Volume XIII, Number 1, 2017

ABSTRACT – This study was conducted in Wedomartani village, Ngemplak District of Sleman Regency, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The objectives of this study are: (1) to assess the responses of Wedomartani villagers about the development of Maguwoharjo Stadium area; (2) to assess the significance of the development in Maguwoharjo Stadium area toward the land use in Wedomartani village; (3) to assess the socio-economic livelihood changes of Wedomartani villagers after the development of Maguwoharjo Stadium area. The methodology used in this study was based on the survey method. The data collection techniques included in-depth interviews and field observations. There were 50 key informants consisting of five village heads, 20 heads of Rukun Tetangga (neighborhood associations), and 25 respected figures for in-depth interviews by using purposive sampling method. Research findings and data analysis were drawn by using descriptive and qualitative approach by applying these stages: (1) data reduction; (2) categorization; (3) data synthesis; (4) conclusion. The research findings showed that according to the community’s opinions, the development of Maguwoharjo Stadium area can make the socio-economic livelihood change into a better condition possible. This study also showed that the development of Maguwoharjo Stadium area affected the purposes of land use, particularly in the neighborhood of Maguwoharjo Stadium and along the road leading to Maguwoharjo Stadium area with a widespread pattern. Lastly, this study found out that the changes of how people make a living were characterized by the choice of jobs they choose and their house building’ structure. The way they make a living in general was by having more various jobs available as the number of non-agricultural jobs increased. This way of living obviously resulted in the increased income and a better construction of their house buildings.

ABSTRACT – The economic globalization is a comprehensive process which has almost fully re-arranged the map of our world’s economy by the 21st century. China successfully took this opportunity as in the course of the recent three decades, since the beginning of its opening policy, its economy has gone through incredible changes. The relationship between China and the sub-Saharan African countries – based principally on mutual economic benefits – can be considered perhaps as one of the most peculiar nowadays. Therefore, the authors have examined the characteristics of this relationship in depth.

ABSTRACT – Most of the settlements are interested in increasing employment, incomes, standards and quality of living, which usually coincides with the aims of the European Union, the aims of the Hungarian National Territorial Development programme, and coincides with the local interests. While conducting research on this topic, we studied the urban development practice of local governments in Hungary. We examined the external and internal conditions, the actual possibilities that affect the efficiency of urban development and the limiting factors. We determined the dominant players, as well as the means and limits of the current Hungarian territorial development. Joining the European Union in 2004 opened new possibilities for the Hungarian settlements; we assessed the effects of this new situation on the development planning. During my research, I analysed publicly available data of the municipal planning activity of 2009. The time passed since the data collection for this research has proven that the new possibilities have not changed significantly the living standards of the Hungarian citizens and the competitiveness of the Hungarian settlements. This study tries to reveal the reasons and basis of this apparent lack of prosperity at the level of development and economic planning.

ABSTRACT – Croatia is recently one of the most popular tourist destinations of the Mediterranean world, attracting millions of tourists each year with its crystal-clear sea. At the end of the last century, the country, by its secession from Yugoslavia, placed its tourism marketing activity on strategic basis, and the number of guest arrivals began to increase leaving the war-years behind – in 2013, the 28th member state of the European Union was visited by three times more tourists than the number of Croatian inhabitants at that time. Attracting tourists is one of the main goals of country branding, thus marketing activity related to tourism could play an important role in the development of the country image as well. The present study focuses on tourism development and tourism-related image development of Croatia and, with the help of questionnaire surveys carried out among the young intellectuals in Hungary and Croatia, investigates the role of this tourism feature in the country image at a date especially important for the country, the year of its EU-accession The results of the investigations prove the fact known from the literature that there is always a difference between the image felt within the borders of a country and the one perceived outside, although in the case of Croatia, in all the studied dimensions of images, tourism will receive an outstanding role.

ABSTRACT – This study is focused on the necessity of the development and the formation of “net-bag” type local food systems and presents partial results of my surveys analyzing the consumer attitudes to local Hungarian foods, as well as the reputation of consumer communities. The enhancement of the conscious food consumer needs, simultaneously with the dilemmas of the sustainability of the current food supply systems and the fact that retailers are pushed into the background have aroused my research interest. During the survey, I conducted a questionnaire with the consumers in four towns where consumer communities had already existed, namely Kecskemét, Esztergom, Érd, and Csömör by involving 54 students (sophomores of BA in Rural Development and Agribusiness at Szent István University in Gödöllő, Hungary). The aim of the research was to demonstrate how the consumers in the urban and rural places with different territorial and demographic characteristics are related to locally made food products and how important it is for them to consume and to access these goods. In the above-mentioned consumer communities, the high value-added products of local producers (as well as those living around) are available, consequently, regarding the exploitation of spreading/developing possibilities, it is essential to know whether there is a need/demand for these food products among consumers. Two of the above-mentioned sample locations, Érd and Csömör, belong to the agglomeration of Budapest that is a key regarding the examination. The main issue is whether consumer communities in these special places have a reason for existence or not.

ABSTRACT – In the recent years, the problems of food security are found more in the urban areas of the developing countries where agricultural land is at the faster rate of conversion with high population influx. Peri-urban agriculture is one of the urban activities providing a short food supply chain to the urbanites and creating jobs among the locals. However, lack of recognition of the peri-urban agriculture has led to generalize it as a rural activity despite being close to the urban centre and the consumers. This paper presents the case study approach used for peri-urban farmers producing perishable vegetables in the Kathmandu Valley and the impact on their livelihood. The individual cases of peri-urban farmers are classified into five different units of analysis under the case study research method. The ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions of the case study in this paper are answered using the qualitative tools such as observation and in-depth interviews among the focused groups of farmers. Further analyses are comparison of cases of farmers under case study method amongst the measure of sustainable livelihood. The paper discusses about the livelihood peri-urban agriculture has generated to the local farmers for centuries and also recognizes the agricultural community that has long been known in the Kathmandu Valley’s literature on agriculture. Now, with the changing settings, it is important to classify the current peri-urban farmers and their socioeconomic conditions. The local farmers along the peri-urban areas of the valley, idyllically termed as ‘traditional farmers’, are now converting to other types of farmers such as ‘business farmers’. Therefore, this study demonstrates different types of peri-urban farmers and their livelihood. Simultaneously, it also highlights the problems faced by farmers and their prospective future. It also emphasizes the need of a new paradigm incorporating agriculture potential, research as a good strategic linkage between urban land use policy and agriculture to march towards the path of sustainable development.