Spatial opacity
Spatial opacity is everything that interrupts any type of spatial flows. Spatial opacity can be natural (mountains, hills, lakes, rivers and so on) and not natural (traffic lights, intersections, doors and so on). Spatial opacity surrounds us and we can not escape from it which and it is slowing us down.
In order to think about spatial opacity (not natural) you have to imagine space as a connected network where everything is connected with each other. From Tobler's first law of Geography we know that close things are more related than distant things. Nowadays every single place on earth can be reached with different degrees of difficulty.
Spatial Opacity in our daily lives:
By getting up in the morning we normally face our first spatial opacity by opening the bathroom door, going donwstairs (taking the stairs). By taking the car we have to follow the road network we are given by nature (natural opacity) and by the way roads have been built (non natural). Slower cars in front of us, intersections, traffic lights everything slows us down and is part of the spatial opacity.
Courses:
The main input from the courses is a very theoretical overview of the material. Depending on the subject, you may get some applied examples on how the theory matches real examples. The courses include a lot of training in statistics as well as approaches to spatial planning with computer support (GIS). All courses are presented with Powerpoint support and in the English language. Many courses treat various policy issues on spatial planning of the European Union as well as political issues within the different EU Member States. In addition to that, there are some courses about sustainability in terms of spatial planning. Most of the courses are related to the European Union and do not necessarily treat spatial planning of non-EU member States.