Sociology and Space, No. 146, 1999.
Original scientific paper
The Economic Product of Regional Park Škocjanske Caves, Slovenia - The development potentials of a naturally and socially fragile locality
Ana Barbič
Abstract
This paper deals with the economic development of a socially fragile
rural area whose natural and cultural heritage is protected by a specifial law. This
subject is, in generaly, extremly important because the social fragility of a rural community
and its individual households is related to its fragile physical environment,
scarce natural resources, and poorly developed infrastructure, but the relevance of
this research object is on the top list in protected rural areas. The problem of modern
society is how to keep them populated when economic activities of residents
must be related with restrictions. The author in this paper presented resultats of the
research of economic product of Regional Park Škocjanske Caves in Slovenia as an
expample of the protection as the stimulus for local development. The identified
economic product of Park Škocjanske Caves consists of economic activities selected
as desirable by 19 out of 25 local households on the one hand, and of common
activities carried out by the local tourist society on the other. Considering the interests
and availability of prerequisites to carry out the selected economic activities,
the economic product for each household was defined and some recommendations
how to realise the common economic product were specified. The economic products
of individual households seem to be compatible and realisable, but the ways
of marketing it have not been agreed upon yet. In the future a special attention has
to be paid to the cooperation among the households and to the common marketing
of the local economic product. The complexity and step by step realisation of
a development project requires interdisciplinary team of experts working with a
local community for a longer period of time.
Keywords
fragile rural areas; economic product; Regional Park Škocjanske Caves; Slovenia
Hrčak ID:
119976
URI
Publication date:
10.12.1999.
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