Crisis and cities: a dual world of capital cities

Seminar "Crisis and cities: a dual world of capital cities" took place in Warsaw on 23rd of September 2011 at Old University Library. Seminar was organized by EUROREG and RSA Research network The impact of global economic crisis on capital cities.

Bread, not games! Photo by: PAP/Marek Zakrzewski

SEMINAR OBJECTIVES

Recent studies and surveys from across Europe demonstrate that the biggest cities in „old EU‟ are suffering the most from global recession, while in the new EU members and in Eastern Europe it is rural areas that suffer while cities and capital cities in particular are able to sustain their growth (or to minimise decline). Despite being the most integrated into the global economy, capital cities usually have very diversified economy and potentially can manage the crisis consequences better through risk diversification. But it is also the way cities are managed and the types of businesses they attract, as well as the quality of human and social capital that are important in mitigating the negative consequences of global economic crisis.

The impact of globalization is clearly two-fold: along with the positive effects capital cities may experience negative changes in the socio-spatial structure, such as decline of the city centre, emerging gated communities, social marginalization, or projects by global developers that are inadequate to local needs and conditions.

PRESENTATIONS

• Zoltan Gal: Restructuring financial services sector in crisis environment: can offshoring be a key driver in repositioning international financial centre functions in CEE? 
• Maciej Smętkowski: Capital cities in CEECs: global vs. national importance in the eve of the global financial crisis 
• Tetyana Korneyeva: The Response of France in Light of the Global Economic Crisis – the Case of Paris 
• Michał Szwabe: Immigrants facing crisis – return migrations or riots? 
• Daiva Repeckaite: Reluctant neighbors: Ethnicity, housing problems and mobilization in Tel Aviv 
• Leszek Dolega: Resilience, Fragility, and Adaptation: New Evidence on the Performance of UK High Streets during Global Economic Crisis and its Policy Implications 
• Dorota Celińska-Janowicz: Shopping centres and shopping streets in the capital city – Warsaw case 
• Dalia Čiupailaitė: Changes in the socio-spatial structure of the City of Vilnius
• Donatas Burneika, Ruta Ubareviciene: The economic crisis and development of Vilnius urban region – spatial aspects 
• Mirosław Grochowski: Exurbanisation in emerging metropolitan area: drivers, consequences and challenges for spatial planning and development management 
• Wojciech Wagner: Poland’s Uncontrolled Exurbanisation – Trading Future of Polish Cities for Short-Term Gains?