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Assessment of Urban Geotourism Resources: An Example of Two Geocultural Sites in Brno, Czech Republic

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Abstract

Geodiversity and geoheritage within urban areas have some specific characteristics in comparison to those in natural and rural areas. They influence and are influenced by urban development, they are strongly modified by human activities and they are usually closely related to the culture, architecture and history (cultural heritage). Geoheritage (especially geosites or geoheritage ex situ) is the most important resource for urban geotourism development, together with cultural heritage represented by monuments built of stone or Earth materials. Nevertheless, other sites that are not included in geoheritage inventories may be relevant too. Analysing, inventorying and assessing sites of geotourist interest (including the related aspects) within urban areas can bring new possibilities to the development of geotourism and geoeducational activities. These can help the acceptance of geoconservation measures to particular sites which are often problematic in the urban areas and justify the sustainable management of these resources. The paper briefly presents the issues and opportunities of urban geotourism, and it offers guidelines for identifying, inventorying and assessing geotourist and geoeducational resources within urban areas accompanied by SWOT analysis. Two examples – geocultural sites Špilberk and Petrov (Brno City, Czech Republic) – are presented.

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Acknowledgements

L.K. and A.B. were supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic, Project “Geodiversity within urban areas: perception, function, potential” (project code: TL02000219). K.K. and F.K. were supported by NAKI II Project “Cultural heritage of landscape of the Archdiocese of Olomouc” (project code: DGB 16P02B014).

We thank the four anonymous reviewers for their suggestions that helped to improve the manuscript and guest editor for careful revision of the paper.

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  1. Institute of Geonics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Drobného 28, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lucie Kubalíková, Karel Kirchner & František Kuda

  2. Department of Geology and Pedology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Zemědělská 3, 613 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Lucie Kubalíková & Aleš Bajer

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  1. Lucie Kubalíková
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Correspondence to Lucie Kubalíková.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Geoheritage and Conservation: Modern Approaches and Applications Towards the 2030 Agenda, IX ProGEO Symposium, Poland, 25-28th June, 2018.

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Kubalíková, L., Kirchner, K., Kuda, F. et al. Assessment of Urban Geotourism Resources: An Example of Two Geocultural Sites in Brno, Czech Republic. Geoheritage 12, 7 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-020-00434-x

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