Urban megaprojects, nation-state politics and regulatory capitalism in Central and Eastern Europe: The Belgrade Waterfront project

Urban Studies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 649-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Grubbauer ◽  
Nebojša Čamprag
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
State Politics ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Nation State

In this paper, we explore how state-led regulatory planning is utilised to push for delivery of an urban megaproject (UMP) in the specific context of post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. Our focus is on the large-scale brownfield redevelopment project ‘Belgrade Waterfront’ under implementation in the Serbian capital, a joint venture between the Republic of Serbia and Abu Dhabi-based investor Eagle Hills. We show this UMP to be an extreme example of state-led regulatory intervention, characterised by lack of transparency and haste in decision-making processes, all of which serve to prioritise private investors’ interests in project delivery above the principles of representative democracy. Through analysis of legislative and planning documents, expert reports and media coverage from the period between 2012 and 2017, we explore the legislative mechanisms, contractual strategies and modes of governance involved in the project’s delivery. This provides two insights: first, it reveals that, in contrast with the active role of local governments in conceiving entrepreneurial strategies that is often assumed today, in the case of Belgrade Waterfront, the national government has instead played the decisive role; second, it shows how modifications to national law were instrumental in defining public interest, in enabling certain types of contracts to become technically legal, and in minimising risks for the private investor. We conclude by highlighting the need to further conceptualise nation-state politics and autocratic rule as driving forces of urban development processes.

Post-Communism's First Decade: A Primer for Non-Specialists

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Falk
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Grand Narrative ◽  
Social Experimentation ◽  
Political Economic

This article examines the lessons "learned" and the legacies inherent in the downfall of authoritarian communism in central and eastern Europe in view of post-communism's first decade. It is argued that the events of 1989-1991 were revolutionary in dramatically and unexpectedly establishing new regimes and ushering in simultaneous and multilateral (political, economic, social, national) change. Furthermore, 1989-1991 represents a rejection of "grand narrative" large-scale social experimentation in political arrangements in favour of hybridism and incrementalism. Ten key maxims are introduced as a means of analyzing this historical rupture and understanding the variety of experiences across the region.

scholarly journals Landforms and rural development: The evolution of human settlements at alpine alluvial fans in the Admont Valley, Austria, since 1784 AD

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-43
Author(s):  
Andreas KELLERER-PIRKLBAUER ◽  
Julia EULENSTEIN
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Alluvial Fans ◽  
Spatial Analyses ◽  
Hazard Zonation ◽  
Risk Zones ◽  
Zonation Maps ◽  
Francis I ◽  
Insight Into

We used two historical maps that cover vast areas of central and eastern Europe at rather large scale dating to 1784 (First Military Survey of the Habsburg Empire; total extent 640,000 km²; scale 1: 28,800) and 1824 (cadastral land register of Francis I; 670,000 km²; 1: 2,880) to extracted individual buildings located at several alluvial fans in one valley in Austria (Admont Valley). Historic buildings were mapped and compared with present building (airborne–laserscanning based; 2008–2017), geomorphic (landform distribution), geomorphodynamic (documented damaging events at torrents), and spatial planning (hazard zonation maps) data. Results show that 69.2% of all present buildings are located at only 7% of the study area. Whereas the 1784–data are too inaccurate and unprecise for detailed spatial analyses, the 1824–data are very accurate and precise allowing spatial and socio–economic insight into the population and building evolution over a 190–year period. Results show for instance that despite a tremendous increase in buildings (911 in 1824; 3554 in 2008–2017), the proportion of buildings exposed to torrents–related natural hazards significantly decreased by 10.4% for yellow (moderate–risk) and by 13.7% for red (high–risk) zones. Similar historio–geomorphological studies as presented here might be accomplished in other countries in central and eastern Europe covered by the indicated historical map products.

scholarly journals Economic Development and Growth in Central and Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Csilla Polster
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
European Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Migration Activity ◽  
Member States

The study investigates the economic growth in Central and Eastern Europe in the last 25 years. The economy can be regarded as a substantial topic in any country, but it is even more interesting in developing countries. One of the basic ideas of the European Union is the convergence between member states, namely the reduction of development disparities, which can be achieved through faster economic growth in less‑developed countries. Growth theory is one of the main topics in economics. Its significant importance is because the desire for development is one of the main driving forces of mankind. The aim of the study is to reveal the crucial differences and common features between the growth paths of the eleven Central and Eastern European member states of the European Union. After presenting growth theories, the growth performance of the examined Central and Eastern European member states is pinpointed. During the research, GDP per capita, population, migration, activity rate, employment rate, unemployment rate, foreign direct investment and foreign trade openness are considered.

An alarming absence of data on attitudes towards biobanking in the Central and Eastern Europe

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matus Adamkovic ◽  
Ivana Piterová ◽  
Denisa Fedáková
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Public Engagement ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Legal Regulations ◽  
Psychological Correlates

In recent years, biobanking infrastructure has been gradually built in Central and Eastern Europe. The long-term success of biobanking, however, depends on the public’s engagement in the process. The available evidence indicates low informedness and hesitancy towards biobanking in CEE. Understanding of driving forces and barriers in laypeople’s participation in biobanking is thus a key challenge. The present paper aims to (1) summarize the available evidence, especially from the CEE countries, on public awareness and willingness to participate in biobanking, (2) provide the results of a systematic review on psychological correlates of engagement in biobanking in CEE, and (3) highlight the most pressing issues regarding the available evidence. In general, public awareness, biobanks’ communication and cooperation, ethical and legal regulations, and institutional/governmental trust seem to determine public engagement in biobanking the most. However, cultural specifics are likely to play a major role. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of behavioral data on this topic for the CEE countries. General recommendations on how to increase laypeople’s participation in biobanking are discussed. For the field to progress, future in-depth research on this topic conducted in the CEE countries is needed.

School History Atlases as Instruments of Nation-State Making and Maintenance

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Kamusella
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistic ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Graphic Presentation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nation States ◽  
School History

School history atlases are used almost exclusively as required textbooks in Central and Eastern Europe, where the model of the ethnolinguistic nation-state rules supreme. My hypothesis is that these atlases are used in this region because a graphic presentation of the past makes it possible for students to grasp the idea of the presumably "natural" or "inescapable" overlapping of historical, linguistic, and demographic borders, the striving for which produced the present-day ethnolinguistic nation-states. Conversely, school history atlases provide a framework to indoctrinate the student with the beliefs that ethnolinguistic nationalism is the sole correct kind of nationalism, and that the neighboring polities have time and again unjustly denied the "true and natural" frontiers to the student's nation-state.

Local Self-Government in Central and Eastern Europe: Decentralization or Deconcentration?

1997 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Zsamboki ◽  
M Bell
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Former Soviet Union ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Independent States ◽  
Newly Independent States

The development of autonomous local self-governments is a critical, albeit often over-looked, element of the long-term transition to democracy in Central and Eastern Europe and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. All countries in the region have taken clear steps to pass legislation creating new local government institutions. Such institutional reform is necessary, but not sufficient, for the development of autonomous local self-government. In this paper we present several fundamental criteria which must be satisfied in order to establish and nurture autonomous local self-government. We test these criteria against institutional reforms in Central and Eastern Europe and the newly independent states to gauge the extent to which there has been actual devolution of governmental responsibility from central to local governments. We conclude that, although some individual strands of these fundamental reforms may have received some attention in the current transition process, such attention is more ad hoc than strategic. As a result, the goal of creating autonomous local self-governments has not been achieved. Donor nations and reform elements in each country must think strategically about all dimensions of this local government transition if these changes are to be institutionalized and the transition is to be successful in the long term.

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