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FOR JANA TEMELOVÁ AND JAKUB NOVÁK
On May 3, exactly a year will
have passed since we lost our dear
colleagues and friends Jana Te-
melová, Ph.D. and Jakub Novák,
Ph.D. from the Department of So-
cial Geography and Regional Devel-
opment at the Faculty of Science of
the Charles University in Prague.
In their memory, colleagues associ-
ated through an informal research
network called Cities After Tran-
sition have decided to create this
monothematic issue, which is dedicated to the topic of gentrification, since
both Jana and Jakub geographers were particularly involved in the research
of contemporary inner cities. Allow us to remember here their contribution to
our Department and our research team.
Jana and Jakub were both founding members of the Urban and Regional
Laboratory research team. This team owes much of its success to several grants
both geographers managed to obtain, and to their ability to create a young team
of mostly post-gradual and magisterial students. Jana proved to be an excellent
leader due to her organisational abilities and diligence, while Jakub provided
the team with inventiveness and creativity associated with his technical and
statistical expertise. Within a rather short amount of time, both soon emerged
as leading urban geographers in Czechia. Their contributions, however, also
extended to the international research community, especially through the
aforementioned Cities after Transition network.
Jana concluded her Master of Social Geography and Regional Development
at the Faculty of Science (Charles University) in 2001. She obtained her Ph.D.
in 2005, after successfully defending her dissertation titled “The role of high
profile buildings in physical revitalization of inner city: The case of Golden
Angel in Prague”. Since then, Jana has held the position of a research assistant
at the same department. Over the course of her career, she conducted a range
of study trips abroad of either shorter or longer duration, such as in Helsinki,
Budapest, Urbino, Cracow or Berlin. As an urban geographer, Jana’s research
mostly focused on socio-spatial differentiation of urban space, while paying par-
ticular attention to the transformation of social and physical environments of
the inner cities, physical revitalization of neighbourhoods, residential satisfac-
tion, social deprivation and urban criminality. Jana acted as lead investigator
in several research projects while she participated as researcher in many oth-
ers, financed by both domestic and international institutions. Her publication
activity was equally rich: She was a co-editor of three books and authored or
co-authored over 50 academic or educational articles, 15 of which can be found
102
on the Web of Science. Out of her most recent activities, a special mention goes
to her Czech Science Foundation research project titled “Social Deprivation
in Urban Space: Objective and Subjective Dimensions”, editorial work on the
books “Social Changes in Prague neighbourhoods” (Academia 2012) and “Atlas
of Socio-spatial Differentiation of the Czech Republic” (Karolinum 2011) and
on the monothematic issue of Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review
titled “New socio-spatial inequalities, local development and quality of life”
(4/2001). On Google Scholar, searches according to Jana’s chosen keywords
“urban studies, inner city, revitalization, quality of life and crime” return 331
citations of her works.
Jakub had also done his studies in Social Geography and Regional Develop-
ment at the relevant Department in Prague, which he completed in 2004. He
finished his doctoral studies six years later with an innovative dissertation
“Mobile phone localization data: Application in geographic research”. Since
2006, he has worked as a researcher at the Department of Social Geography
and Regional Development, where he focused on issues of spatial mobility (daily
mobility, migration), time geography, and everyday life and transformation of
urban and regional structures. In Czechia, he became a pioneer in the use of
mobile phone data as a progressive source of information on people’s mobility
and in their utilization for both pure and applied research. He authored or
co-authored almost 30 academic texts, 8 of which can be found on the Web of
Science and acted as co-editor for the book “Sub Urbs: Landscape, Settlements,
and People” (Academia 2013). Jakub was also among the initiators and later
editors of the website suburbanizace.cz and the web portal atlasobyvatelstva.cz.
Most recently, he participated on the new delimitation of the Prague Metropoli-
tan Area for the Institute for Planning and Development on the basis of data
collected from mobile service providers, which represented a significant break
in the approaches to geographic regionalization. On Google Scholar, searches
according to Jakub’s chosen keywords “geography, urban studies, spatial mobil-
ity and mobile phone” offer 251 citations of his works.
Aside from research activities, Jana and Jakub also devoted their time to
teaching. They delivered lectures as part of several courses focused on urban
geography both at the Charles University in Prague and at the University of
Tart (Urban Social Geography I and II, Research Methods in Social Geography,
Social Geography of Prague, Socio-spatial Changes in Cities in Transition,
Cities in Eastern Europe etc.). The both frequently supervised bachelor and
master theses. Jana also successfully supervised one dissertation while several
others are close to completion. Both geographers were very popular among the
students for their academic qualities and friendly dispositions. This friendly
attitude made Jana and Jakub more than just excellent researchers, but also
very good friends to us all, as they were ever forthcoming and amicable. Their
cheerfulness and humour have breathed greater life into our workspace and
their relationships with their colleagues went far beyond professional necessity.
This monothematic issue honours their memory through the efforts of the
international research community they had previously so quickly found their
way into. This will be further extended through the hosting of the 6th edition
of the Urban Geographies of Post-communist States Conference: 25 years of
urban change (so called CATference), which will take place at the grounds
103
of their home Department between the 23 and 26 of September 2015. Sadly,
we will have to do without their presence this time. However, it has already
become quite apparent that their professional and personal legacy will continue
to influence not only their students and colleagues, but all readers of their
research and academic texts. This legacy will survive not only through new
publications and citations, but mostly through the memories of their closest
colleagues, students, and friends.
Martin Ouředníček, Dušan Drbohlav