Programme

14.15 – 15.45
Plenary 1: Urban development: renewal of the urban fabric – for whom?
The first plenary discussion will concentrate on an important aspect of urban restructuring of European cities: regeneration, rebuilding, densification of the urban fabric. The emphasis will be on the analysis and mitigation of the potential negative social consequences of regeneration: renoviction and ’enerviction’ (the introduction of too high energy standards) are just two ways which could radically change the local social structure, replacing the original population with better-off families, who pay higher taxes and better match the expectations of investors and city leaders.Impulse statements

• About renovictions – the experiences of an international organization. Sven Bergenstråhle, International Union of Tenants (TBC)
• A State-led Gentrification Project: From Social Housing to Mixed-Income Development. About the transformation of the Cabrini-Green area in Chicago. Judit Bodnár, CEU
• The Corvin Promenade from a different perspective: the largest post-socialist urban regeneration project in Hungary. György Molnár – György Alföldi, Budapest

Moderators: Iván Tosics and Éva Gerőházi

15.45 – 16.15
Coffee break

16.15 – 17.45
Plenary 2: Housing and welfare regimes: varieties of responses to the crisis
Evolving housing regimes: after the Global Financial Crisis, do the new trends in housing policies indicate a paradigm shift?  The session will overview different approaches to housing regimes, and attempt to identify the directions in which European housing regimes have been evolving.

Specific questions for the panelist:

1. What is the main aim/function of the regime approach?
2. What is the geographic unit we can use the housing regime approach? (global, national, regional, urban)
3. How does the political and economic situation affect the housing regimes?
4. Are housing regimes changing according to economic development?
5. How do the housing regimes deal with the social inequalities?

Introduction: Mark Stephens (Heriot-Watt University)

Panelists: M. Ball (University of Reading), J. Aidukaite (Lithuanian Social Research Centre), W. Matznetter (Universität Wien), J. Hoekstra (OTB), Z. Pósfai (Periféria Policy and Research Centre)

Moderator: J. Hegedüs (MRI)

EVENING:
MRI’30 PARTY
Let’s celebrate together MRI with everyone who was part of the last 30 years’ story or will be part of the next!

28 SEPTEMBER, SATURDAY
09.30 – 12.30
PARALLEL SESSIONS IN URBAN (1A), HOUSING (1B) AND HERITAGE (1C) TOPICS, LINKED TO THE POST-SOCIALIST TRANSITIONS

SESSION 1A: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AFTER POST-SOCIALISM: WHERE ARE POST-SOCIALIST CITIES AND WHERE ARE THEY HEADING?
09.30 – 10.45 Session 1A.1
Urban development trends and planning responses in the large regional capitals

In this session the planning systems of large cities are discussed, highlighting the causes of changes: the fluctuating political and institutional/governance systems and relations. Issues to be tackled might include financialization, the leading role of investors, residualization and fragmentation of the social sector, internal decentralization of city governance, in parallel to centralization of decision making power to the national level (at least in Hungary) and glocalisation. Who are the winners and who are the losers of these changes? To what extent are large cities in the CEE region getting farther away from the ideal of sustainable and inclusive cities? An essential part of the question is how and by whom are decisions taken and influenced and how can unfavorable tendencies be tackled and changed.

Input presentations will be about Prague, Warsaw, and Budapest.

• Poetry and truth of planning: The case of Prague. Karel Maier (TBC)
• Warsaw, a policentric city between urban chaos and involvement. Katarzyna Sadowy
• Urban Planning in Budapest since 1990. Zoltán Erő, Lajos Koszorú, Richárd Ongjerth, Iván Tosics

Short statements from Belgrade (Mina Petrovic), Bucharest (Catalin Berescu), Moscow (Sasha Puzanov); a view about urban sprawl (Vera Iváncsics)

Moderators: Iván Tosics and Nóra Teller

11.15 – 12.30 Session 1A.2
Post-socialist cities 30 years later – debates about models and futures. What comes after post-socialism?

With the passing of time since 1990, it is increasingly difficult to find publications which focus specifically on post-socialist cities – although the debate about this group of cities is far from being finished. Significantly different views coexist. Some analysts argue that the ‘post-socialist’ category has lost its relevance, and the present development direction of post-socialist cities coincides with the mainstream of capitalist cities. Others argue that post-socialist cities have undergone multiple waves of transformations, and some of these have not been completed yet. Finally, there are analysts who predict the survival of the category of the ’post-socialist city’, either due to the emergence of a new divide within the EU, or to recent political developments. We plan to have impulse statements (in person or through pre-recorded video, all TBC) from Sonja Hirt, Ludek Sykora, and Kiril Stanilov.

Preliminary list of panel members (all TBC): Iván Szelényi, Zoltán Kovács, Judit Bodnár, Tuna Tasan-Kok.

Moderators: Iván Tosics and Nóra Teller

SESSION 1B: NEW TRENDS IN HOUSING SYSTEMS AFTER THE GFC (WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON POST-SOCIALIST HOUSING SYSTEMS)
09.30 – 10.45 Session 1B.1

Regulating housing markets

A low-regulation, market-centered approach dominated housing and housing finance policy from the early 1990s, until the Global Financial Crisis exposed its limitations. Now, a decade later, rising housing prices and rents are creating pressure for looser lending terms combined with stricter rental market regulations. The detailed program depends on the interest of the potential participants. The session will focus on two areas: mortgage market regulation and its effects, and rent regulation of dynamic urban rental markets.

Central questions:

1. What seem to be the relevant lessons of past mistakes?
2. Are there appropriate regulations and other barriers in place to deal with the political and financial incentives to repeat those mistakes?
3. Are there regulations in place significantly exacerbating the rise in housing costs, both rental and owner?
4. How do these issues vary across countries?

Introduction: Júlia Király (IBS Budapest) and Stefan Kofner (HSZG)

Panelists: Robert Buckley (The Urban Institute), Achim Dubel (Finpolconsult),  Jacek Laszek (National Bank of Poland), Thomas Knorr Siedow (Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus – Senftenberg)

Moderator: Douglas B. Diamond (Housing finance expert)

11.15 – 12.30 Session 1B.2
International housing models, and their transferability to the post-transition context

This session invites good practices from the international arena which yield promising results in their current environment, and might hold potential to be transferred and adapted to post-transition environments. Some conceived by international agencies (Habitat for Humanity, Council of Europe Development Bank etc.), municipalities, housing cooperatives, policy professionals, or initiated by grassroots movements, experimental approaches have been deployed across Europe and the globe to foster secure and affordable housing in a sustainable manner against an international pressure on housing prices and costs. Besides presenting promising solutions, the session will also address their transferability and adaptability in different circumstances.

Central questions:

1. What models would be the most efficient for modernizing the housing systems in New Member States (or post socialist countries)
2. What are the bottlenecks for introducing new models?
3. Can we learn from “good practices”?
4. The possibilities to upscaling?

Introduction: Samir Kulenovic (CEB)(TBC)

Panelists:  Jennfer Duyne Barenstein (ETH Centre for Research on Architecture, Society and the Built Environment), Nicola Brandt (OECD), Edit Lakatos (Housing Europe), Knutt Höller (IWO), Éva Gerőházi (MRI), Hanna Szemző (MRI)

Moderator: György Sümeghy (Habitat for Humanity EMEA)

SESSION 1C: THE ROLE OF HERITAGE IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT
09.30 – 10.45 Session 1C.1
Adaptive re-use as a tool in urban development: differences and similarities between post-socialist and old EU member state city policies/practices

Under-used heritage sites in need of new functions, and areas in need of new development in urban areas make adaptive re-use a fine and often employed development tool. The possible uses are manifold, ranging from cultural places to housing, offering the chance of producing new values and strengthening local identity. However, this re-use process is fraught with challenges, especially if long-term sustainability (in a social, economic and environmental sense) is to be reached. Putting the importance and limitations of bottom-up initiatives, the role of local and extended communities in the decision making system, and the responsibilities different stakeholders bear, the sessions aims to understand if socialism still has a lasting impact on urban policies by comparing practices of cities from different post-socialist and old EU member state cities.

Moderators: Hanna Szemző and Andrea Tönkő

12.30 – 14.00
Lunch break

14.00 – 17.30
PARALLEL SESSIONS IN URBAN AND HOUSING TOPICS
In the afternoon session, good practices will be presented and discussed, focusing on innovative and promising attempts which could be refined to serve as the basis of more sustainable and more equitable development paths in European cities. In parallel, the housing dilemmas of European cities will continue to be discussed.

14.00 – 15.30 Session 2A
Participatory and deliberative democracy – arenas of discussions and debates
Organizers: Iván Tosics – Andrea Tönkő

New participatory models, innovations to foster citizen inclusion will be discussed in this session, including recent efforts towards social innovation, such as urban commons, and the idea of the cooperative city. Preliminary list of contributions:

• Adriana Mihaela Soaita: Urban narratives on the changing nature of social capital in post-communist Romania
• Fanni Bársony: Urban community gardening in Budapest – Experiences from a deliberative Civic Preference Forum
• Imre Pákozdi: the Swiss democratic establishment, advantages and disadvantages; prejudices and anxieties.
• Christiane Droste: Intercultural Spaces for Participation and the necessity for institutional change in planning (INTERPART)
• Luca Bródy: citizen participation in urban regeneration, interactions between actors and processes, operating on different scales.
• Júlia Szabó: co-housing communities as new potentials for urban democracy

14.00 – 15.30 Session 2B

New developments in the post-socialist housing regimes

After the Global Financial Crisis, post-socialist housing systems appear to diverge. The crisis and the subsequent recession affected different countries in different ways in the region, suggesting a long-standing future divergence of Central and Eastern European housing systems. The session focus on new innovative or less innovative interventions in post-socialist countries.

Questions:

1. What have we learned from the failures and successes of recent housing programs?
2. What are the new provision form with potential to expand affordable housing programs?
3. Who are the stakeholders who support the social and affordable programs?
4. What are the main constrains if at all for the scale up god practices?

Moderator: Martin Lux (Czech Academy of Science )

Panelist: Alexander Puzanov (Institute for Urban Economics), Richard Sendi (Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia), Gojko Bezovan (University of Zagrab), Mina Petrovics (University of Belgrade), Eszter Somogyi (MRI)

Moderator:  J. Hegedüs (MRI)

15.30 – 16.00
Coffee break

16.00 – 17.30 Session 3A
Social movements and the municipalist networking of progressive local municipalities
Organizers: Iván Tosics and Eszter Somogyi (MRI)

This session addresses the topics of innovative bottom-up approaches in population movements and in the cooperation and networking between cities progressing towards more equitable urban development. Preliminary list of contributors:

• Miguel Martinez: Grassroots struggles challenging financialisation in Spain
• Catalin Berescu: Recent alliances between Romanian municipalities
• Simon Güntner: Vienna – just city
• Milota Sidorova: Social and urban movements in Prague
• Levente Polyák: Social and urban movements in Budapest
• Laura Colini, Berlin: Social and urban movements in Berlin

16.00 – 17.30 Session 3B
Households under pressure
The affordability of housing has become the most important housing policy issue in the last decade, affecting not only the lowest income groups but also the middle classes. The reaction of households to financial pressure depends both on the macro conditions of the social and the economic system, and on micro pressures from housing sector.

Introduction: Marja Elsinga (TU Delft)

Panelist: Judit Durst (UCL Dpt. of Anthropology), Stepan Ripka (Charles University in Prague), Olszewski, Krzysztof (National Bank of Poland), Adriene Csizmady (MTA TK SZI), Lorand András, Zsolt Pünkösti (Romanian Maltese Relief Service (SAMR), Anna Bajomi (Politechnic University of Milan), Vera Horváth (MRI)

Moderator: Nóra Teller (MRI)

17.30 – 18.00
CLOSING REMARKS
Session organizers report back about the most interesting debates from the parallel sessions

20.00
WORLD’S FIRST ADVISORS’ FUCK-UP NIGHT AND CONFERENCE DINNER
This will be a unique evening, with self-critical stories from researchers and advisors about brilliant ideas which, however, went wrong for whatever reasons. What can you (and others) learn from your own mistakes?

29 SEPTEMBER, SUNDAY
Late morning – early afternoon:
Field trip in Budapest discovering the most interesting signs of post-socialist transformation and the emerging conflicts of post-transitional development.