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was low. The population was distributed fairly evenly and individual settlements did
not differ greatly in terms of size. The settlement structure was homogeneous. In the
industrial period the secondary sector evolved dynamically. The influence of natural
determinants weakened as socioeconomic factors gradually came to the foreground.
The ecological and human subsystems often competed with one another. The urban-
isation process, which is associated with high spatial mobility, came to the fore.
Overall, environmental stress rose.
The totalitarian period (the Nazi occupation and the Communist period, 1938-
1989) represents the final phase of the industrial society. In this period the
development of the country diverges from the natural trajectory of western Europe.
The natural development of the Ústí region was fundamentally disrupted. The begin-
ning of the disruptive process was the expulsion of the German element in the
wake of World War II. The disappearance and destruction of a great number of
settlements, communications and landscape landmarks was to follow. Waves of
new settlers from the inland parts of Czechoslovakia moved to the region. These
new settlers on the whole lacked any historical bonds to the region. The cen-
trally directed economy permeated to all areas of society. In the basins below the
Ore Mountains large-scale lignite mining expanded and heavy industry (power and
chemical industries in particular) followed suit. Following the waves of collectivisa-
tion (nationalisation of agricultural land) intensive agricultural primary production
dominated in the fertile locations. Environmental stress rose sharply during the
totalitarian period. The powerful impact of supra-regional stressors (air pollutants)
disrupted all elements of the ecological subsystem. In the region of Ústí alone, 98
settlements with a total population of 110 thousand inhabitants were destroyed.
The social subsystem abounded in negative traits. Ethnic heterogeneity was com-
paratively high, the education structure unfavourable, and the rate of sociopathic
phenomena comparatively high. Family ties became increasingly disrupted, and the
percentage of incomplete families rose. Towards the end of this period there was a
dynamic spike in emigration in consequence of and as a response to the alarming
state of the environment.
The transformation (post-industrial period, 1990-2005) saw the intensive devel-
opment of communication and information activities, as well as of the tertiary sector
(services and tourist industry). It is a period marked by a sharp decrease in stress
and a return to the state of things before the beginning of the totalitarian period.
Between 1995 and 1997 in the region of Ústí alone, 20 power-plant units were desul-
phurised, and between 1991 and 1998 1,190 MW power units were decommissioned
and the technology of fluid boilers was introduced to many blocks. Thanks to these
measures, SO 2 levels dropped by 92% compared to the beginning of the 1990s; par-
ticulate emissions by 95%, nitrogen oxides by 50% and carbon monoxide by 77%.
The dynamic rise in ecological stress up to 1990 was related both to air pollution
and to the increasing degradation of forest cover, the rising extent of anthropogenic
transformation of soil and decreasing quality of surface water courses. Conversely,
a more dynamic decrease in ecological stress after 1990 in all the study areas was
prevented by the stressful effect of intensifying transportation, and consequently
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