Landscape as the Basic Potential of the Regional Development (Case Study: The Važec Village, Slovakia)

Abstract

Abstract The development of each spatial unit is determined by the capital, whether natural or socioeconomic, which it possesses. Natural capital is determined by the properties of individual natural components of the landscape, both abiotic and biotic sources. Socioeconomic capital is linked to a socioeconomic activities in the landscape. Capital creates certain prerequisites for the development of individual socioeconomic activities. Society does not always optimally use the offered potential, which is connected with the manifestation of various environmental problems. The paper focuses on the presentation of the methodical procedure of natural capital evaluation on the example of the village of Važec. The methodological procedure is based on an integrated approach to the landscape. It focuses on the assessment of both natural capital and limiting factors resulting from the development of socioeconomic activities, namely: – positive arising from the needs of nature and landscape protection, as well as from the protection of natural resources, – negative (stress factors) linked to the contamination of environmental components, which in retrospect in relation to socioeconomic activities act as hygienic limits.