The Urban and Regional Laboratory (URRlab)

The Urban and Regional Laboratory (URRlab) is a working group of researchers, educators and doctoral students from the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development. The main goal of this working group is to share and discuss research and practical issues related to cities, settlements, regional development and similar topics from a social geography perspective. The team operates on the basis of jointly implemented basic and applied research projects. Members of the research team publish in leading domestic and international journals. The results of applied research are mainly specialized maps, methodologies and the web portals suburbanizace.cz and atlasobyvatelstva.cz. Team members have published several edited professional books, a single-themed magazine issue and a bilingual atlas. The theoretical and empirical research produced by the team is taught in university lectures to both Czech and foreign-language audiences: the flagship lecture series at the faculty is the Urban Social Geography Course, Parts I and II.

The Research Centre for Transport Geography (CeDoG)

The Research Centre for Transport Geography (CeDoG) in the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development is an informal platform for academic staff, postgraduate students and external collaborators who are dedicated to research topics related to the economic geography of transport. Members of CeDoG have long been dedicated to the research and evaluation of transport as a mechanism of change in the organization of society, using the example of Czech settlements and the regional transport system. Work focuses mainly on the geography of transport systems, the movement of people between settlements, the evaluation of transport accessibility, commuting and the effects of road capacity on regional development. At CeDoG, research questions are addressed through basic and applied research projects. The main focus at present is understanding the nature and extent of traffic interactions, what affects these, and how they are different in different areas in the Czech Republic, using interaction and logit models.

The Centre for Geographic and Environmental Education

The Centre for Geographical and Environmental Education is one of the centres of the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development of the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague. In addition to carrying out basic and applied research, members of the centre teach at all levels of higher education, including doctoral and continuing education. They are involved in editorial and organizational work to improve geographical and environmental education. Because of the nature of the problems being investigated, the centre has an interdisciplinary approach. Team members collaborate with other departments in their faculty, experts from other universities in the Czech Republic and abroad, related research institutes, professional networks and those involved in decision-making and education.

The Geographical Migration Centre - GEOMIGRACE
The members of the Geographical Migration Centre - GEOMIGRACE - focus on research into how people migrate and integrate into host countries. They look at how these migration processes work, including the conditions, mechanisms, and effects of international migration, especially in the Czech Republic and Central Europe, with an emphasis on post-Soviet and Vietnamese immigrants. The secondary area of research is internal migration, as well as other forms of population mobility. In addition to basic research, members of the centre also work on applied studies, mainly focussed on the analysis of Czech migration policy. The research is based on an interdisciplinary approach with an emphasis on the geographical aspects of the issue. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used, especially in combination with each other. The results of research activities are published in professional journals at home and abroad. In the last four years, this research also resulted in the publication of three books.
The Centre for Research into Geo-Demographic and Socio-Economic Aspects of Health, Quality of Life and Lifestyle
The GeoQol Centre carries out basic and applied research on current social phenomena and processes in the fields of health, quality of life and lifestyle in the Czech Republic and the rest of Europe and transfers that knowledge into practice in the areas of public administration and business in order to facilitate short-term and long-term planning and decision-making. The research examines social and spatial inequalities at various levels, such as city districts (in the case of large cities), municipalities, regions and the entire country, including comparisons with other European countries. The centre also offers a platform for other forms of education: postgraduate and undergraduate students are involved in project work (as part of their doctoral or master's theses). Members of the centre have long-term co-operation with top foreign research institutes, but interdisciplinary co-operation within the Czech Republic is no less important.

The Centre for Economic Geography and Regional Development (CEGARR)

The Centre for Economic Geography and Regional Development focuses on theoretical and conceptual approaches to the study of economic geography and regional development, primarily from the perspective of global production networks, global value chains and regional systems of innovation. Among the most important research topics are the role of the automotive industry in transnational and global production networks, the impact of the automotive industry on regional development, the development of the automotive industry in Central Europe, the formation of regional systems of innovation in the Czech Republic, regional impacts of policies affecting this sector, regional development trends, development studies, the evaluation of regional policy initiatives and the application of quantitative approaches in geography. Team members are intensively involved in research projects.

The Research Centre for the Geography of Leisure Time (GeoVoČ)
The Research Centre for the Geography of Leisure Time (GeoVoČ) carries out research on the ways in which tourism develops and changes in different regions. It analyses new trends in supply and demand, current forms of tourism and the impacts of tourism on the geographical environment. In the area of lifestyle, it looks at how the movements of people and their use of space change over time, and how leisure activities affect different regions. The key topic is the use of long-term second homes: how this has developed and current trends and predictions. The broader framework consists of research into how people in rural areas feel about their regions and how they perceive them. The group also studies how these feelings and perceptions affect local and regional development. A further area that the GeoVoČ Centre studies is how people shop and their habits as consumers, including consumerism in general, in the context of the current trend towards sustainable consumption.
The Centre for Research in Cultural and Historical Geography (KUHIG)
 

The Centre for Research in Cultural and Historical Geography (KUHIG) is a working research team of staff from the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development of the Faculty of Science of the University of Prague. It focuses on research in the fields of cultural and historical geography, religious geography, environmental history and the history of geography. It mainly looks at issues related to identity, heritage and religion, particularly in areas like regional geography, changes in landscapes and settlements, regional development and geographical education. In practical work, team members primarily focus on the protection of cultural and natural heritage and on regional development. The members of the centre are active in various professional societies, participate in research and organizational activities within international organizations and help plan and run seminars and conferences. Co-operation with domestic and foreign institutions with similar areas of interest has been developed for a long time, especially with the Historical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i. (Research Centre of Historical Geography).

The Research Centre for Land Use Changes in the Czech Republic (LUCC Czechia)

The centre is focused on research into long-term changes in the landscape. To do this, it uses an original database which shows changes in land use for approximately 9,000 comparable areas in the Czech Republic over the past 170 years. This was created by a team of collaborators. The team members also analyse changes in land use in selected areas through field research, remote sensing data and historical records. The main focus of the research is how land use varies by region and how different areas develop similar land use patterns over time. The group also studies factors which drive changes in the landscape, both in Central Europe and globally. The centre takes part in research, organizes activities and attends conferences organized by the IGU/LUCC commission, which has been led by the head of the centre since 2006, as well as other scientific networks like ESEH, ASEH and IALE.

The Centre for Research on Regional and Political Geography (REGPOL)

The Centre for Research on Regional and Political Geography (REGPOL) is currently being formed in the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Charles University. Its current activities are mainly related to the works of Petr Dostál. He focuses on the ways in which regions in the Czech Republic are integrating and differentiating themselves within Europe, in the context of globalization. The new working group aims to share and discuss issues in regional, political, and cultural geography, with a focus on solutions at various interconnected geographical levels and different levels of scale. In particular, it will look at:

  1. Regional integration and differences in the Czech Republic, focusing on relationships between central areas and peripheral ones.
  2. Integration and differences between different areas in Europe, particularly within the European Union, looking at socio-economic, institutional and cultural factors.
  3. Globalization, with a focus on socio-economic, political and cultural changes and shifting international relations.
  4. Developing countries and their role in the global system.
The Rural Geography Research Centre (RURAL)

The Rural Geography Research Centre studies how spatial inequalities develop, especially focusing on the challenges faced by rural peripheries. A separate research topic is public administration in the countryside in connection with agricultural processes of transformation and integration. A further topic is how second homes and recreational activities impact rural development. The group views rural development both as an internal process driven by local human and social resources and as an external process influenced by various development actors and tools. They study the tools used for the development of rural areas and rural communities. The members of the research team present the results of their work in the form of standard scientific publications and make their individual results available to the wider public in the form of publications and articles in professional journals focused on the issue of rural development. Every year they organize the ‘Venkov’ professional seminar.

The Centre for Urban and Regional Research (CVMR)

The Centre for Urban and Regional Research (CVMR) is an informal association of scientists, PhD students and students engaged in basic and applied urban and regional research. The centre aims to contribute to our understanding of the following areas:

  • Changes in the spatial organization of metropolitan areas and the settlement system of the Czech Republic.
  • Dynamically changing and problematic city locations (brownfield sites, suburban zones, socially excluded locations).
  • Changes in city organization, including revitalization, gentrification, and suburbanization.
  • Local development and its regulation in urban regions.

Research focuses primarily on those aspects of the creation and development of cities and regions which are risky from the point of view of the long-term development of society because they threaten sustainable and inclusive development, and should therefore be the subject of public interest and wider social discussion. An important part of the work is the search for ways of preventing or correcting problems which have been identified.