Under the influence of globalization and state integration processes, the importance of a border as a barrier is gradually decreasing. Borderlands are still perceived as specific phenomena, however, not only in terms of historical development but especially in the context of their changing impact on the daily lives of their inhabitants. Along with EU enlargement, the de-bordering process has also become significant in many countries where the borderland played an important role in the past. These include the V4 countries, whose borderlands are the object of this research. In this article we analyze these areas on the basis of selected socio-economic indicators, with a focus on change in the period 2001–2011. As indicated by the Analysis of Variance, the results show the significantly differentiated development of the borderlands, in terms of the individual values of indicators both within the borderland of the EU member states, as well as along the external border of the EU.

The paper generally builds on the concept of justice in social science. It attempts to interpret this concept in a geographical and particularly in a spatial context. The paper uses the concept of accessibility to define the principle of spatial equity. The main objective of the paper is to propose an approach with which to assess the level of spatial equity in the administrative division of a territory. In order to fulfil this objective the paper theoretically discusses the concept of spatial equity and relates it to other relevant concepts, such as spatial efficiency. The paper proposes some measures of spatial equity and uses the territory of four Central European countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia) as example of the application of the proposed measures and the corroboration of the proposed approach. The analysis is based on the administrative division of four countries and is carried out at different hierarchical levels as defined by the Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS).

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the history of one of the world's greatest multi-stage bicycle races, the Tour de France, by mapping all the stage finish places from the first race in 1903 to the present. On the one hand, there is a long list of places that the Tour de France has visited just once in its whole history, but on the other, there are also several places that different editions include fairly regularly. Since the Tour de France is one of the most watched sports events on the planet, spatial variability is a good means for promoting the different regions of France and the surrounding countries where individual stages have been held. The organisation of individual editions does not depend on the existence of purpose-built sports stadiums but makes use of the existing infrastructure and settlement structure that have developed over long periods. By showing the finish places, we are able to capture not only the frequency of the inclusion of the places in the race, but also show the success of cyclists from different countries at each stage finish and thus identify the countries that have historically been most successful at winning stages.

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Katedra humánnej geografie a demografie, PriF UK, Bratislava Sales House SK s.r.o., Bratislava Negative Aspects of Municipal Amalgamation within the Municipal Reformthe Perspective on the Example of the Slovak Republic. The issue of municipal reform is clearly one of the major topics related to whole society. Many authors agree with its n ecessity, but their views of further direction of municipal reform diverge. On one hand there are preferences of maintaining the current model of cooperation with the legislative rules of cooperation being clearly defined. On the other hand, there is a preference for more radical solution in the form of merger. Inspiration for such action consists of several countries in Europe and the world, in which municipal reform has taken place. Less attention is paid to the various criticisms of authors regarding negative consequences of municipal reforms countries. The specific consequences that can bring merging municipalities will be of interest to present in this contribution. In this case, the primary evaluation measure will consist of the views of representatives of municipalities, therefore mayors of rural municipalities and mayors of cities.