The regions of Central and Eastern Europe have been under
particular pressure to adapt since the fundamental political,
social and, above all, economic changes in the early 1990s.
Numerous cities and regions that for decades had been the
motors of economic development on account of their industrial
base are now confronted by socio-economic and ecological structural
problems of a far-reaching nature. The European Spatial Development
Perspective (ESDP)
and the European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional
Planning (CEMAT) view the necessary process of revitalising
industrialized cities and regions as a problem with pan-European
implications. The question of how structural change in these
problem areas is to be tackled is especially topical in the
context of EU Eastern Enlargement.
Reflecting
historical developments, research has been carried out on
industrialized cities and regions in the western European,
market-economy-type States since the late 1970s. By contrast,
it is only in the last ten years that there have been significant
numbers of studies addressing transformation-related structural
problems in industrialized cities and regions in the States
of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Research on transformation
processes has focused both on general problems and on specific
problems of transition in individual countries and groups
thereof. There are also now a plethora of publications relating
to the spatial impact of transformation.
As
regards effects on the spatial categorisation of industrialized
cities and regions, however, research to date is still scant.
There is a notable dearth of studies offering synoptical analysis
of industrialized cities and regions in greater numbers of
transformation States.
Currently rectifying this is a project entitled "The Future
of Industrialized Cities and Regions - Central and Eastern European
Experiences in Comparison (FOCUS)", which is being funded
within the scope of the EU Interreg IIC programme as well as
by the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing (BMVBW)
and the Austrian
Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Under
the stewardship of the Institute of Ecological and Regional
Development (IÖR),
a consortium of members of the CEE
Network from 11 countries is examining the problems occurring
in industrialized areas of central and eastern Europe and the
strategies being adopted there.
The
project's aims are twofold, in line with the Interreg funding
it enjoys: it is seeking to jointly arrive at scientific findings
whilst also serving as a forum for the direct, practically oriented
exchange of know-how between the participating parties. Taking
part besides the EU countries Austria and Germany are CEE States
Bulgaria, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech
Republic, Ukraine and Hungary.
The
project aims to gain solutions to cope with structural weaknesses
of traditional industrial regions of the central and eastern
European countries by means of a transnational research design.
Furthermore a common exchange of experiences between communities
(especially small and medium sized towns) in regions undergoing
structural changes and the regional actors will be established.
By this means a transnational solution of problems concerning
structural changes in problem regions with their economic, social
and ecological consequences will be initiated.
