Metropolitan Areas in the Czech Republic - Definitions, Basic Characteristics, Patterns of Suburbanisation and Their Impact on Political Behaviour

This study is based on the first stage of research on political change in metropolitan areas in the Czech Republic, conducted within the framework of the International Metropolitan Observatory Project (IMO). In the first part of the study the authors examine how metropolitan areas are defined. Given that there is currently no official definition of metropolitan areas in the Czech Republic, the criteria for their delineation were developed on the basis of existing definitions of metropolitan areas in other countries participating in the IMO project and with the use of available data. The application of these criteria to the Czech Republic produced the "provisional" delineation of four metropolitan areas within the country, centred on the cities of Prague, Brno, Pilsen, and Ostrava.