Jakub Novák’s research while affiliated with Charles University in Prague and other places

The main objective of this paper is to apply a synthetic approach to the delimitation of metropolitan areas, which combines traditional commuting data from the population census with alternative approaches. The presented delimitation, which was originally realized in response to a request from Prague’s planning authority, is based on three methodological pillars: the use of economic and social aspects of metropolization; suburbanization; and daily mobility within the Prague Metropolitan Area. Integrated systems of centers calculated from population census data are complemented with the use of mobile phone data. There was a surprising level of similarity in the spatial patterns gained from the two methods. Zones of residential suburbanization and time spent in the core city provided a complex perspective on the daily urban system within the Prague Metropolitan Area. A synthetic map based on the four methods is provided, accompanied by five analytical maps on a smaller scale.

This paper explores neighbourhood trajectories in the inner cities in terms of social and demographic change in a comparative perspective, and analyses the role of in situ change and residential mobility in this change. The research is based on a quantitative census-based study of Prague (the Czech Republic) and Tallinn (Estonia) at a detailed neighbourhood level. The study shows that in spite of many political and historical similarities, the differences in local regulatory mechanisms and local contexts have led to different urban outcomes. Institutional rigidity and long-term resistance to adjusting physical structures to a new social system have restrained change in Prague. The inner city of Tallinn has experienced much more social restructuring, replacements and displacements. High home-ownership rates, early rent de-regulation and no major public involvement in housing all contribute to the market-led urban change in Tallinn. © The authors 2016 Geografiska Annaler: Series B

Despite a rich body of literature dealing with suburbanization across Central and East Europe, the issues of crime and safety in residential suburbs have not been addressed. At the same time it is obvious that the existing knowledge on suburban crime derived mainly from Western experience cannot be simply transferred to the post-socialist transition context. This research investigates the issues of crime and safety in new residential neighbourhoods in the hinterland of Prague, the Czech Republic. Suburbanites’ fear of crime and feeling of safety are discussed in the context of registered crime patterns in the Prague metropolitan region. The research draws on data gathered in a questionnaire survey of newcomers to suburban housing. The findings confirm the generally high feelings of safety in low-crime suburban districts. Our analysis further showed that age, previous victimization and length of residency are the main determinants of fear of crime in Prague’s suburban communities.

Socioeconomic disparities have been rising on both sides of the Atlantic for the last forty years. This study illuminates the relationship among economic inequality, other contextual and institutional factors, and socioeconomic intraurban segregation in Eastern Europe. We draw our empirical evidence from the capital cities of so-called fast-track reforming postsocialist countries: Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and the Czech Republic. The analysis consists of two stages. First, we use the traditional indexes of segregation to assess the global levels of socioeconomic segregation in the case cities. Second, we investigate the global patterns and local geographies of socioeconomic residential intermixing and introduce a typology of neighborhoods based on the socio-occupational composition of their residential tracts. Despite rapidly growing income inequality, the levels of socioeconomic segregation in the postsocialist city are either low or very low. The scale of segregation differs between the cities and the patterns of residential intermixing in the large cities of central and Eastern Europe are fundamentally different from those found in the Baltic states. The results lead to two important conclusions. One is that the link between socioeconomic distance and spatial distance in postsocialist cities is moderately sensitive to the level of economic inequality and to other contributory factors. The other key finding is that inertia effects have offset the immediate catalyzing effect of economic liberalization, globalization, and growing socioeconomic inequality on the patterns of segregation, at least in the first decade after the collapse of socialism.

During the socialist era, inner residential areas of Eastern European cities were left to decay both physically and socially, and became mostly occupied by elderly inhabitants. Drawing on 2007-2011 EU-SILC data, we have analysed processes of socio-spatial differentiation in the inner cities of Prague and Tallinn during the post-socialist era, and indicate the household-level drivers of such differentiation. We found a high preference for inner city living among young people and childless households, but also the persisting patterns of elderly population in some inner city sub-areas. A weak correlation between household socio-economic status and place of residence in the inner city, however, suggests that inner cities continued to be socially mixed in the late 2000s, although differences existed in this regard between sub-areas and between the two studied cities. To a large extent, such differentiation relates to the roots found within socialist and pre-socialist legacies, but it also contains new post-socialist features, such as those created by different social and housing policies applied during the post-socialist reforms.

Předkládaná kniha Sub Urbs: krajina, sídla a lidé je věnována jevům a procesům, které se v současnosti odehrávají za městem nebo vedle města (sub urbs). Kniha jejíž editory jsou Martin Ouředníček, Petra Špačková a Jakub Novák z Univerzity Karlovy v Praze, obsahuje třináct kapitol odborníků z různých pracovišť. Na fenomén suburbanizace, tedy na proces decentralizace některých původně městských funkcí do zázemí měst, pohlíží především jako na proměnu příměstské krajiny, prostorové a sociální organizace sídel a interakci lidí původně bydlících a nově přicházejících do suburbií z prostředí měst. Kniha nabízí nové perspektivy výzkumu suburbanizace a je charakteristická využitím pohledů různých výzkumných oborů. Vedle sociálních geografů jsou v autorském kolektivu zastoupeni fyzičtí geografové, kartografové, sociologové, urbanisté a architekti. Řazení jednotlivých kapitol knihy směřuje od teoretických a metodologických aspektů výzkumu suburbanizace v České republice, přes případové studie vybraných měst až k aplikačně orientovaným textům nabízejícím implementaci výsledků základního výzkumu zejména v plánovací praxi.

Methodological problems of research and zoning of residential suburbanization in the Czech Republic

The aim of the pilot study is to examine the possibilities of mobile phone location data in geographical research of the everyday life and individual spatial mobility of the population. Developing and testing a new research instrument thus represent the key aims of the pilot study. The proposed technique is 'tried out' on a group of young people living or working in Prague. Their daily activities and spatial mobility are explored and discussed against the everyday and geographical context of the young people's lives. Theoretically the study draws on the strong tradition of time geography as well as on the new geography of everyday life. Methodologically the research combines two different types of data sources and the relevant analytical tools. First, mobile phone location data are used to record the daily trajectories of the participants. Second, deep interpretative interviews are carried out to understand the reasons and motives behind the recorded daily trajectories. Despite a few technical obstacles in mobile phone location data processing, the pilot study proved the very promising potential of this source, especially in combination with interviews, when studying the patterns of the everyday life and individual spatial mobility of an urban population.

Spatial typology and zonation of Prague