MISSION

The Centre for Regional Studies (CfRS) was established in 1983 as a network based research institution of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) with the task of carrying out multi-disciplinary research on urban and regional issues. The new political-economic situation after 1989 and emerging aspirations for EU-membership reinforced the need to study spatial processes and Hungary’s position within a reshaping Europe.

The CfRS aims at satisfying this need by engaging in different types of activities. Besides carrying out academic research, staff with specialised expertise is involved in independent contract research projects commissioned by various public and private bodies. Consultancy areas include among others regional, urban and rural development, public service provision and environmental management. The Centre equally acts as a base for high quality training in urban and regional issues by encouraging staff to assume a role in different graduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes across a wide range of related disciplines. These activities are all benefiting from the Centre’s strong national and international links. Finally, in order to popularise academic knowledge and disseminate research findings among professionals, the CfRS initiated the setting up of the Hungarian Regional Science Association. Various seminars and conferences are organised to foster exchange between researchers, practitioners and the lay public.

By combining the worlds of research, practice and education, the Centre aims at effecting positive changes in Hungarian spatial policy and thus in the country’s spatial structure. To date, the efforts of the CfRS to enhance the importance of urban and regional research in Hungary have been successful. The position of regional science has been reinforced both as a discipline within the academic curriculum and as a research field. A further objective is to extend the Centre’s reach and to realise its potential of becoming a centre of excellence in academic and applied research on spatial issues in Central and Eastern Europe.

SCIENTIFIC PROFILE

Great Plain Research Institute

• Study of the economic, societal and environmental renewal of the Great Hungarian Plain
• Methodology of micro regional researches
• Rural development strategies
• Development concept and strategy for the Great Hungarian Plain
• Survey of the Carpathians Euro-region and the Tisza–Maros–Danube cooperation
  

Transdanubian Research Institute

• Survey of Hungarian and international regionalism
• Regional development and policy in Europe
• The institutional system of public administration and regional development
• Methodology of regional development programming
• Regional requirements of sustainable development
• Complex survey of the infrastructure systems and networks
• Reginal development strategy for South Transdanubia
• Analysis of the development of the Alpine–Adriatic region
  

Central and North Hungarian Research Institute

• Study of the regional structure of urban network and of society
• Analysis of the spatial structure of urban functions and urban network
• Survey of Budapest and its agglomeration based on international comparisons
• Development strategy for North Hungary
  

West Hungarian Research Institute

• Survey of the spatial spreading of innovation
• Analysis of regional financial and income processes
• Study of the Vienna-Bratislava-Győr cooperative region
• Comparative analysis of success regions, cities
• Regional development concept and strategy for North Transdanubia

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Last modified: 15 Apr. 2005

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