consequences of impacts of anthropogenic changes in the lithosphere. Besides empirical research, which is necessary because of sharply changing reality, methods of behavioural geography, cartography, and information generalisation are used as well.

The research is aimed at following thematic spheres:

environment of urban regions of different types (e.g. Environmental impacts of economic restructuring of Ostrava region; The city of Brno and environmental consequences of contemporary urbanisation processes; Geography of small towns and their role in the settlement system);
environmental hazards and consequences (e.g. Geography of natural extremes and catastrophes and their environmental dimension; Assessment of impact of economic activities on the landscape, its protection and related issues; Infrastructure and environment);
environment of rural, especially marginal regions (e.g. Sustainable development of rural regions and rural landscape formation; Euroregions and cross-border cooperation in the sphere of qualitative changes of their environment).