DOI: 10.11118/978-80-7701-082-5-0327

Restarting Structurally Affected Regions: The Case Study of the Ústí Region

Daniel Šárovec ORCID...¹, Pavel Maškarinec ORCID...¹

¹ Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University, Pasteurova 13, 400 96 Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic.

Regions that have historically relied primarily on mining, manufacturing, and the chemical industry are today referred to in the Czech Republic and similar contexts as structurally affected regions. They share common features such as low economic growth and a pronounced lag behind the country's most developed areas. In the Czech Republic, three regions fall into this category: the Ústí nad Labem Region, the Karlovy Vary Region, and the Moravian-Silesian Region. The first of these is widely recognised for its high unemployment, lower wages, and limited job opportunities, as well as for being an unattractive location for young and educated residents. The consequences of the decline of once-dominant industries are therefore closely intertwined with other structural challenges; however, these are being tackled through a range of initiatives and projects. One of the strategic projects under the Just Transition Operational Programme is the RUR project – Region to University, University to Region. Its aim is to integrate cutting-edge research, expertise, and knowledge transfer to facilitate a profound and sustainable transformation of the Ústí nad Labem Region. The project operates across three interconnected levels – individual (personal), collective (social), and comprehensive geographical (territorial) – with creativity as its core principle, understood as the capacity to generate added value, to transcend existing boundaries and limitations, and to discover new potential and opportunities within a rapidly changing society and landscape.

Keywords: Structurally Affected Region, Regional Restart, Regional Studies, Ústí nad Labem Region, RUR, Research

pages: 327-339, online: 2026