City Of Ostrava Research Articles

Urban environmental quality and out-migration intentions

Many large and industrial cities all around the world suffer from out-migration. It is usually connected with a loss of qualified labour force, suboptimal use of housing and city infrastructure, decrease in investments, etc., resulting in limited development potential. This article investigates the importance of urban environmental quality—especially pollution—for potential out-migration. In addition, it brings two innovative aspects to earlier studies on environmental migration: (a) exploring the influence of subjective perception of pollution, not only its objective level (corresponding to the theory of planned behaviour), (b) examining the different migration strategies instead of one binomial ‘stay or leave’ strategy. A representative sample of 3845 individuals from the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic (the third largest city in the country), which ranks among cities with the most polluted air in the Europe, was used for this purpose. The results suggest that (a) both the quality of natural environment and its subjective perception represent important and highly significant predictors of out-migration intentions, (b) different kinds of pollution lead to different migration strategies, (c) drain of young and educated workers is further strengthened by low quality of the natural environment.

Mega-retail-led regeneration in the shrinking city: Panacea or placebo?

One of the governance responses to urban shrinkage and the accompanying problems of city centre decline is mega-retail-led regeneration. It is a common regeneration tool that can, on one hand, create a popular shopping centre, but on the other hand, produce negative impacts on the city centre structures. Eventually, it can produce effects similar to urban shrinkage itself, the consequences of which should be reversed. This paper examines at the micro-spatial level the changing nature of selected services in the centre of the shrinking city of Ostrava, focusing primarily on analysing, identifying, and assessing the impacts of mega-retail-led regeneration represented by the development of the New Karolina shopping centre built within the historical city centre. Additionally, this text extends evidence of the impacts of such regeneration schemes and discusses their suitability in the case of shrinking cities.

「ヒトラーの新秩序」とその後がもたらした地域社会の変容 －チェコ工業都市オストラヴァを事例に（1938-1948年）－

「ヒトラーの新秩序」とその後がもたらした地域社会の変容 －チェコ工業都市オストラヴァを事例に（1938-1948年）－

Respiratory Diseases in Children and Air Pollution – The Cost of – Illness Assessment in Ostrava City

Abstract The article addresses the need to identify and quantify the external costs of air pollution on the health of the population, especially children. The subjects of evaluation are the respiratory illnesses acute nasopharyngitis and acute bronchitis, both of which have very high incidence in connection with air pollution. The aim of this paper is to estimate the cost of morbidity and to determine the amount of additional social costs of airway morbidity among children aged 0–15 years in Ostrava city, one of the most polluted cities in Europe, compared to the incidence of these diseases in the whole Czech Republic. Estimation of social costs is based on the Cost-Of-Illness approach, in which the total value is made up of the costs actually incurred in treating illness and in loss of productivity. Using this approach, additional costs related to the treatment of illnesses were calculated at approximately €20 million per year, which represents approximately 0.4% of Ostrava's regional gross domestic product (GDP).

Revitalization of public space along the river Ostravice in the part of Ostrava

An article describes an emphasis on aesthetics and humanisation of a public field in the waterside of the river Ostravice in the city of Ostrava and its surroundings. The aim of a project „The revitalization of the river „Ostravice“ is to improve life conditions and to attract citizens and tourists to spend their free time there.

Orthoptera insects as bioaccumulators of potentially toxic elements (Ostrava city, Czech Republic)

This paper explores whether orthopteran insects (Orhtoptera) may be used to study bioaccumulation of potentially toxic elements in their bodies on the territory of Ostrava City. For the purpose of laboratory analysis, we used a common species Metrioptera roeselii (Ensifera) and Chorthippus parallelus (Caelifera). The laboratory analysis confirmed a bioaccumulation of some potentially toxic elements (Ni, Zn, Cu, Cr), which is probably dependent on the distance of the sources of pollution and main wind direction.

Soil contamination by tar in the alluvial sediments: case study of the brownfield remediation project in the Czech Republic

The paper aims to analyse the remediation of soils contaminated by black coal tar and other contaminants in relation to risk limits in the different geological environments. The research was implemented as a case study in one of the most expensive remediation projects of contaminated soils in alluvial sediments, in the locality of a former coking plant Karolina in an industrial city of Ostrava in north-east of the Czech Republic. Based on the level of risk, three contaminated geological environments (layers) were selected, which were examined for chemical limits that must be complied with after remediation using ex situ thermal desorption. Around 1.5 million tons (10,720 wagons of 72 m3 and 14 m) of contaminated soils were dug out, which were subsequently treated ex situ by means of thermal desorption. In total, 12,200 t of contaminants were removed, among which non-polar extractable substances (NPES) amounted to 67.94% (8289 t), benzene to 12.25% (1494 t), naphthalene to 11.27% (1375 t), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) to 6.43% (784 t), benzo(a)pyrene to 1.11% (135 t), phenol to 0.82% (99 t), arsenic to 0.16% (20 t) and mercury to 0.02% (3 t). The most hazardous in terms of contact with humans was the top layer of quaternary alluvial fine-grained soils (3664 t of removed contaminants, 30% of all contamination—layer I). However, the most contaminated layer was the lowest, permeable layer of quaternary alluvial gravel sediments (7479 t of removed contaminants, 61% of all contamination—layer III). The contamination penetrated into the highly permeable layer due to gravity and could not migrate further due to the abundance of impermeable Miocene grey–blue clay.

Relation between personal exposure and outdoor concentrations of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during smog episode.

To our knowledge this is the first study measuring personal exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) bound to airborne particulate matter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5) in periods of high air pollution (smog episode) in which citizen were tracked. Measurements were performed in industrial regions of the Czech Republic: Ostrava, Karviná, Havířov. The city of Prague served as a control. Personal monitoring was conducted by active personal monitors for 48 hours. Non-smoking city policemen from Prague, Karviná and Havířov, office workers from Ostrava city and volunteers from Ostrava-Radvanice and Bartovice participated in the study (N = 214). The average personal exposure to benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) was highest in Ostrava (17.2 ng/m3), followed by Karviná, Havířov, Radvanice and Bartovice, and Prague (14.2, 12.0, 9.3, and 2.8 ng/m3, respectively). We tested for association between the personal exposure to cPAHs and various health-related factors extracted from the questionnaires, including lifestyle factors and day-to-day activities. Exposure to outdoor cPAHs, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), commuting, and time spent indoors (in restaurants, workplace or home) were found to be the main determinants of the personal exposure. Daily cPAHs measurements in highly polluted areas are needed for evaluating the personal exposure and to avoid its underestimation resulting from stationary monitoring.

Modelling Public Transport Accessibility with Monte Carlo Stochastic Simulations: A Case Study of Ostrava

Activity-based micro-scale simulation models for transport modelling provide better evaluations of public transport accessibility, enabling researchers to overcome the shortage of reliable real-world data. Current simulation systems face simplifications of personal behaviour, zonal patterns, non-optimisation of public transport trips (choice of the fastest option only), and do not work with real targets and their characteristics. The new TRAMsim system uses a Monte Carlo approach, which evaluates all possible public transport and walking origin–destination (O–D) trips for k-nearest stops within a given time interval, and selects appropriate variants according to the expected scenarios and parameters derived from local surveys. For the city of Ostrava, Czechia, two commuting models were compared based on simulated movements to reach (a) randomly selected large employers and (b) proportionally selected employers using an appropriate distance–decay impedance function derived from various combinations of conditions. The validation of these models confirms the relevance of the proportional gravity-based model. Multidimensional evaluation of the potential accessibility of employers elucidates issues in several localities, including a high number of transfers, high total commuting time, low variety of accessible employers and high pedestrian mode usage. The transport accessibility evaluation based on synthetic trips offers an improved understanding of local situations and helps to assess the impact of planned changes.

Comparing Residents’ Fear of Crime with Recorded Crime Data—Case Study of Ostrava, Czech Republic

The fear of crime is an established research topic, not only in sociology, environmental psychology and criminology, but also in GIScience. Using spatial analysis to analyse patterns, explore hotspots and determine the significance of respective surveys is one reason for the increase in popularity of such research topics for geographers, cartographers and spatial data scientists. This paper presents the results of an intensive online map-based questionnaire with 1551 respondents from the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic. The respondents marked 3792 points associated with the fear of crime over a ten week period. The perception data were compared with recorded crime data acquired from police department records for the years 2015–2018. This paper explores the spatial autocorrelation from perceived hotspots and from recorded crime hotspots. Our findings fit into the literature confirming results about the locations that most frequently attract fear, but there is still room for more investigations regarding the links between recorded crime and the fear of crime.

Influence of air pollution to incident photosynthetically active radiation during clear sky conditions in Ostrava, Czech Republic

This research paper focuses on with the effects of air pollutants PM10, NOx, and SO2 on the blue (400–510 nm), green (510–600 nm), and red (600–700 nm) spectral regions of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). The measurements of solar radiation incident on a horizontal surface were taken at two locations in the city of Ostrava (Czech Republic) that differed in the source of air pollution. Linear regression models, with two explanatory variables (solar elevation angle and logarithm of individual pollutant concentration), were used as statistical tools for revealing the effect of air pollutants on incident solar radiation. The effect of air pollution on the Blue/PAR spectral ratio was ambiguous. There was a significant decrease in the Green/PAR spectral ratio, whereas there was a significant enhancement in the Red/PAR spectral ratio caused by the increasing air pollutant concentrations. The effects of air pollutants on these spectral ratios were significant from a statistical point of view with p-values smaller than 0.05, but the magnitude of the effect that the air pollutants had on the Blue/PAR and Red/PAR was small. In comparison to the above mentioned, the pollutants had a dominating effect on the Green/PAR spectral ratio. Pollution did not induce homogenous reduction of all PAR spectral regions, instead each pollutant had a specific effect on the contributions of blue, green, and red spectral regions to PAR irradiance. Possible causes of these effects are discussed.

Urban Shrinkage and Sustainability: Assessing the Nexus between Population Density, Urban Structures and Urban Sustainability

Urban shrinkage has become a common pathway (not only) in post-socialist cities, which represents new challenges for traditionally growth-oriented spatial planning. Though in the post-socialist area, the situation is even worse due to prevailing weak planning culture and resulting uncoordinated development. The case of the city of Ostrava illustrates how the problem of (in)efficient infrastructure operation, and maintenance, in already fragmented urban structure is exacerbated by the growing size of urban area (through low-intensity land-use) in combination with declining size of population (due to high rate of outmigration). Shrinkage, however, is, on the intra-urban level, spatially differentiated. Population, paradoxically, most intensively declines in the least financially demanding land-uses and grows in the most expensive land-uses for public administration. As population and urban structure development prove to have strong inertia, this land-use development constitutes a great challenge for a city’s future sustainability. The main objective of the paper is to explore the nexus between change in population density patterns in relation to urban shrinkage, and sustainability of public finance.

Temporary use and brownfield regeneration in post-socialist context: from bottom-up governance to artists exploitation

ABSTRACTIn recent years, both academic and political circles have paid much attention to the use of culture and temporary use in the regeneration of industrial brownfields. Nevertheless, existing records are based, in particular, on examples of cities and regions from long-established free-market European countries. This text uses a case study to provide an analysis and interpretation of the transformation governance of a temporary cultural use into a permanent one with the example of the Hlubina Mine in the traditionally industrial post-socialist city of Ostrava. The findings point to the inconsistency of cultural regeneration outcomes, which mainly stem from the weak public sector role and the unequal power status of all the participants involved. The study also documents the physical and functional discrepancies between temporary and permanent use, and warns of pitfalls resulting from the rapid for-profit exploitative permanent use of the originally organic temporary one.

Settled Dust from Urban and Suburban Roads in an Industrial City Area: Location and Seasonal Differences in Metal Content.

Settled road dust, present on all roads surfaces in a relatively high abundance, is a complex of particles-ranging from nanosized to microsized-from both natural and anthropogenic sources and may pose possible risk to the biosphere as well as influence the atmosphere because of the road dust resuspension. Geographical and seasonal differences in heavy metal content of the settled road dust were studied at two sites: urban site with a heavy traffic in the industrial city of Ostrava, Czech Republic and suburban site of Ostrava with a negligible traffic load in settlement Ludgeřovice. Dust samples were collected monthly during the period from March to October 2015. Obtained dust samples were homogenized and subsequently analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy; the results were then assessed by multivariate statistical methods (Principal components analysis, Factorial analysis on mixed data). The difference in the content of Ba, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sn, V, and Zn was explainable mainly by the factor of the site only the content of Fe was significantly dependent on the month of sampling. The contents of the particular elements and the correlations found among them confirm the assumption that heavy metals detected in the road dust samples from the urban site most likely originated primarily from the traffic-and particularly from the non-combustion processes.

A hierarchical system for optimising a dynamic system of traffic crossroads control using an expert system

Nowadays in the field of the automotive industry and urban public transport, there are a lot of challenges and problems to solve. Every day there are closures, roadworks, and other aspects of public transport, which cause traffic jams. This paper deals with a hierarchical system for optimising a dynamic system of traffic crossroads control using an expert system. The hierarchical system uses an expert system constructed in a few layers which evaluate the length of the green signal for each phase of the crossroad. The main goal of the proposed system is traffic optimisation at crossroads and reduction of traffic jams. The proposed system was verified on a real crossroad in the city of Ostrava.

Water-soluble ions in dust particles depending on meteorological conditions in urban environment

The particle size distribution of particulate matter (PM) and concentrations of water-soluble ions were observed in airborne aerosol in the City of Ostrava (the Czech Republic, Moravian-Silesian Region) during winter 2016. The Ostrava area ranks among the most polluted areas not only within the Czech Republic but also in Europe due to the high concentration of industry, especially metallurgy, in this area. The selected water-soluble ions: were studied in different grain size classes of particulate matter separated into 7 fractions (from 0.0175 to 9.93 μm) collected by an electrical low pressure impactor ELPI+. Assessment of the influence of meteorological parameters and various sources of contamination (transportation, industry, and residential burning) in heavily environmentally-burdened urban areas was attempted. This study proved that (K)+ is related to metallurgical processes and its role as an indicator of biomass combustion is negligible. The highest concentrations of all water-soluble ions were determined in particles below 0.952 μm that is generally related to combustion processes. At increased air temperature (in the interval from 0 °C to 10 °C), concentrations of both dust particles and the sum of water-soluble ions are decreasing.

Settled iron-based road dust and its characteristics and possible association with detection in human tissues.

Settled road dust was examined to detect the presence of non-airborne submicron and nano-sized iron-based particles and to characterize these particles. Samples were collected from a road surface near a busy road junction in the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic, once a month from March to October. The eight collected samples were subjected to a combination of experimental techniques including elemental analysis, Raman microspectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, and magnetometry. The data thereby obtained confirmed the presence of non-agglomerated spherical nano-sized iron-based particles, with average sizes ranging from 2 down to 490nm. There are several sources in road traffic which generate road dust particles, including exhaust and non-exhaust processes. Some of them (e.g., brake wear) produce iron as the dominant metallic element. Raman microspectroscopy revealed forms of iron (mainly as oxides, Fe2O3, and mixtures of Fe2O3 and Fe3O4). Moreover, Fe3O4 was also detected in samples of human tissues from the upper and lower respiratory tract. In view of the fact that no agglomeration of those particles was found by SEM, it is supposed that these particles may be easily resuspended and represent a risk to human health due to inhalation exposure, as proved by the detection of particles with similar morphology and phase composition in human tissues.

THE SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT OF CHILDREN FROM HOMELESS SHELTERS: AN AREA OF APPLICATION OF CRITICAL REFLEXIVITY IN SOCIAL WORK

On a global scale, the number of families with homeless children is growing. Foreign research shows that homelessness is linked to social adjustment problems. In the Czech Republic there are no surveys on social adjustment in the homeless children population. This article presents partial data from a research survey focused on the situation of homeless mothers with children residing in shelters. The article aims to find out how mothers residing with their children in homeless shelters in the city of Ostrava interpret the social adjustment of their children. The research strategy is qualitative, based on a participatory approach (cooperation with two peer researchers). 33 interviews and 6 focus groups were implemented as part of the research. The research findings also point to a close link between the situation of homelessness and social adjustment of homeless children in the Czech environment, namely as a result of the necessity of socialization in a specific environment with negative consequences on the parenting style and success in school of the children combined with their experience of domestic violence. The research findings imply in practice the need to apply the concept of critical reflexivity in social work with children from homeless shelters.

Industrial culture as an asset, barrier and creative challenge for restructuring of old industrial cities: case study of Ostrava (Czechia)

Abstract Old industrial cities abound with extensive infrastructures, which however no longer suit the economic purposes, for which they were originally built. However either their demolition or a complete rebuilding of new is often not a viable option, and thus the issue of their smart reuse emerged in urban studies. In this paper we combine literature on restructuring, brownfields, and industrial heritage to assess their significance both as a barrier and asset for future urban development. The main aim is to provide municipalities with an overview of the range of their possible reuses, and problems they might face in doing so. Furthermore, the selected examples show that contemplating new use should be guided by assessment of intrinsic features of the structures on one hand, and by general global trends on other. This new combination of the two might render the new use competitive. For this sake a case study of the old industrial city of Ostrava is employed, as this issue has been particularly pronounced given the city’s strong historical specialisation in heavy industry.

Attitudes and Motivation to Use Public or Individual Transport: A Case Study of Two Middle-Sized Cities

This paper presents the results of a quantitative study in the Czech Republic to understand travellers’ attitudes towards and motivation to use different means of transport. Two Czech cities, Olomouc and Ostrava, are compared from the point of view of factors influencing spatial and temporal patterns and citizen’s selection of transport mode and transport behaviour (range and daily movements of the population, perception of the quality of public transport etc.). The data for the analysis were obtained from the survey with more than 500 respondents in each city. Spatial and temporal behaviour represented by the pattern of the movement in Olomouc and Ostrava city was identified by statistical and visual analytics methods. Based on a case study of two cities of a different size, we conclude that the size and shape of the city centre (spatial structure) influence not only the distances travelled but also the average speed of public transportation (slower for a smaller city). Distances and choice of transport mode also vary with the density of urban areas but can also be influenced by the spatial structure of the city. The walking distance to a public transport stop does not influence the most frequently used mode of transport. Temporal patterns in both cities are very similar and are not dependent on city size or city spatial structure. The spatial patterns of the car and public transport flows are similar in both cities. Different patterns can be observed for walking and shopping routes.