42P10 Comparative analysis of the long term development of land use and industrial metabolism in Austria and Czech Republic
Project (joint collaboration between CUEC and the Institute of Social Ecology at the University of Klagenfurt) focused on creating a database of industrial metabolism of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria (domestic extraction of resources, import and export of biomass and fossil resources, and socio-economic parameters such as population and GDP).
42P10 Comparative analysis of the long term development of land use and industrial metabolism in Austria and Czech Republic
Donor
AKTION Österreich - Tschechische Republik
Project duration
2003–2005
Project coordinator in CUEC
Mgr. Petra Kušková
Project partners
Institute of Social Ecology of the University of Klagenfurt (IFF) Vienna
Project description
This research is based on the concept of social metabolism (or industrial metabolism) and uses the methods of material and energy flows analysis (Ayres and Simonis 1994, Fischer-Kowalski and Haberl 1997). The primary stage is a preliminary compilation of a database with regard to the development of land use and socio-economic data and material flows: domestic extraction of resources, import, export of biomass and fossil resources, and socio-economic parameters such as population and GDP. The database is prepared from the founding of Czechoslovakia up to the current Czech and Slovak Republics and the data are taken from statistical databases and publications since the first republic to the present.
Following the first phase, the research continued with a comparative studie with Austria, where this topic is addressed by the Institute of Social Ecology at the University of Klagenfurt. The current Czech Republic and Austria are the successor states of Austria-Hungary monarchy. Czechoslovakia as the most industrialized part of the Empire is poised to be a country with high flows of materials and energy from the distant past. Moreover, post-war development was characterized by a further increase in the intensity of exploitation of natural resources by the society in connection with the development of heavy industry and the massive intensification of agriculture.
