Regions in Focus: what is relevant today in their development?

15:36, November 21, 2017

Both students and researchers discuss the problems and perspectives of Russian territories

Post-Soviet territories are facing such challenges as the shock of transition to a new economic and political system, demographic problems and territorial injustice.

Participants of the Regional Studies Association (RSA) seminar from the UK, Germany, Bulgaria and Russia are discussing regional strategic policy, regional economics and planning today.

Head of the Laboratory of Urban Development and Governance at HSE, Director General of Leontief Center, Leonid Limonov considers that the main problems of regional economy go beyond purely economics and become interdisciplinary ones:

«They are in the spotlight, because the economic success of the territory depends largely on human capital assets, these are people with high qualification and education, and the effects from the exchange of knowledge and ideas always lead to success. But, of course, such people need good urban environment and ecology, quality policy, planning and management».

Commenting on the issue of increasing attractiveness of Ekaterinburg as a regional centre, Daniela Carl, the RSA Deputy Chief Executive, noted that the main thing is to create a prosperous image of the city for both journalists and tourists (especially considering the forthcoming matches of the World Cup in 2018), so that the guests would have more interest in a follow-up visit beside football matches.

The academic day of the conference «Russian Regions in the Focus of Changes» includes research thematic sessions where participants from universities of Ekaterinburg, Bashkiria, Tatarstan and the Voronezh Region present discussion papers dedicated to acceleration of regional development, issues of industrial cities, and innovative processes in various regions of Russia.

GSEM UrFU is holding the conference «Russian Regions in the Focus of Changes» for the first time at its brand-new campus at 25 Gogolya st.

Reference

XII International Conference «Russian Regions in the Focus of Changes»
(November 16-18, 2017, Ekaterinburg)
Organisers: Ural Federal University, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Analytical Center «Expert», Expert Ural Business Magazine.

For many years the conference has been one of the biggest discussion platforms in the Urals covering issues of regional development and involving representatives of executive authorities, academia, medium and large industrial business leaders from different regions. Every year leading Russian economists take part in the conference.