As a celebration of its 25th anniversary, Metropolitan Research Institute organised a conference on 2-4 November 2014, with a focus on the Central and East European region’s housing and urban policy development in the past 25 years. MRI’s conference on “Social and economic conflicts of transition towards democracy and market economy – Central and Eastern Europe 25 years after, in a comparative perspective” took place with the participation of around 100 people, including many outstanding expert in housing policy and urban development, coming from the CEE region as well as Western Europe and the United states.
On Sunday 2 November, participants could join an unusual guided tour in Budapest led by Iván Tosics, to visit a number of sights where the impact of the transition could be traced in the capital’s urban development. The tour was followed by an introductory semi-formal discussion on the region’s development in the past 25 years, where outstanding members of the academia presented heir view, including Iván Szelényi (NYU), Robert Buckley (The New School) and Pál Baross (CEU).
The two thematic days of the conference focused on the key research topics of MRI. On Monday, participants discussed the housing policy history and options of transition countries. On Tuesday, sessions focusing on urban development were complemented by a discussion on post-transition transport and mobility issues.
Some of the (English language) presentations can be downloaded on the following links, while further presentations will be added over the next few days.
3 NOVEMBER, MONDAY
THE GREAT FINANCIAL CRISIS AND THE POST-SOCIALIST HOUSING SYSTEMS
Plenary session I: Convergence and divergence in post-socialist housing systems
József Hegedüs (MRI): Toward a theory of the post-socialist housing systems
Session A: Moving to market economy – between market and state failures
Dorothee Bohle (Central European University): Risky mortgage lending and its aftermath – Hungary and Estonia compared
Robert Buckley (The New School): 25 Years Later: The De minimus Role of the International Institutions
Stuart Lowe: Convergence or divergence in post-socialist housing systems? … some theory
Martin Lux (Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic): Private and social: contradiction or coherence? Case of the Czech Republic
Friedemann Roy (IFC World Bank): Transformation of Mortgage Markets in Central and Eastern Europe What can other Markets learn from the CEE Experience? – an Analysis
Session B: Households’ coping strategies under financial pressure
Marja Elsinga (OTB): Household strategies and policies: housing
Hannu Ruonavaara (University of Turku): A Very Simple Framework for Looking at Households’ Ways of Coping in Financial Distress
Adrienne Csizmady (Institute of Sociology and Social Research of the Hungarian Academy of Science): Households’ coping strategies under financial pressure
Mina Petrovic (University of Belgrade): Social position and strategies of households with mortgage loans and those who rent in the private sector in Serbia
Jan Vranken (OASeS – University of Antwerp): Some interactions between poor housing and other fields
Session C: Between the private and social rental sector – social rental agencies?
Marietta Haffner (OTB): Between private and social renting – social rental agencies
Gojko Bezovan (University of Zagreb): Housing distress, effects of the crisis and opportunities of housing innovations
Christiane Droste (UrbanPlus): Households’ coping strategies under financial pressure: increasing poverty and the difference in the capacities to cope with it (talking points)
Rosa Maria Garcia Teruel (Rovira i Virgili University): Changes in housing tenures in Spain as a result of the crisis
Thomas Knorr-Siedow (UrbanPlus): Households’ coping strategies under financial pressure: Social rental agencies?
Stefan Kofner (Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz): The Legal and Financial Framework of an Efficient Private Rental Sector: the German Experience
Alina Muzioł-Węcławowicz (Warsaw University of Technology): Between the private and social rental sector – the Polish case
Mary Rédei (Geographical Research Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences): Demographic behavior before and after
4 NOVEMBER, TUESDAY
THE GROWING URBAN DIVIDE: THE CONSEQUENCES OF MARKET ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT IN POST-SOCIALIST CITIES
Plenary session II: the development of post-socialist metropolises from a pan-European perspective
Iván Tosics (MRI): Post-socialist urban development from a pan-European perspective
Alessandro Balducci (Politecnico di Milano): The Urban dimension
Chris Hamnett (King’s College London): Changes in the East: views from the West
Hugo Priemus (OTB): Urban restructuring: market dynamics and policy change
Robert Stüssi (Urban and Mobility planner, Portugal/Switzerland): Peer to peer (homage) (power point presentation with comments)
Session D: The recent performance of post socialist cities: a critical overview
Iván Tosics (MRI): Introduction (pictures only)
Robert Buckley (The New School): Twenty-Five Years on: Transition Cities as a Natural Experiment
Tuna Tasan-Kok (TU Delft), presented by Herman Kok: Rethinking flexibility in the late post-socialist transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Zoltán Kovács (University of Szeged): Recent performance of post-socialist cities
Bence Kováts (PhD student at Corvinus University of Budapest): Political commodification of the inner city by constructing spectacles (conference article)
Annamária Orbán (Budapest University of Technology and Economics): Social and Cultural Innovations in Sustainable Urban Development (discussion paper)
Mina Petrovic (Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade): Challenges of locally based development approach in middle sized cities
Grzegorz Węcławowicz (Institute of Geography, Polish Academy of Sciences): What to do with the post-socialist cities? From practice to strategy
Session E1: The effects of EU funding on post-socialist urban development
Frantisek Kubes (Ministry of Regional Development, Czech Republic): The effects of EU funding on post-socialist urban development – example of the Czech Republic
Franz Thun (Warsaw): The effects of EU-funding on post-communist urban development (an expression of personal views)
Session E2: The specific issues of urban mobility: from heritage to potentials
Ciprian Barna: Tackling the urbanization and the urban mobility in Romania
Jiří Došlý: Urban mobility in Prague 1989 – 2014: Success story?
Lukasz Franek: The specific issues of urban mobility: from heritage to potentials (Krakow, Poland)
Plenary session III: The future of post-socialist urban Europe: growing gap or catching up?
Iván Tosics (MRI): Different Views on the Urban Future
Jens Dangschat (Technical University, Vienna): The Future of post-socialist urban Europe
Thomas Knorr-Siedow (Berlin): Central and Eastern European Futures Re-visited: Growing up or Catching up
Bence Kováts (PhD student at Corvinus University of Budapest): Future of post-socialist cities
Luděk Sýkora (Charles University, Prague): Growing gap or catching up? What kind of city and society?
Jan Vranken (OASeS – University of Antwerp): Challenges for European cities in times of crisis