Hungarian Geographical Bulletin

Climate change, extreme heat, and outdoor thermal comfort in urban areas: Case of İzmir, Turkey

Sevim Pelin Öztürk, Pelin Özden, Müge Tikik — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 08:45:08 +0000

Recently, environmental problems, urban population growth, the expansion of urban areas, and climate-insensitive planning practices have significantly increased the effects of the climate crisis in urban areas. As cities’ population increases, cities’ vulnerability to disasters also increases. The negative effects of the climate crisis and global warming on both socio-economic and socio-ecological ecosystems vary at different scales. On the other hand, urbanization practices and the current spatial structure of Turkish cities reduce the resilience capacity of cities against the climate crisis and increase their vulnerability. When the environmental and social pressures of the climate crisis rise, hazards such as floods, extreme heat, and urban heat island (UHI) effects turn into disasters in cities. To prevent this, the effects of the climate crisis and the resilience capacity of existing urban structures should be well understood. This study focuses on extreme heat and the UHI effect, which is a critical socio-spatial problem. It is seen that the recent literature on climate change and extreme heat mostly focuses on UHI as an urban vulnerability and an effect of urban morphology, but previous studies partially cover morphological indicators. This study differs from many studies by relating local climate zone mapping with site-based study design and a comprehensive morphological dataset. The case study focuses on İzmir, Turkey; the relationship between outdoor temperature recordings and urban typo-morphological features is examined by using multivariate regression analysis. The findings correspond to the detection of the effective size of greening and the importance of ventilation for cooling in relatively high temperature climatic zones.

The risk of urban floods caused by precipitation on the example of Bydgoszcz, Poland

Katarzyna Kubiak-Wójcicka, Bogdan Bąk, Mohamed-Sadek Messis — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The article concerns the flood risk assessment in Bydgoszcz in April–October 2010–2022. The distribution of daily precipitation sums for two meteorological stations in Bydgoszcz was analysed. The study confirmed that the risk of extreme precipitation is greatest in the summer months (May–August). It was found that some of the intense rainfall that might cause short-term flooding of urban areas was often local and caused by storm phenomena. Analysis of flood-related interventions by the State Fire Service in Bydgoszcz showed that 2022 had the highest number of incidents (117). The analysis of precipitation and State Fire Service interventions showed a small degree of dependence between the two, both at the city-wide scale and for individual city districts. The spatial distribution of these interventions allowed the Bydgoszcz city districts most exposed to the effects of pluvial flooding to be identified. The work showed the complexity of the issue of urban flood risk, of monitoring such phenomena at the city and district scales, and of countering the effects of such phenomena.

Analysis of spatial dependencies and spatial effects in the relationship between economic growth and unemployment in Europe

Mateusz Jankiewicz — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:00:20 +0000

The study presents an analysis of the relationship between unemployment and economic growth in European countries. The significant influence of the labour market situation on the economic condition of states is well-known. The analysis in this research was conducted using data from 43 selected European countries from 2006 to 2019. To evaluate the relationship between economic growth and the unemployment rate, enriched with spatial dependencies, spatial models for pooled time series and cross-sectional data (TSCS) were estimated. The neighbourhood was quantified using three types of connection matrices: (1) based on the common border criterion, (2) based on the maximum distance criterion, and (3) based on the similarity in socio-economic situations. Matrices (1) and (2) relate to the geographical neighbourhood, while matrix (3) defines the economic neighbourhood based on the values of the Human Development Index. The choice of these types of matrices was associated with the migration process (geographical neighbourhood) and the imitation effect of labour market strategies (economic neighbourhood) mentioned above. Based on the estimation and verification results of the Spatial Durbin Models (SDM), the spatial spillover effects were evaluated. Cumulative spatial effects allowed us to determine countries with the greatest influence on others and countries that are following the leading ones.

SWOT analysis of ways to introduce innovations into agricultural production practices as a prerequisite for searching for promising areas in the field of agroforestry in the Russian Federation

Alexey Тubalov — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:16:09 +0000

This review aims to collect, analyse and systematize materials on ways to introduce innovations into agricultural production practices. Knowledge and understanding of the features of the mechanisms for introducing innovations allow us to evaluate agroforestry research in terms of its completeness. The basis of the research methodology is the methodological techniques of SWOT analysis. The result of the research is: the establishment of the main ways of introducing innovations into the practice of agricultural production; identifying the strengths and weaknesses inherent in these mechanisms; analysis of opportunities and threats associated with the implementation of innovations through these methods; assessment of the relationship between these tools. The main methods of promoting innovation in the field of agricultural production are: 1) the establishment of an advisory service, 2) the development and implementation of national and regional target programs, and 3) the creation and maintenance of an agroecological service. The identified ways of introducing innovation complement each other. Agroforestry research requires interdisciplinary research to integrate innovations in agroforestry development of territories into a broader agroecological context.

Health inequalities in Slovakia assessed by the Health Index: Unveiling regional disparities and their impact on the population

Katarína Vilinová, Kristína Bullová — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:33:32 +0000

Health inequalities represent a significant social problem not only in the world but also in Slovakia. They are conditioned by several factors such as socio-economic status, geographic location, age, ethnicity and access to health care. Inequalities in the general health status of districts can be assessed using selected determinants. A composite indicator (Health Index) was used to quantitatively assess health inequalities in the districts. This Health Index consists of 8 assessment domains and 50 indicators at the district level (LAU1) in the Slovak Republic. We evaluated the data using the multi-criteria decision-making method (WSA method). The findings suggest that when districts are assigned different weights, changes occur in the health index values. Identifying problem regions is therefore very important. The health situation in Slovakia is not uniform and the results of the research showed differences between the West and the East. The districts located in the southern part of Slovakia, which achieved the lowest values of the index, can be included among the areas at risk in the context of the Health Index assessment. In order to mitigate them, it is necessary to improve access to health care, invest in prevention and improve the economic conditions of the population. It is also essential to propose possible solutions. These include improving access to preventive care and health education. The next step is reforms in the health system. These aim to reduce inequalities and improve public health.

Fuerst-Bjeliš, B., Mrgić, J., Petrić, H., Zorn, M. and Zwitter, Ž. (eds.): Environmental Histories of the Dinaric Karst

Johannes Mattes — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 11:32:09 +0000

Dinar, A.: Advanced Introduction to Water Economics and Policy

Peter Worlasi Adanu — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:05:23 +0000

Sikos, T.T. and Molnár, D. (eds.): Budapest: Past and Future

András Kovács — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 13:15:54 +0000