We cordially invite you to the penultimate seminar in the RECOURSE series for this semester, dedicated to urban planning policies and development processes in Eastern Europe, with a special focus on the Romanian capital, Bucharest. The presentation will be given by an expert in the field, Varvara Karipidou, a socio-economic geographer from University College London.

Event details:

• Date: January 17, 2024 (Wednesday)
• Time: 13:00-15:00 CET
• Location: online transmission (the link is provided below)
• Seminar topic: “State Effects and Political Contestations: Understanding Urban Planning and Development Processes in Eastern Europe: The case of Bucharest“

The presentation will discuss issues related to the politics of urban planning and development processes in Eastern Europe, a region often portrayed as ‘lagging behind’. Drawing on recent research in Bucharest, the speaker will show that, despite the application of rigid, centralised spatial planning legislation, these processes are strongly driven by different actors with political and economic motivations in different parts of the city. This stems from Romania’s pervasive political culture and decentralised nature of governance, and often leads to poor quality outcomes in the development of both the city as a whole and its suburbs.

The meeting will be conducted exclusively online via the following link:

Join the meeting on MSTeams

The meeting is held in collaboration with the EUARENAS project (www.euarenas.eu), funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework programme (contract no. 959420).

We look forward to your presence. See you there!