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The study evaluates the regional development potential of a specific rural micro-region with regard to its qualitative aspect. It aims to set a general strategy for further development. The method is a geographical analysis using the migration balance as an indicator of the region’s attractiveness for housing. Main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were identified. Generally accessible statistical data was used. The proposed strategy is to support the development of the human capital. In addition to the generally valid recommendations for the development of rural areas, it is always necessary to take into account the peculiarities of the geographical location, path dependency, natural, economic and social potential, the state of the environment, cultural factors or other specifics. The regional and local decision-making levels play an important role in this process.

Analyses of the changes in the presence of persons in different central and residential parts of urban areas are subject to evaluation in this paper. Case studies of the cities of Brno, Ostrava and Zlín during the day and night are highlighted. Data from a provider of mobile phone services were used for the analyses. It appears that the data can be important for the comparison of different urban structures. The results demonstrate that the organisation of urban structure affects the number of visitors and thus the area attractiveness. It was confirmed that the number of mobile phone users in the city cores is higher than the number of permanent residents. The greatest differences between the day and night in the city cores were found in Brno, a concentric city with the most important central functions among the cities studied. Differences between the day and night in residential areas were not as large as expected. City neighbourhoods in Brno showed some specific rhythmicity.

The problem of municipalities under 200 inhabitants is discussed. There are 1,500 such municipalities (24%) in the Czech Republic. Many of them came to existence after 1989 when the independence of communes was considered part of the democratisation process regardless of the population number. This paper aims at a statistical evaluation of municipalities with fewer than 200 inhabitants and presents their geographical distribution, demographic development and analysis of their aging. In general, 70% of these very small municipalities have been growing since 2001. The smallest of them have the highest percentage of the population decline and are the most endangered by aging. Very small municipalities with the highest population growth are situated mainly in the vicinity of larger towns, the ones with the highest population decline are located mainly in peripheral areas at the border of regions.

Czechia lost more than 3,000,000 inhabitants as a result of the WW II. Germans displaced from the borderland formed the largest part. The newcomers after 1945 were of a different character – without any relation to their new settlements. This population formed a special social milieu familiar with the socialist way of thinking and that of a suppressed middle class. The consequences of it are seen in demographic, economic, environmental and social areas. After 1989, the factories in the borderland were mostly closed down, armies left the territory, people were not prepared to start their own businesses. Large-scale landscape protection formed a new barrier. Tourism is not able to substitute for the decrease in employment. The hope in cross-border collaboration has been overestimated.