Perceptual geography and its significance in the conditions of decentralization for polyethnic regions of Ukraine

Abstract

This article is devoted to highlighting the importance of perceptual geography as a socio-geographical science in the research of public perception of various geographical places, territories and spaces. Today, the process of decentralization continues in Ukraine, as a result of which a new administrative and territorial system has been formed in Ukraine since January 1, 2021. It is perceptual and geographical research that can reveal the mental peculiarities of the population’s perception of the unification of settlements into territorial communities, which form a system of consolidated districts. Therefore, the study of such features of the development of perceptual geography in Ukraine is quite relevant and especially significant for polyethnic regions, among which ethno-contact Chernivtsi oblast is a vivid example.

Keywords

• Perceptual geography
• cognitive geography
• decentralization
• polyethnic region
• identification of geographical boundaries