International Conference   Winds of Societal Change: Remaking Postcommunist Cities " Friday, 18 June – Saturday, 19 June 2004 University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Free and open to the public.
Themes • Program • Participants  • Organizers • Sponsors • Contact
Keynote Presentations Gregory Andrusz, Middlesex University, UK "From Wall to Mall" Alain Bertaud, Independent Consultant "The Spatial Structure of Central and East European Cities – More European than Socialist" Robert Buckley, World Bank "Housing Policy and Urban Housing Performance" Peter Marcuse, Columbia University "The Fallacies of 'Property Rights' Approaches to Housing and Tenure" Ivan Tosics, Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest "Determinants and Consequences of the Spatial Restructuring in Post-socialist Cities" Sasha Tsenkova, University of Calgary "Managing Change in Post-communist Cities"	Summer Symposium Affordable Housing in Postcommunist Europe    Saturday, 19 June    3:00–5:00    210 Illini Union Moderator:     Sasha Tsenkova, University of Calgary Panelists:    Peter Marcuse, Columbia University    Robert Buckley, World Bank     Ivan Tosics, Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest    Len Heumann, University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
Conference Themes Under the broad theme of "remaking post-communist cities" academics and policy makers from North America and Europe will share their research and experience. The conference is designed to be a forum for debate on challenges and opportunities in the post-communist cities in Europe. The organizers also intend to provide a venue for public discussion on these issues open to students, academics, and K–12 teachers within the framework of REEEC’s Summer Research Laboratory on Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia and Ralph and Ruth Fisher Conference.   The conference addresses four major themes: Urban governance and decentralization: What approaches to city politics and urban management are emerging? Are there any good practices in managing municipal finances, delivery of essential urban services and private sector involvement through public/private partnerships? Urban spatial change: How different cities respond to changes in local economies? How do globalization and opening of markets affect urban structure? Are cities prospering or declining? What is the impact of social polarization in cities? What are the major patterns of spatial change – decentralization of jobs, suburbanization of housing, inner city decline? Urban planning: How planners address the challenge of market sensitive planning? Are there effective planning strategies and instruments that can facilitate more sustainable urban development? Privatization and urban housing markets: How do privatization of housing and land affect urban housing markets? What inequalities are emerging between different areas in the city – inner city neighborhoods and peripheral housing estates? How do local governments and communities respond to the challenges of providing housing to socially disadvantaged groups? The Ralph and Ruth Fisher Forum is held in conjunction with the Summer Research Laboratory on Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia.  The conference is made possible by a generous gift in honor of Ralph Fisher, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Illinois and founder of the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center and the Summer Research Lab, and his wife Ruth Fisher. Faculty Organizers:  Zorica Nedovic–Budic, Urban and Regional Planning, UIUC Sasha Tsenkova, International Development and Planning, University of Calgary, Canada Conference Coordinator : Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center, University of Illinois   Cosponsors: European Union Center International Programs and Studies Department of Urban and Regional Planning Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities
For more information on the conference, please contact:   Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center University of Illinois 217.333.1244 or reec@uiuc.edu   or   Professor Zorica Nedovic-Budic at budic@uiuc.edu or Sasha Tsenkova at tsenkova@ucalgary.ca   top

At the beginning of the twenty-first century post-communist cities are at the front line of the development campaign. Cities offer significant opportunities for sustained economic and social improvement as well as for more democratic governance. Post-communist cities are the foci of dominant political, economic, and cultural activities. In 1990s they account for as much as four-fifths of the GDP and remain the centers of economic growth, finance, technological innovation and cultural diversity. But they also tend to concentrate socially deprived population and become more polarized. Changing spatial patterns and urban policies are closely related to these drivers of economic and social change but also to recent political and fiscal decentralization. In this context, post-communist cities have emerged as spatial entities in transitional societies in which societal processes manifest themselves in the most visible and significant ways.