Plenary Session 1:
Plenary session 1, as the opening plenary session, will describe and discuss the institutional, legislative and cultural transformation in the Czech Republic that followed the collapse of communism in 1989, including reforms in housing policy. The panel will focus on wider theoretical and sociological interpretations of this unique historical process and will ask to what degree the path dependency concept can help us to understand policies ‘in transition’. The panellists should discuss the application of the theoretical concept of path dependency in different cultural environments and how much it helps or hinders our understanding of social reality.
Martin Lux - Chairman (Institute of Sociology, AS CR, Czech Republic)
Bo Bengtsson (Uppsala University, Sweden)
Petr Matějů (Institute of Sociology, AS CR, Czech Republic)
Jozsef Hegedüs (Metropolitan Research Institute, Hungary)
Plenary Session 2:
Plenary session 2 will discuss the future development of the mortgage markets and its impact on general economic development, evaluate the impact and scope of the mortgage crisis in the United States, and identify the causes behind the crisis. The panel will discuss the risks arising from securitising loans, distribution of risks and ways to mitigate the consequences of risks, the future of sub-prime markets, and the role of the state in this area. Special attention should be paid to the effects that the mortgage markets have on macroeconomic development (the credit crunch, economic recession and global effects). The discussion will also focus on the integration and disintegration of housing finance systems in the world and specifically in the EU, and on whether in the future it is possible, after several years of experience with the way the EU operates, to expect stronger integration (unification) of the systems of housing financing within the EU and whether such a process would at all be beneficial.
Mark Stephens - Chairman (University of Glasgow, United Kingdom)
Bernard Vorms (ANIL, France)
Stephen Malpezzi (Wisconsin School of Business, United States)
David Miles (Morgan Stanley and Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
Plenary Session 3:
Plenary session 3 will focus on discussing current developments in housing markets, house price trends, and the effect of changes in this sector on wider economy, macroeconomics. The panel will mainly discuss the impact of macroeconomic changes (low inflation-low interest rates) on housing markets (the record house price rise till 2007 and following price falls, the owner-occupier housing affordability, “new” house price cycles, the risks attached to home ownership, the scale of speculations) and the reciprocal effect of “new” housing markets on macroeconomic development (the wealth effect, economic recession). This panel will also discuss the integration and segmentation of housing markets as simultaneous trends, identify the areas where these processes are most apparent, and trace their economic and social consequences.
Geoffrey Meen - Chairman (University of Reading, United Kingdom)
Duncan Maclennan (University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom)
Viggo Nordvik (NOVA - Norwegian Social Research, Norway)
Christophe Andre (OECD, France)
Plenary Session 4:
Plenary session 4 will focus on urban residential change in cities in former socialist/communist states. Number of issues will be addressed, such as processes and patterns of socio-spatial change, new demography and the city, places of separation (such as gated communities), social exclusion and segregation, gentrification and reurbanisation, similarity and variety between countries, flexible adjustments and inflexible path dependencies, policy and planning response, discourses and power dynamics in policy formulation and implementation.
Luděk Sýkora - Chairman (Charles University, Czech Republic)
Stefan Bouzarovski (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom)
Kiril Stanilov (University College London, United Kingdom)
Annett Steinführer (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany)
Michael Gentile (University of Gävle, Department of Technology and Built Environment, Sweden)
