The project rests on the cooperation of ZRC SAZU and Centre for Economic and Regional Studies (KRTK) and funded by the ARIS (Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency, Slovenia) and NKFIH (National Research, development and Innovation Office, Hungary).
Events
- The first ’offline’ (in-person) workshop organised by the ZRC SAZU team took place in Ljubljana. The discussion was focused on reviewing the quantitative stage of the project, including data base development, shared analytical framework and methodology (WP1, SO 1.1). The team also agreed on the structure of the historical overview of industrial paths comparatively, and the milestones of the publication strategy. To ground the planned field work in case study towns, the team visited Idrija, a small town impacted by substantial industrial restructuring which was shaped by two locally embedded, powerful ‘hidden champion’ companies.
- Three members of the research team, David Bole (Geografski Inštitut Antona Melika ZRC SAZU), Ernő Molnár (Debreceni Egyetem), and Erika Nagy (ELTE KRTK RKI) were invited to the workshop Future Sustainability Transition Pathways for Central and Eastern European Regions organised by the University of Ostrava, Department of Human Geography and Regional Development. The interactive event focused on discussing the transition of CEE industrial regions, related social and environmental conflicts, moreover, on policy and community responses. The meeting ended by a joint agreement on developing a network of academics exploring paths of industrial restructuring in the region.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DP7Iy7fDed9/
Publications
- The project results have been introduced and discussed at the 12th Conference of Hungarian Geographers (Szeged, 2025. szeptember 18-21.)
The papers were given at the event:
Erika Nagy: Socialist industrial towns in transition: Path dependence and local agency
Gábor Nagy, Ernő Molnár, Gábor Pirisi, Gergely Tagai, Erika Nagy: Current trends of peripheral industrialization and the changing patterns of small town-centred commuting
https://mfk2025.hu/#brxe-pwtsbp - The project team organised a session at the Cities after Transition (CAT) conference (Tirana, 2025. szeptember 22-25.) focused on The transitions and variegated paths of industrial towns in Eastern Europe (Session 20). All together, 6 paper were given in the session, 3 of them delivered by team members
Gábor Pirisi: Rebranding Komló? Opportunities and limits in the transformation of a former mining town
Erika Nagy: New path, new dependencies? The entanglement of local and non-local agencies in a former socialist industrial town in Hungary
Gábor Nagy: The current trends of peripheral industrialization and the changing patterns of small town-centred commuting
https://cat2025tirana.com/programme/
- Two team members (Erika Nagy, Gábor Nagy) participated in the conference organised by the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki titled Extremisms. Ambiguities, Ideologies, Agency (Helsinki, 2025. október 22-24.).
The paper delivered: Is centrally controlled industrialisation (only) a state socialist scheme for regional development and political control? The entanglement of peripheral industrialisation and the rise of the authoritarian regime in post-2010 Hungary
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/conferences/extremisms-ambiguities-ideologies-agency/programme
