Transformation of Cities in Central and Eastern Europe: Towards Globalization

Summary:

This volume is one in a series initiated by the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies on the inter-relationship between globalisation and urban transformation. It identifies and describes the inter- and intra-urban transformations of Central and Eastern European cities and considers their pre-1945 historic legacies, the socialist period, and their contemporary transition towards market oriented and democratic systems. The dramatic changes since 1989 including the collapse of Communist ideology, the break-up of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, the end of the Cold War and the impact of globalisation and European integration, have reconfigured this region and affected their re-integration into European and global networks.

This book first examines the similarities and differences between significant Central and Eastern European cities, comparing the differing patterns of historical context and socialist legacies before 1990, and the impacts of internal and external forces on re-shaping these cities and their paths of transformation since 1990. It also examines the role of contemporary planning within the overall development of Central and Eastern European cities.

The conclusion demonstrates the similarities and differences between Central and Eastern European cities and their re-integration into global networks.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword
• Introduction: Globalisation and the Transformation of Cities in Central and Eastern Europe
• City Development in Central and Eastern Europe before 1990: Historical Context and Socialist Legacies
• City Development in Central and Eastern Europe since 1990: The Impacts of Internal Forces
• The External Forces: Towards Globalisation and European Integration
• Foreign Direct Investment and City Restructuring
• Mastering the Post-socialist City: Impacts on Planning the Built Environment
• Berlin: From Divided into Fragmented City
• Warsaw Metropolitan Area on the eve of Poland's integration into the European Union
• Post-socialist Budapest: The Invasion of Market Forces and the Response of Public Leadership
• Prague Returns To Europe
• Ljubljana: From 'Beloved' City of the Nation to Central European 'Capital'
• Mixed Success: Economic Stability and Urban Inequality in Sofia
• Baltic Orientations: Globalisation, Regionalisation, or 'EU-isation'
• Moscow in Transition
• Conclusion