Wojciech Jarczewski (p)

Hans Westlund

Urban regeneration is a process that started as early as the 1950s in Western Europe and has gradually evolved. In the post-socialist countries, including Poland, regeneration processes started on a larger scale after accession to the European Union, in most cases in 2004. The starting point for urban regeneration in the post-socialist countries was the knowledge and experience of the "old" EU countries up to the end of the 20th century.  On the example of the Polish experience an analysis of the use and adaptation of the concept of revitalisation to the conditions of cities in a post-socialist country will be presented. The research encompassed all cities in which regeneration processes were carried out after 2004 - a total of 698 cities out of the 930 existing in Poland. The analysis of 14,600 regeneration projects in these cities made it possible to identify the specific characteristics of urban regeneration in Poland, which are: (1.) concentration of projects in city centres, (2.) public character of the vast majority of projects (3.) the investment, infrastructural character of most projects.

Mark van Duijn (p), Arno van der Vlist

Wojciech Jarczewski

This paper investigates the geography in depreciation rates for commercial real estate properties across Europe with varying climate risks. First, we examine how many properties are at risk within our sample. Second, we investigate which type of buyers invest in commercial real estate properties with a high climate risk profile. Third, we investigate differences in net depreciation rates across Europe based on a comparison of asset prices for properties of different ages, and examine heterogeneity across institutional, public and private investors. We use a comprehensive database of commercial real estate property sales across Europe covering 2010 to 2017 with detailed information on the type of investor seller and buyer. We find significant variation in depreciation rates across space and over market segments. We also examine regional variation in depreciation rates by probing more deeply into drivers including flood and landslide risk, and regional population, unemployment, and income.

Lina Volodzkiene (p), Dalia Streimikiene

Mark van Duijn

This research project received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania under Agreement No. S-PD-22-68

In recent years, resilience of the society has been increasingly tested in the face of major obstacles, and the fight against deepening energy inequality is becoming a major obstacle to the transformation into a climate-neutral society. However, the transformation of modern society into a climate-neutral society is an urgent challenge to ensure prosperity opportunities for future generations, balancing economic, technological, ecological, social, psychological development in the present. This goal is the cornerstone of Europe's green course and is in line with its commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in a global context.
Starting from the 2020Y two opposite trends have been observed in almost all areas of life as a result of the global pandemic, with industrial activity paused and stagnation prevailing: a significant reduction in emissions on the one hand, and a severe economic downturn on the other. From the beginning of 2022Y in the face of geopolitical tensions that led to a sharp rise in energy prices and energy affordability are becoming major societal challenges. This raises the question of how the transition to a climate-neutral society should take place in order to coordinate the green course and ecology with a prosperous economy in the future as well as to ensure energy justice and reduce energy inequality.
The research aims to conduct a systematic literature review to identify the main indicator of energy inequality and provide recommendations for an integrated definition and measurement improvement. Such theoretical and empirical research on energy inequality is essential, especially in finding the ways for its reduction.
To implement research objective a systematic literature review was performed. The research is carried out in several stages. Firstly, the main indicators of energy inequality are identified. Secondly, the findings of the systematic literature review are categorized according to the objectives pursued. Finally, recommendations for an integrated definition and measurement improvement are presented. The methodology itself include an integrated analysis of macroeconomic energy justice and energy inequality statistics.

Hans Westlund (p), Kamila Borsekova

Lina Volodzkiene

After an unexpected wave of counterurbanization in the 1970s, the emergence of the knowledge economy in the 1980s and onwards meant a re-urbanization and “a dramatic wave of urban restructuring” (Brenner and Schmid 2015: 151). Already 1970, Lefebvre (2003, English translation) presented an “anticipatory hypothesis” on a “complete urbanization. In the early 1990s, Sassen (1991) and Friedmann (1995) launched concepts of “global cities” and “world cities” and just over a decade later, Glaeser (2011) proclaimed “The Triumph of the City”. However, there is also a growing awareness that the current, almost total domination of cities in the world – in an economic, cultural and social meaning – is an expression of a new stage of human civilization. A “post-urban world” (Westlund 2018) or “planetary urbanization” (Brenner and Schmid 2015) are two of the concepts being used to describe the current, emerging era. Having their roots in different research fields, the contents of the two concepts show many similarities. Brenner & Schmid (2015: 166) has proposed “a new epistemology of the urban” in which “three mutually constitutive moments—(i) concentrated urbanization, (ii) extended urbanization and (iii) differential urbanization” play a decisive role. Westlund (2018) has claimed that the traditional urban-rural dichotomy is being dissolved and replaced by on the one hand polycentric city-regions, and on the other vast peripheries, whose only role is to supply urban demand with raw material, energy and leisure experiences.
Thus, there is a growing awareness of the changes that the planetary urbanization/post-urban world are reflections of, but there is a lack of analysis of the driving forces behind this global transformation. Based on fundamental economic theory, this paper aims at analyzing the driving forces of the planetary urbanization/post-urban world, by using a spatial interaction cost perspective. Based on this analysis, an agenda for further research is formulated.