Erika Nagy

Abstract

The socio-spatial transition of the urban system has been widely discussed by social scientists in Hungary since the early 1990s. Although urban studies became increasingly practi-cal and highly influenced by the prevailing paradigm of neoliberalism, socio-spatial differentia-tion and the emerging conflicts of the transition period stimulated a shift in social geography to locality studies and new methodology. In this paper, social restructuring and local conflicts stimulated by the transformation of economic and political institutions and by the shift to a new accumulation regime (i.e. from socialism to late capitalism) are put into focus. Although global agents and national regulations had a decisive role in urban restructuring, the presented analysis of local people's attitude to the socio-spatial transition of their city provides a deeper insight into the mechanisms underpinning the social relations that supported/hindered urban development in the transition period and after.

Keywords: urban restructuring, civic participation, local state, transition, Hungary

Erika Nagy, Centre for Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences Békéscsaba, Szabô D. u. 42. 5600, Hungary