Accession to the EU in May 2004 was a historic milestone for the spatial and urban development of the new member states. Meanwhile, the social and economic transition during the pre-accession phase already brought about radical changes in national urban systems and new challenges for regional development. In this edited volume, a carefully selected and specially commissioned set of articles, written by experts from both the new and the old EU member states, presents a comprehensive assessment of emerging political and planning solutions at local, regional, national and EU levels. Topics include brownfield redevelopment in the Czech Republic, urban sprawl in Hungary, the upgrading and integration of marginalized Roma settlements in Eastern Slovakia and sustainable coastal management in Cyprus.

Where young people grow up makes a decisive difference to their life chances. Drawing on case studies from ten European cities, this book looks at how the local environment and the services available for young people affect their socialization. What comes to the fore are the local matters. On the one hand, there are experiences of discrimination and marginalization due to distance and isolation, decay and neglect but also related to piecemeal and top-down approaches to youth and social services. On the other, we find signs of positive transformation and drivers of social innovation: community building projects, the revitalization of abandoned places, appreciative approaches to servicing and a whole array of tactics that young people deploy to overcome their daily struggles.

Across Europe, there is an intense search for new and sustainable approaches to providing welfare. Demographic change, new social risks and other factors call for new ideas to maintain and enhance the performance and quality of social services and to enable the participation of all citizens in an inclusive society. Against this background, and based on the findings of the EU research platform INNOSERV and empirically obtained research results from text and video material, this book provides insights into current approaches and practices to improve and transform social services.

Das Schwerpunktthema dieses Jahrbuchs behandelt die digitale Transformation, die Gesellschaften heute erleben. Diese betrifft Verwaltungsablaufe ebenso wie die Steuerung der technischen und sozialen Infrastruktur, Mobilitat und Verkehr, Zahlungssysteme, Produktion, Wohnen, Bildung und, ganz allgemein, die Gestaltung des Alltags. Mit dem Themenschwerpunkt "Digitale Transformation" werden verschiedene Dimensionen der Digitalisierung raumlicher Lebenswelten behandelt. Daruber hinaus bietet das Jahrbuch StadtRegion in den Rubriken "Analysen und Kommentare" sowie "Rezensionen" aktuelle Beitrage zu interdisziplinaren Fragen der Stadtforschung und der Raumentwicklung. In der Rubrik "Dokumentation und Statistik" werden ausgewahlte Kennziffern aus den Themenbereichen Bevoelkerungsentwicklung, Beschaftigung, soziale Lage und Baufertigstellungen in einem "Ruckblick auf knapp 20 Jahre Raumentwicklung im 20. Jahrhundert" analysiert.