Conceptualization of the Historic Mining Towns in Slovakia in the Institutional, Urban-Physiological and Urban- Morphological Context
QUOTATION: Matlovič R., Matlovičová K., Kolesárová J. (2014): Conceptualization of the historic mining towns in Slovakia in the institutional, urban-physiological and urban-morphological context. In Radics, Z., Penczes, J. (Eds), 2014. Enhancing competitiveness of V4 historic cities to develop tourism. Spatial-economic cohesion and competitivness in the context of tourism. Debrecen, 2014. ISBN 978-615-5212-22-2, s. 165-193 René Matlovič – Kvetoslava Matlovičová – Jana Kolesárová CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE HISTORIC MINING TOWNS IN SLOVAKIA IN THE INSTITUTIONAL, URBAN-PHYSIOLOGICAL AND URBAN- MORPHOLOGICAL CONTEXT Introduction The issue of strengthening the competitiveness of towns has an increasing importance in contemporary globalizing world. The gradual removal of barriers and increasing information linkages of today's world, expose individual towns to the hyper-competitive environment. Towns compete with each other in order to attract financial and human capital. Globalization brings certain unifying tendencies, but on the other hand, it also encourages cities to become different in some ways and attractive to the inflows of financial capital, residents, and visitors. Individual cities are, therefore, seeking to strengthen their competitiveness. In these efforts, it can be observed a rising tendency to apply the tools of territorial marketing and branding. These statements are particularly true in case of the historic towns possessing cultural heritage in the form of material relics and specific atmosphere (genius loci), which are related to their previous functions. If such potential is subject to proper preservation and promotion, it can be further exploited especially in the tourism industry. Historic towns, therefore, face the challenge of how to use this potential of cultural heritage and apply it on the market.
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