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Formation of Global Civil Society: Reaction to Problems of Globalization
Novotná, Naďa ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Festa, David (referee)
This Master's thesis focuses on the possibilities of a global civil society to reduce the negative consequences of economic globalization. In the opening general part, special attention is given to problems caused by corporate strategies in production in developing countries. The current official mechanisms of corporate accountability are also discussed and considered as insufficient. Some new tendencies to promote the corporate social and environmental responsibility have emerged in recent decades. The agencies of a global civil society have been playing a very important role in these processes. The formation of a global civil society, its ambitions and risks are also studied in the general part of the thesis. The global civil society roles and possibilities of influencing the globalization processes are discussed also from the perspective of relevant theoretical concepts in the theoretical part. The empirical part of the thesis is based on a qualitative analysis of the campaign Business and Human Rights carried out by Czech global civil society organizations. The objective of this campaign is to prevent the corporations from human rights violation. Within the empirical research, the different spatial relations among the global civil society participants are studied, along with the evaluation of the...
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Public space. utilization of squares in Prague centre
Michl, Tomáš ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Brabec, Tomáš (referee)
The thesis examines in what way is public space used a what relation is between a physical appearance of square and activities, which are ongoing there. First it deals with theoretical features of public space such as functions and factors, which are influencing utilization of public space. Then it searches a relation between users, car traffic, geographic location and way how is chosen square utilized. In empirically part author considers Wenceslav, Karlovo a Senovážné square. Here is confirmed, that physical structure influences how much is chosen square utilized. Type of activity depends on physical environment as well as how important square is within the city. Keywords: public space, square, city, quality of public space
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Discursive construction of a new identity of the regenerated urban space: the case of waterfront in Bratislava
Juhász, Matej ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Šuška, Pavel (referee)
Waterfronts in post-socialist cities have became under the influence of post- socialist transformations an areas of conflict, which are full of contradictory pressures based on the different actors and their views. This diploma thesis deals with plans and waterfront regeneration projects in Bratislava from the perspective of discursive practices and representations of investors, developers, city government and citizens. The work also examines the role of the actors involved in the formation of new identities of regenerated areas via different representations. It focuses on the process, which leads to the formation of new identities in the plans and projects of waterfront regeneration. The work uses an interpretative analysis of text segments. It examines both the process of discursive construction of place through a variety of discursive practices and offers an insight into the backstage relationships of actors involved. Key words: discourse, representation, identity, Bratislava, waterfront, regeneration
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Roma on the Czech countryside: Determinants of exclusion, potentials for inclusion
Hurrle, Jakob ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Bernard, Josef (referee) ; Sidiropulu Janků, Kateřina (referee)
The dissertation project Roma on the Czech countryside: Determinants of exclusion, potentials for inclusion deals with the situation of Roma in Czech rural municipalities. The starting motivation for the author's exploration of this topic has been information about the growing number of segregated localities in rural areas. In the local public discourses within the peripheral areas, this phenomenon has often been explained as the consequence of poverty-driven urban-rural migration. However, as the migration of socially excluded populations into disadvantaged areas stirs a lot of fears and negative emotions that provide a fertile ground for the spread of rumours, the author's preparatory research soon revealed that it is necessary to carefully distinguish between myths and reality. The author's desire to understand the complex processes behind the emergence of new Roma localities in rural areas required a combination of working methods: The author analysed the national policy and regulatory framework and realized empirical research in five micro-regions in different parts of the Czech Republic. In addition to this, data were gained through the realization of a country-wide survey with two different sets of questionnaires, which targeted rural municipalities with socially excluded localities and urban social...
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The Transformation of Retailing in the City of Ostrava: A Geographical Analysis
Bednář, Pavel ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Szczyrba, Zdeněk (referee) ; Mulíček, Ondřej (referee)
Conclusions .{ eeoeraphical summary of the transformation of urban retailing in Ostrava as a specific erarnple of postcommunist city (i.e. factors for the accomplishment of the transition): o nerv sPatial paftern of localization of shopping centres and new ýpes of retail outlets (towards car bome consumer - winners on the demand side) o assortment decline or commercial bligbt of traditional shopping centres in prefabricated housing estates o spatial oligopolization of the local market in grocery retailing by intemational retail chains (winners on the supply side) o strengthening competition among different types of grocery retail outtets (i.e. supermarkets vs. hard discounts) o spatial differentiation of retail outlets in their ownership structure (international and national vs. regional and retailers) o new urban forms in urban morphology o new urban functions on the edge of the compact city (i.e. commercial areas with monofunctional retail clusters or Aee standing stores without spatial links both functional and morphological to surrounding urban space). o changing of urban life sýle and time-space pattems of moving peop|e in the city (changing shopping trips and shopping behaviour) o creation of food deserts in the zone of individual family housing a increasing spending time in commercial private space...
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Performativity of theoretical concepts: Spatial and institutional changes in Prague metropolitan region as a consequence of EU cohesion policy
Coblence, Alena ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Blažek, Jiří (referee) ; Jehlička, Petr (referee)
Scholars in various social sciences have studied how concepts and theories not only analytically describe, but also normatively shape social reality. They labelled this phenomenon performativity. While the findings of these studies have brought a lot of new theorizing and implications, little is known on the existence of theoretical concepts in their full range and how they are actually implemented. This dissertation focuses on how theoretical concepts come into being and how they manifest themselves in everyday reality of various actors. Two geographical concepts were chosen-knowledge locality and metropolitan region-and three research questions were set: (RQ1) what are the activities and practices of various actors that lead the concepts come into being; (RQ2) how their coming into being changes urban and institutional arrangements in the functional region of Prague; and (RQ3) whether public policies are performative and succeed in materializing the given concepts in the development of cities and regions. Analysing the implementation of these concepts and discussing with the literature offers answers to research questions through: (1) the theory of performative practices, (2) the urbanization process and the institutionalization of the region, and (3) the "agency" of public policies. Two case...
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Roma on the Czech countryside: Determinants of exclusion, potentials for inclusion
Hurrle, Jakob ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Bernard, Josef (referee) ; Sidiropulu Janků, Kateřina (referee)
The dissertation project Roma on the Czech countryside: Determinants of exclusion, potentials for inclusion deals with the situation of Roma in Czech rural municipalities. The starting motivation for the author's exploration of this topic has been information about the growing number of segregated localities in rural areas. In the local public discourses within the peripheral areas, this phenomenon has often been explained as the consequence of poverty-driven urban-rural migration. However, as the migration of socially excluded populations into disadvantaged areas stirs a lot of fears and negative emotions that provide a fertile ground for the spread of rumours, the author's preparatory research soon revealed that it is necessary to carefully distinguish between myths and reality. The author's desire to understand the complex processes behind the emergence of new Roma localities in rural areas required a combination of working methods: The author analysed the national policy and regulatory framework and realized empirical research in five micro-regions in different parts of the Czech Republic. In addition to this, data were gained through the realization of a country-wide survey with two different sets of questionnaires, which targeted rural municipalities with socially excluded localities and urban social...
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Logics transforming the urban waterfront in Bratislava unravelling the decision-making dynamics behind urban development
Machala, Branislav ; Sýkora, Luděk (advisor) ; Šuška, Pavel (referee) ; Šourek, Michal (referee)
Extended Abstract This thesis addresses the globalizing urban waterfront in Bratislava. It aims to unravel the key logics driving the decision-making processes behind waterfront re- development in the Slovak capital. I investigate the infiltration of the capitalist logics into a transforming institutional environment unfolding from the post-socialist transition. This is being done through a distinction between the capitalist and the territorial logics of power (Jessop, 1999; Harvey, 2005). Across the globe, waterfront re-development has become the urban response to inner-city decline, and the increasing inter-urban competitiveness in today's neoliberal capitalism. The origins of waterfront transformations are here framed as an urban manifestation of geographically uneven logics of capital put into motion by the crisis of Atlantic Fordism (Smith, 1990; Jessop, 2000). The capital switching into the build-up environment (Harvey, 1978; 2005), is temporarily fixed on urban waterfronts through decisions made on multiple scales (Brenner, 2001). Various types of 'extraverted' strategies such as the Ecosystem approach (Laidley, 2007), a construction of megaprojects & an organisation of mega-events (Orueta & Fainstein 2009), or localization of transnational circulations of stararchitects (Alaily-Mattar et.al. 2018),...
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