The first two decades of the 21st century have radically transformed cities and their wider regions. Globalization and digitalization, gentrification and urban sprawl, mass tourism and the information economy, climate change and the energy crisis, and the ongoing housing crisis are intertwined processes that shed new light on past urbanization experiences and rewrite the logic of everyday urban life. The growing interconnectedness of metropolitan areas, the spatial reorganization of social inequalities, and multi-actor forms of governance are all signs of this transformation. 

Reflecting on recent developments and paying attention to the specific characteristics of East-Central Europe, this textbook by János Balázs Kocsis and Kyra Tomay provides a framework for a deeper understanding of urban society, urban development, and urban governance. 

We recommend this volume to anyone interested in urbanization issues who would like to deepen their knowledge of how cities function in the 21st century: master’s students and their supervisors, as well as the general public with an interest in urban spaces.  

The entire volume is available in the Corvinus Repository. 

Institute of Sustainable Development 

Department of Geography and Planning