András Igari (p), Pál Péter Szabó (p)

Alexey Vasilyev

The Coronavirus pandemic and the response (including both containment and proactive measures to mitigate the negative effects of the crisis) have had a wide range of social, economic and environmental impacts around the world, but the extent and modalities of these have varied. The crisis has both had short-term impacts and caused structural changes and has also affected many aspects of territorial structures: the economy, the society and the environment of the regions. The aim of this presentation is to highlight the regional inequalities of the various (social, economic and environmental) impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To do this, we have collected and analysed regional-level economic (GDP, employment), social (trust in national government, severe material and social deprivation, mortality) and environmental (GHG emission) data. First, we have estimated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic based on the trends of the previous period (2015-2019) and the data from pandemic period (2020-2021, partly 2022), paying particular attention to the short-term decrease (or increase) of the values, the speed of the bouncing-back effect, pre- and post-crisis trends, and the long-term crisis effects that may have been driven by structural changes. Second, we have examined the patterns of these indicators, using hierarchical cluster analysis to group regions to highlight which regions were affected similarly by the pandemic.
As a result, we have got that the different crisis effects showed various spatial patterns. The crisis hit mainly the economy of tourist regions (Southern Europe, Alpine region) and Central Europe, while only moderate employment effects were observed, probably due to significant government interventions. As regards the mortality, although the centres (metropolitan regions, Western and Southern Europe) were the most affected during the first wave, from the second wave, the main negative effects of the pandemic were shifted to the rural regions and East-Central. Trust in government has also declined most in East-Central Europe, while poverty and GHG emission changes have shown a very diverse spatial pattern. Overall, the complex crisis effects of the COVID-19 pandemic hit East-Central Europe the hardest, but Southern Europe and the West-Central Europe also faced significant social and economic problems.

Alexey Vasilyev (p)

Tomasz Starczewski

The presentation shows the spatial and historical patterns of the evolution of the administrative division of France. It was revealed that in France there is the established structure of the settlement system, urban areas of influence and administrative and economic relations. Many parts of this structure were formed by a spontaneous distribution of Gallic tribes and well-organized division of Roman Empire and then preserved during Middle Ages and Early Modern Era. This structure became a foundation of French modern administrative division. Despite the reforms there is the stability of many political-territorial units, a lot of departments, regions and their centers trace their history back to the Roman time and even the settlement of Gallic tribes.
Special attention is paid to the development of departments and regions in 1790-2025. Regions were formed in the 1950-1980s and 2015-2016 to support the economic development of the country and stimulate cooperation between the prefects of departments. Most of regions were based of preserved cores and blurred contours of historical and cultural areas. The territory of the most of departments remained stable during all 235 years of their existing. 78 departments that were created during the Great French revolution exist without changing to our time. The main factor of stability of departments is the stable system of organization of power and structure of administrative and economic links. Only 21 new departments were formed in 19th-20th centuries. Local factors such as secession of peripheries or centers, partition of existing departments, annexation or loss of territories influenced to creation of the new units.

Krzysztof Rogatka (p), Tomasz Starczewski (p)

Ilona Bartuseviciene

In the context of escalating challenges posed by climate crises, globalization, and the intensification of urban disruptions, urban resilience has emerged as a critical concept for contemporary cities. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the urban resilience concept within the scientific literature published between 2010 and 2024, identifying its current dimensions and practical implications for urban management.

The research is based on bibliometric analysis conducted using two major databases—Web of Science and Scopus—covering over 6,000 scientific articles. Both quantitative and network analyses were employed, allowing the identification of six key dimensions of urban resilience: environmental, social, infrastructural, economic, administrative, and disruption-oriented.

The findings highlight that urban resilience is a multidimensional and dynamic process requiring the integration of technology, innovation, and environmental protection efforts. Special attention is given to the role of green infrastructure in mitigating the effects of climate change, such as urban heat islands, floods, and ecosystem degradation. Furthermore, the study emphasizes that effective urban management necessitates synergy between central and local governance levels, as well as active engagement of local communities in decision-making processes.

The article also underscores the importance of adaptive crisis management, enabling cities to recover quickly from disasters and minimize economic losses. Additionally, it identifies areas requiring further research attention, particularly the social and economic dimensions of resilience, which, despite their critical importance, are underrepresented in the existing literature.

The study's results provide a foundation for future research and the practical implementation of strategies supporting sustainable urban development, enhancing cities' ability to adapt, survive, and thrive amidst the complex challenges of contemporary times.

Ilona Bartuseviciene (p), Mindaugas Butkus , Rita Toleikiene, Vita Jukneviciene

András Igari

By highlighting municipal capacity to cope with adversities, this study raises important questions about how the maturity of digital governance interacts with various resilience strategies and how that interaction influences municipalities' crisis response. Although most of the existing research (Shen et al., 2023; Profiroiu and Nastacă, 2021; Carlsson et al., 2023) reveals that digital transformation serves as a facilitator that enables the transition from recovery resilience to transformative resilience, others (Gangneux and Joss, 2022) argue that the pandemic was a major driver for digital transformation.
Thus, this study attempts to reveal the interconnections between digital governance and organizational ability to cope with adversities through their resilience. Using different levels to explore digital maturity, that is, digital consistency, digital adaptation, and digital transformation, and different levels to explore resilience, that is, bounce-back, bounce-forward, and bounce-beyond, we analyze these interconnections to find out whether higher digital governance municipalities demonstrate higher resilience levels and vice versa.
Methodology/methods. Systematic literature review and nonparametric structural equation modeling (SEM-PLS) methodology.
Results (preliminary). The systematic literature review results allowed us to conclude that digital governance has been pivotal during the pandemic, enabling organizations to continue to function during crises across different contexts. However, we observed that most studies address resilience from a general perspective, such as resilience, capacity to change, or crisis. The same was concluded about digital governance. We found that most articles examining organizational capacity to cope with adversities by enhancing digital governance capacity approached it from a general perspective or used the concept of digital transformation, which in some cases was used to signal separate elements of digitalization instead of true digital transformation. Thus, these findings suggest exploring the municipal capacity to cope with adversity from the perspective of different levels of digital and resiliency maturity. Further, using the data collected from all sixty municipalities in Lithuania, we will explore the interconnectedness amongst different levels of digitalization and resilience, which could provide insights into whether higher levels of digital governance enhance municipal resilience.
Originality. In seeking to understand more about the resilience development patterns in municipalities through the different maturity levels of digitalization, we have turned our attention to the interactions that provide more profound knowledge about the development patterns of municipal capacities to cope with adversities through the enablement of digital governance.

This project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement No. S-VIS-23-10.