Attractive Place Research Articles

Miért jó Szentesen élni? – Egy hazai kisváros lakosságának életminősége és helyi kötődése

Between summer 2018 and spring 2019, a study was conducted by the researchers of the University of Pannonia to examine Szentes, a small town in the Great Hungarian Plain. The study focused on the inhabitants’ attachment to the town, quality of life, internal image, and the locals’ satisfaction level with the settlement’s factors. The survey of Szentes fits with the aspirations of the 21st-century challenges of (small) rural towns (Veszprém, Kőszeg, Gyöngyös, Zirc). These challenges include retaining the young Y and Z generations and active population; liveable settlements; and sustainable rural development. During the research some local key determining figures were cross-examined in structured interviews. In addition, data were gathered applying a focus group method along with a survey reflecting 527 local respondents’ opinions. The results provide a brief summary not only of the areas in which Szentes can improve the inhabitants’ quality of life and the conditions of its settlements, but also of how it can be a more attractive place to live overall.

Strategic activities to strengthen the tourism sector in the heroic city of Huajuapan de León, Oaxaca

espanolUn destino turistico usualmente se puede definir como aquel lugar con riqueza natural de gran belleza; sin embargo, aunque localmente no se tenga una dotacion de factores naturales favorable para el turismo como es el caso de la Heroica Ciudad de Huajuapan de Leon, Oaxaca, al existir diferentes modalidades de turismo, cabe la posibilidad de que, mediante la innovacion, se desarrollen actividades atractivas con fines de esparcimiento en un marco turistico en el que se satisfagan las diversas expectativas del usuario. A partir de un estudio cualitativo, se plantea como objetivo principal presentar una serie de acciones estrategicas que permitan incentivar el desarrollo de actividades turisticas que generen un lugar atractivo, y por lo tanto, el fortalecimiento del sector turistico de la mencionada ciudad, cuya puesta en marcha depende del trabajo colectivo entre la poblacion, empresas y gobierno. EnglishUsually, a tourist destination can be defined as that place with natural and cultural resources of great beauty;however, although locally there is no endowment of natural factors favorable to tourism, such as in the HeroicCity of Huajuapan de Leon, Oaxaca, as there are different types of tourism, it is possible that, through innovation,attractive activities for leisure purposes can be generated, in a tourist setting where the different expectations of the user are met. Based on a qualitative study, the main objective of this paper is to present a series of strategicactions that encourage the development of tourist activities that generate an attractive place, and therefore, thestrengthening of the tourist sector of the aforementioned city, whose implementation depends on the collectivework between the community, the business sector and the government.

Selected Aspects of the Residential Property Market in the Context of Creating a City Image (an Example from Rzeszów)

The main goal of the article is to evaluate the city’s real estate sub-product and identify the impact of perception of this urban sphere on the overall image of Rzeszów city among students. A thesis was accepted by the authors that the attractive image of Rzeszów determines the development of the residential real estate market, attracting especially young, educated people to the city. On the basis of a literature analysis of the subject, information obtained from secondary sources on the topic of Rzeszów, as well as surveys carried out in 2018 among students (n = 325), the thesis was confirmed. Thanks to the fast, modern development of the city and consistently implemented marketing activities, Rzeszów is perceived as an innovative city that is friendly to residents, investors and students. This contributes to the inflow of new, usually young, educated residents and investors, which in turn translates into high dynamics in the residential real estate market. Questionnaire surveys carried out among students have shown that they highly appreciate the current image of Rzeszów and, most after graduation, plan to stay in the city which in their opinion is an attractive place for everyday life.

WATER SCARCITY OR DROUGHT? THE CAUSE AND SOLUTION FOR THE LACK OF WATER IN LAGUNA DE ACULEO

One of the most recurring discussions among people is the real impact of global warming and human activity on our natural resources. It is hard to identify and quantify the impact generated by each one. Laguna de Aculeo located in Paine city, Chile. It was one of the most attractive and beautiful places to visit in the summer. Today, It has been completely drying up. This research evaluates weather and hydrologic values registered by government weather and water levels stations. The purpose is to evaluate if there has been a change in precipitation, temperature, and water level trend. The analysis consists of the evaluation of the statistical parameters, and legal water withdrawals and fines imposed. The results of this study indicate that the cause of the drought of the lake is generated by climatic and anthropogenic factors. However, the changes in precipitation and temperature over the years are not significant for drying a lake. Therefore, it is possible to assume that human activities are arguably the greatest cause of impact on Laguna de Aculeo. Finally, we present tools, strategies, and practical solutions to prevent, control, and restore lake water level.

OSL chronology of the Liena archeological site in the Yarlung Tsangpo valley throws new light on human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau

Recent environmental archeological evidence has started to throw light on both the timing and processes of human colonization of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). Yarlung Tsangpo (YT) valley, a very important region of the southern TP for occupation, is home to not only modern Tibetans but also their ancestors. However, a lack of suitable sedimentary strata has limited the establishment of a secure chronology. Here, we report on a new stratigraphic section with prehistoric pottery and cultural layers that was discovered on a terrace of the YT at Liena, in Nyingchi County. The cultural layers are overlain by, and bedded within, eolian and lacustrine sediments. We used the quartz Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) method to date 11 samples and performed geochemical analysis on 100 samples to derive paleoenvironmental indicators. The OSL analysis gave an age of 4.3 ka BP for the cultural layer, which makes it the earliest human activity in the YT valley of Nyingchi to date. In addition, commencement of eolian deposition was dated to at least 8.3 ka, coinciding with the Holocene warm period. We discuss possible causal factors for human occupation in the valley and show that climatic changes played a crucial role in prehistoric human migration c. 8.3–4.3 ka BP. Before the early Holocene, most of the river terraces in the valley were being actively reworked by rivers or covered by lakes. So there were no suitable places for occupation by ancient populations. With the recession of dammed lakes during the Holocene warm period, the relatively flat and wide valley terraces, blanketed with rich eolian deposits (such as sandy loess), provided an attractive place for ancient people engaged in nomadic and even agricultural activities. Hence, the climate conditions of the Holocene warm period drove the environmental changes that provided favorable conditions for ancient human activities.

The Role of Education in the Prevention of Radicalization and Violent Extremism in Developing Countries

Only since the beginning of this century, the prevention of radicalization has become an important topic in debates about terrorism and sustainable development in developing countries. Research has shown that radicalized individuals are not uneducated, but have often completed secondary or tertiary education. Additionally, it became clear that some extremist groups consider the school environment as an attractive recruitment place. These findings led to a new approach where the education sector is considered as a prominent partner in preventing and combating the radicalization of young individuals. In this article, the potential limitations of the role of the education sector in developing countries are exposed. Based on previous research, three bottlenecks in the education sector were found: unequal access to education, poor quality of education and the relationship between education and employment. In order to strengthen the role of education for sustainable development in developing countries, it is recommended that equal access to education is improved, that schools invest in the creation of safe spaces for their students, that not only secondary but also primary and tertiary education are involved in policy strategies regarding radicalization, and that the job market is adjusted to the educational level of graduated students.

Rise (and Decline) of European Migrants in Greece: Exploring Spatial Determinants of Residential Mobility (1988–2017), with Special Focus on Older Ages

Aging, European Union consolidation, and human mobility across countries are three entangled processes making the Mediterranean region of Europe an attractive retirement place thanks to mild climate and lower costs of living. Residential mobility of retired workers in Europe has grown rapidly since the 1980s because of increased wealth, transportation improvements, and flexibility of working lives. However, residential mobility after retirement was occasionally investigated in relation with economic cycles; recession was hypothesized to negatively impact residential mobility from Northern/Western/Central Europe to Mediterranean countries. Considering economic and population dynamics over the last three decades, the present work documents the drastic reduction in the number of European immigrants in Greece after the 2007 recession, with the exception of retirees. Job shortage and worse socioeconomic conditions were demonstrated to alter settlement patterns and location preferences of migrants at both younger and older ages. Results of our study suggest a rethinking of the role of spatial planning and developmental measures in local communities less organized to host increasing flows of retirees from Northern Europe. Being increasingly required to provide services for aging population, social policies should reconcile retirement migration with internal demographic dynamics and the specificity of local contexts, promoting finely tuned taxation systems and appropriate spatial infrastructures.

Principles of forming a polycentric system in a metropolis based on the reorganization of historical industrial areas (a case study of the Vyborgskaya Side in Saint Petersburg)

The paper presents the analysis and methodological foundations related to the formation of new public centers in non-central districts of a city, integrated development of territories, balanced provision of the urban environment not only with service functions but with jobs as well. The historical industrial belt of Saint Petersburg has a unique potential in terms of the creation of new attraction places. Introduction of reorganized industrial areas into the polycentric development model and wise use of their features related to the location in the buffer zone between the historical center and dormitory districts will make it possible to shorten transport links, reduce daily labor migration, decrease the load on the city center in terms of selective cultural and social service.

Reviews on interrelationship between transportation and tourism: Perspective on sustainability of urban tourism development

This paper delivered the review of current research interest in tourism and transport within the context of sustainability. Transportation is important for every tourist traveling to their destinations, tourism industry cannot thrive successfully without it. Thus, this study will demonstrate the relationship of transportation-related to tourist’s satisfaction towards tourism transport, factors affected tourist’s mode of transport and tourist mobility by using the available transport in the destination to investigate the interaction between the two elements. Therefore, selected keywords will be used to identify articles in Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar to sort the most suitable article for review purposes. The review indicated that the tourist’s satisfaction is important for the evaluation of transport performance in the destination and different contexts of research. The review also found that existing transport modes in the destination will affect tourist movement, especially in terms of the designated route of transport and walkability to the tourist attraction places. In short, this review paper recommends the aspect of using new technologies as a potential analysis tool that allowed transportation greatly improved in the tourism sector. Overall, this review also aimed to identify the variable or attribute associated with achieving the idea of sustainable development.

Placemaking in Arab Cities. Realities, Challenges, and Prospects

Placemaking is an inclusive approach to the planning, design, and management of public places by which people create and/or recreate places. In the context of the Arab cities, placemaking projects are often envisaged to transform communities’ spaces into lively and attractive places; to enhance quality of life and opportunity for existing residents. It also aims to (re)create a distinct sense of place or place branding at large. Exploring how contemporary Arab cities have framed placemaking processes within the contemporary urban conditions, and sometimes the threats to the quality of the city, are helping in creating healthier, equitable, and humane public places. Such challenges and opportunities of these processes is a core component of this special edition of The Journal of Public Space, which discusses various aspects of placemaking in Arab Cities, ranges from creating, enhancing, adapting and developing attractive and efficient public places in Arab Cities. In this context, academic papers and viewpoints have manifested a variety of perspectives, theories and practices of placemaking concepts, methods, recent challenges and possible solutions. They portrayed several tools on establishing and revitalizing public places starting from governmental toolkits, reaching unplanned activities fostering community engagement in placemaking.

Place product in the promotion of communes – the case of the Milicz carp and the Barycz Valley

The constant competitiveness for the interest of entrepreneurs, tourists, students makes that local government units put effort into creating their image. However, the limited capital and organizational resources make that these units initiate multilateral promotion actions. Preparing its offer they repeatedly use attractive place products.
 The main aim of the article is to answer the question whether, if so in what ways, the Milicz carp, treated as a place product, is used in the promotion of the Local Action Group “Partnership for the Barycz Valley” created by the eight communes of Lower Silesia and Wielkopolskie province. Especially while taking into account two elements: first, the premises of the official strategic documents adopted within ‘the Barycz Valley’, second, the conducted in practice promotion actions. The use of two methods: content analysis and comparative analysis allows to state that the Milicz carp, against the goals in the given documents, plays a significant role in the promotion of the cooperating communes. Actions in the field of public relations have the greatest importance. On the other hand, the actions concerning the promotion of the Milicz carp do not accompany all the enterprises shaping the image of ‘the Barycz Valley’.

Making the library an attractive place for learning to patrons

A complete reputable library must be able to house all the needed resources and materials for its patrons to consume. An attractive library meets all the needs of patrons. A library is a curated collection of sources of information and similar resources, selected by experts and made accessible to a defined community for reference or borrowing. It provides physical or digital access to material, and may be a physical location or a virtual space, or both.A lot needs to be done to make the library a more attractive place of learning. The library needs to be creative in bringing on board innovative activities such as open space reading environment, game centers, cafes, etc. Library staff should be moving around the various desks to assist staff to locate library materials.Student s and patrons alike are facing a lot of issues that need to be addressed by the library. Patrons should also be allowed to use mobile phones and other electronic gadgets which will be helpful to them in the library.

Predatory conferences in biomedical streams: An invitation for academic upliftment or predator's looking for prey.

Scientific conferences, once deemed essential in scholars' lives, are now converting into a high-profit business. These predatory conferences are often organized by some profit-making predatory publishers or manufacturing companies for marketing their product or luring young researchers and scientists to submit their research manuscripts to these so-called predatory journals. Various tactics are used by these conferences to extract money from the researchers and students such as organizing conferences at attractive tourist places with multidisciplinary scope, invitation to submit a research paper to be published at the earliest or to become part of an editorial board/editor-in-chief. It should be realized that these predatory conferences do not provide any benefit to registering individuals for the development of science. The only remedy to expose and stop the business of all such predatory conference organizers is by creating awareness among young scholars and researchers, regarding these predatory conferences and the demerits of attending them, through the established medical and dental institutions, along with specialized associations and societies. A zero-tolerance policy should be created to ban such conferences with a refusal to provide promotion or funding to scholars or researchers attending these conferences. Hence, this narrative review aims to create awareness regarding these predatory conferences, the tactics used by them to trap researchers and ways which young researchers and academic scholars can use to delineate them from legitimate ones.

Determining the environmental situation as a factor in the differentiation of housing prices in Nur-Sultan by using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Modern cities, being centers of intellectual activity, trade, culture, science and development, are becoming places of attraction for people. It is in urban conditions that the economic and social evolution of man takes place. At the same time, as urbanization grows, a number of problems arise, including environmental ones. Therefore, it is necessary to take environmental factors into account when planning urban development, housing construction and creating infrastructure. This study is devoted to the application of the method of hierarchy of stochastic systems using the technology of geographic information systems, allowing to assess the adequacy of the cost of housing in relation to the environmental situation in the city of Nur-Sultan.

Method for the organization of non-stop passage of public transport through a controlled intersection

In modern Russia, the priority of development and improvement of urban passenger transport quality is one of the principles of traffic management. In the largest cities of Russia, passengers are mainly transported to places of attraction with buses. Besides, there is much concern about urban environment improvement, which cannot be achieved without improving the quality of bus transportation. One of the main parameters of bus operation is the time of passenger transportation. The time of passenger transportation depends on the time of route passage and the forced downtime. The greatest impact is caused by the passage of controlled intersections due to the forced downtime while waiting for the green light. As a result of the study, we developed a method for the organization of non-stop passage of public transport through a controlled intersection, taking into account the nature of public transport deceleration depending on the time of traffic lights operation, the distance to the stop line, and the distance to farthest conflict point.

WIEŚ PŁOCKA. OD ROLNICZEJ DO WIELOFUNKCYJNEJ

DOI: 10.19251/rtnp/2020.12(14) The process of changes taking place in the countryside can be analyzed in terms of agricultural production, spatial planning, infrastructure facilities, environmental devastation, etc. In this paper, on the example of the Plock district, it was attempted to prove that the location of rural communes in relation to the urban center offering jobs, which is Plock, affects the different dynamics of changes in the distribution and the change of the inhabitants’ sourcesof livelihood. The population of Plock county transformed from agricultural in 1950 to non-agricultural by getting jobs in Plock and starting their own businesses where they lived. In addition, since 2000, there has been a process of de-urbanization in the county. The countryside is becoming an increasingly attractive place to live.

Tourist’s decision to travel to Thai cultural tourism destination in central part of Thailand

The objectives of this study were to study the factors (personal factors and tourist’s behaviours) affecting the tourists’ decision to visit the cultural tourism. The samples were of 484 tourists visiting cultural attraction places in the central part of Thailand. The survey questionnaire was employed to use for data collection, with the purposiveness and convenience sampling method. Descriptive statistic with frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation was used to analyze the data. Inferential statistic including independent-sample t-test and One-way ANOVA was used to test the hypotheses. The result indicated that personal factors including age and career affected the tourist’s decision; meanwhile, gender, marital status and educational level did not affect the tourist’s decision. Also, the tourist’s behaviour including provincial destination, frequency of travelling, reason of travelling and accompaniers affected the tourist’s decision at the significant level as of 0.05. The result of the study can be useful for tourism entrepreneurs to set the appropriate cultural tourism activities for the tourist.

К использованию английского языка как средства обучения

The author highlights the global trends observed in the system of higher education: the growth of mutual influence and interdependence of the people of the planet; increased commercialization of life, the emergence of new perspectives. It is shown that the English language takes on new educational functions; new, more attractive places for training and scientific research appear due to changes in status and rating; the diversity of training areas and pedagogical approaches is increasing; new opportunities open up in the study of programs and languages; value guidelines change. Promising opportunities and styles of using the English language as a source of education and learning tool are revealed.

Forma architektoniczna, funkcja oraz potencjał zespołów budynków wielorodzinnych zbudowanych w XXI wieku w Krakowie na przykładzie osiedli Kurdwanów Nowy i Piaski Nowe

Architectural form, function and potential of multi-family building complexes built in the twenty-first century in Krakow presented on the example of Kurdwanów Nowy and Piaski Nowe estates Piaski Wielkie and Kurdwanów are former suburbs of Krakow. Over the past half century their space has been changed significantly. The first modifications took place in the 1970s and 1980s. The Piaski Nowe and Kurdwanów Nowy estates were built during this time. In the twenty-first century, the number of inhabitants of Krakow has been constantly increasing. As a result, the attention of real estate developers is once again focused on the regions. At present, these areas are intensively built-up. In some regions, the speed of development of road and service infrastructure is slower than the construction of residential buildings. This tendency can be seen in Piaski Nowe. Last-century projects are the main basis for the functioning of this complex. It is important to determine the forms found in these housing estates, their functions and potential. The results of the research will contribute to effective spatial policy. The article characterises architectural forms, spatial structures and basic functions of housing complexes built in the years 1999–2019 in Piaski Nowe and Kurdwanów Nowy. The research has showed that both estates have a predisposition to be attractive places to live. This fact is supported by existing public service facilities and developing private services. The location between the third and fourth Krakow ring road is also an important factor. An analysis of architectural forms has revealed changes in the way how the buildings are formed. There is a tendency to simplify building massings. The presented projects show that simplification is not synonymous with the end of potential for creating forms. It is just a path to new solutions.

The role of place in city centre retailing

City centre offerings, including shopping, restaurants and cafes, and a lively atmosphere are vital place attributes, which together with several other elements create an attractive place. However, city centre retailing is facing serious competition from e-commerce and external shopping malls, and dying city centres appear to have become a worldwide epidemic in the last decade. To retain visitors in the city centre is a prioritized issue and a current topic, for both retail and place branding research. In the present study the role of different elements of city centre retailing in the promotion of a city as a retail destination is explored by analysing photos published on Instagram by a Town Centre Management initiative. The following research question is answered: What role can the place play in city centre retailing? The study is inter-disciplinary, showing how retail attributes and place elements can reinforce each other and together offer opportunities for unique customer experience in a city centre, for the benefit of both retailing and the city brand. Three dominant visual themes of the place’s role in the marketing of a city centre are identified: the place as a frame, the place as a living room, and the place as a stage.