Founded in 1989, MRI turns 30 this year – and celebrates the occasion with a call for papers and participation on its anniversary conference in September 2019.
Municipal finance
Urban planning and the aftermath of the crisis: Iván Tosics in Urbanisme
The global crisis and recession created a new situation for urban financing. Severe changes in economic and financial conditions extorted the revision of existing public policies. Under the worsening financial conditions, the traditional functioning of cities collapsed – writes MRI director Iván Tosics in the special issue of Urbanisme, focusing on the URBACT programme.
Development of social support system in the housing and utilities sectors in Kazakhstan (2016-2018)
Project duration: 21 November 2016 – 31 December 2018
Client: Government of Kazakhstan and EBRD TC Account Regarding The Programme of Technical Cooperation
The Government of Republic of Kazakhstan has been committed to a broad economic reform program. Part of this reform is improving the tariff policy by introducing cost recovery tariffs in the public utility sector. The aim of the project is to design social protection mechanisms in order to protect the population from excessive burden of coming tariff increases in utility sector. The project includes the identification of main deficiencies in the existing system of Social Support System (SSS) for low income population, preparing recommendations on legal, institutional and methodological changes of the SSS, preparing recommendation for selection of appropriate level of support on a country-wide level or by regions, assessing the need for integration of information systems of various state authorities, developing policies and procedures for implementation of a pilot project and assisting the administration of the pilot city in their implementation and the quality and quantity assessment of the results of the pilot city implementation.
The State of European Cities in Transition (2010-2012)
UN-HABITAT, Nairobi & Institute of Urban Development, Kraków
Metropolitan Research Institute prepared the study for the “Western Subregion” of Central and Eastern European transition countries: the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) the Visegrad Four countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia), and Slovenia. The detailed analysis of the cities in this region covered overviews on the central topics of Population and Urbanization; The Economic Role of Cities; Social and Housing Issues; Urban Environmental Challenges; Urban Governance Systems; and Emerging Issues.
Nearly the entire staff of MRI researchers participated in the production of the analysis; moreover, MRI actively participated in the preparation of the project’s Summary Report.