Eugenia MARUNIAK , Institute of Geography, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine
Sergii LISOVSKYI, Institute of Geography, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Ukraine
Spatial justice today is considered as one of the important components to be implemented in the strategies, policies and development plans of countries and regions.
The implementation of spatial justice principles is currently an urgent task of spatial development policy in the European Union in the framework of achieving territorial cohesion, a concept which has been put in practice since the 90s of last century. One of the key definitions of spatial justice interprets it as “the fair and equitable distribution in space of socially valued resources and opportunities to use them” (Soja 2009).
This is due to the need to overcome the disparities in regional and local development, which remain significant despite numerous legislative initiatives, updating methodological developments, improving the regulatory framework and spatial planning practices. Moreover, differences in framework conditions, development potentials due to the geographical location of cities, communities, localities, globalization and increased competition exacerbate the problems associated with spatial inequality.
For Ukraine, the problem of disproportionate development has become particularly relevant in the process of decentralization reform. Created local communities are differently provided with natural and human resources, have different levels of economic and infrastructural development. In addition, many of such communities include rural and urban areas, which creates additional conflicts regarding benefits distribution and complicates the development of planning documentation. Therefore, it is necessary to substantiate a number of indicators and recommendations for overcoming gaps and inequalities.
Mots clés : spatial justice|local communities|decentralization|development|territory
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