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<p>New empirical evidence regarding theories of the resource curse and regional resilience in the context of energy transitions is presented in this article. Our analysis aimed to answer the questions of what the principal differences are between coal mining and other regions in the Czech Republic, and what are the determinants of population decline, unemployment and populism as some of the key indicators of socioeconomic transformation. Unlike most current European studies focusing on NUTS2 or NUTS3 regions, we deal with data for districts (LAU1). The analysis revealed that (in aggregate) coal mining and post-mining districts are worse off in terms of air quality, population vitality, labour market and social capital indicators. It would be problematic for policy implications to consider coal mining and post-mining districts as homogenous categories, however, since there are significant inter-group and intra-group differences in most indicators. Coal mining itself and its decline did not prove to be a direct determinant of population loss, unemployment, and support for populism. The factors significantly affecting these phenomena are geographical (peripherality, urbanisation, population density) and socioeconomic (education level, business activity). In this respect, a provocative question is offered: to what extent is it effective and sustainable to economically support coal mining regions in their existing industrial production structures and population scales, and whether the current processes of reterritorialisation and depopulation can be considered a natural process. The fact that coal mining districts are at the forefront in the implementation of wind energy may be seen as positive, but it raises questions about spatial concentration, and the environmental justice of renewable energy development.</p>
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New empirical evidence regarding theories of the resource curse and regional resilience in the context of energy transitions is presented in this article. Our analysis aimed to answer the questions of what the principal differences are between coal mining and other regions in the Czech Republic, and what are the determinants of population decline, unemployment and populism as some of the key indicators of socioeconomic transformation. Unlike most current European studies focusing on NUTS2 or NUTS3 regions, we deal with data for districts (LAU1). The analysis revealed that (in aggregate) coal mining and post-mining districts are worse off in terms of air quality, population vitality, labour market and social capital indicators. It would be problematic for policy implications to consider coal mining and post-mining districts as homogenous categories, however, since there are significant inter-group and intra-group differences in most indicators. Coal mining itself and its decline did not prove to be a direct determinant of population loss, unemployment, and support for populism. The factors significantly affecting these phenomena are geographical (peripherality, urbanisation, population density) and socioeconomic (education level, business activity). In this respect, a provocative question is offered: to what extent is it effective and sustainable to economically support coal mining regions in their existing industrial production structures and population scales, and whether the current processes of reterritorialisation and depopulation can be considered a natural process. The fact that coal mining districts are at the forefront in the implementation of wind energy may be seen as positive, but it raises questions about spatial concentration, and the environmental justice of renewable energy development.

The curse of coal or peripherality? Energy transitions and the socioeconomic transformation of Czech coal mining and post-mining regions

Department of Environmental Geography, Institute of Geonics

Department of Geography, Faculty of Science

Moravian Geographical Reports

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

New empirical evidence regarding theories of the resource curse and regional resilience in the context of energy transitions is presented in this article. Our...

The curse of coal or peripherality? Energy transitions and the socioeconomic transformation of Czech coal mining and post-mining regions

Published Online: Jan 07, 2023

Page range: 237 - 256

Received: Sep 01, 2022

Accepted: Dec 10, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2022-0016

Keywords
coal mining, coal phase-out, resource curse, regional resilience, Czech Republic

© 2022 Bohumil Frantál et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The curse of coal or peripherality? Energy transitions and the socioeconomic transformation of Czech coal mining and post-mining regions

Published Online: Jan 07, 2023

Page range: 237 - 256

Received: Sep 01, 2022

Accepted: Dec 10, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgr-2022-0016

Keywordscoal mining, coal phase-out, resource curse, regional resilience, Czech Republic

© 2022 Bohumil Frantál et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
coal mining, coal phase-out, resource curse, regional resilience, Czech Republic