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Exploring Growth Patterns in Russia’s Largest Cities

Robert Buckley, a senior fellow in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School in New York City, works largely on issues relating to urbanization in developing countries. At the upcoming XIX April International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development, he will be participating a roundtable on Urbanization and Economic Development during which he will give a presentation entitled ‘The Morphology of Large Russian Cities: Patterns and Conjectures’.

During his lecture, Buckley will look at patterns of urban development in Russian cities and compare them with the structure of cities in other parts of the world. The data he uses, including satellite photos, suggest that 13 of Russia's largest cities have unusual and less than optimal structures in terms of supporting economic growth. He will compare this pattern to the pattern observed in Europe, European transition economies, and other countries.

‘We offer a conjecture as to why this pattern occurs, suggesting that it may be due to the difficulties of agreeing how to repurpose or rehabilitate existing buildings’, Buckley said in an interview with the HSE New Service ahead of this year’s conference. ‘This kind of difficulty is referred to as an Anti-Commons problem, a situation in which too many people have too many rights to control over a property so that the property's use is not put to its highest and best use’.

Buckley was invited to present at this year’s April Conference following a paper he recently wrote on housing privatization in Romania and how it has affected the transition process. It was published in The Economics of Transition, a journal published by the European Development Bank. Although this is not his first visit to Russia, it has been a while since he was last here, which was during the 1990s when he was serving as an economist with the World Bank.

Teaching Urban Development

In addition to his research work, Buckley teaches courses on finance, urban economics, and development economics. In recent years, he has become interested in African urban development processes, which has led him to focus on the economics of slums.

‘Many of my students work in developing countries, and as such, their work and interests are quite different from those facing Russian students’, he says, noting that his students at The New School are primarily graduate students studying international affairs who have traveled considerably, for example, through the Peace Corp, an American foreign aid programme that sends mostly younger people to work in developing countries.

‘I have also been teaching a course on African Urban Development at New York University's Abu Dhabi campus’, he says. ‘Those courses are younger, undergraduates with many different majors, including some brilliant Russian students’.

Buckley says he learns a lot from teaching such a wide variety of students, especially as it relates to the ‘hubris of economists and the need to recognize the limitations of what economics can help explain’.

See also:

Moscow and St Petersburg Rank among Global Leaders in Spatial and Technological Development

HSE experts, in collaboration with researchers from China and India, have participated in the development of the Urban & Innovation Environment Index, a global ranking of cities. Moscow ranks fifth in the final global rating of urban agglomerations and first in the rating for those in BRICS+ countries. St Petersburg ranks seventh in the global rating and third in the BRICS+ rating.

25th Yasin (April) International Academic Conference Now Accepting Proposals

Reports on new research results will be presented and discussed as part of the conference’s sections. These reports will be selected based on reviews of proposals. As always, the conference programme features expert discussions of the most pressing economic, social, internal and external issues in the format of roundtables and associated events.

Faculty of Urban and Regional Development Develops a Draft of a New Transport Scheme of Obninsk

On May 3rd, a briefing and presentation session of a project for the development of the city's transport scheme took place in the Obninsk administration. This large-scale project has been implemented by staff from the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy Studies of the HSE Faculty of Urban and Regional Development.

Academic Council: HSE University’s Contribution to Achieving National Goals and Development Priorities to Increase

HSE University’s Development Programme until 2030 will be improved in order to increase the university’s contribution to achieving national goals and implementing the priorities of the country’s scientific and technological development. This decision was made by the university’s Academic Council on April 26. The meeting also addressed the principles for the development of HSE University’s external communications, one of which is the creation of a high-quality information field around the university.

Keeping Up with the Neighbours: Envy as a Driver of Economic Growth

Classical economic theory assumes that economic agents are entirely self-interested and rational in their pursuit of material well-being, and that they are not affected by external factors. As a result, externalities are not considered in any way when constructing economic models. Nevertheless, some sociologists argue for a revision of modern economic theory to incorporate the ethical dimensions of economic agents' behaviour. Kirill Borissov, Professor of the Faculty of Economics at the European University in St Petersburg, spoke at the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference and shared his observations from creating his own economic model incorporating the factor of envy.  

Structural Transformation and Drivers of Sustainable Growth in Russian Economy Discussed at HSE University

The Russian economy has demonstrated high resilience to unprecedented external pressure and has managed to largely adapt to new conditions. As early as this year, it can go from recession to growth. The issue of where to find drivers and resources for this was discussed at a plenary session titled ‘Russian Economy under Sanctions: From Adaptation to Sustainable Growth’ at the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference held at HSE University as part of the Decade of Science and Technology. Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maksim Reshetnikov took part in the discussion.

‘People Want to Receive Only Useful Content’

Experts say that interest in news has sharply increased among the Russian audience. At the same time, part of the audience deliberately avoids it. What kind of content is in demand and will people continue to watch TV? These and other issues were discussed at the plenary session ‘ Info-hygiene and Information Elitism: How to Consume Media Properly’ at the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference.

'The Emerging Trends in Africa Will Shape the World Order, and We Need to Be Prepared for That'

Africa has the potential to become a new economic giant. Today, African countries are interested in comprehensive cooperation and strengthening their positions in the global arena, and they look forward to receiving assistance from Russia and China in developing their technology, economy, and social sphere. Effective engagement with Africa requires training a greater number of professional African studies specialists. The XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference at HSE University featured a plenary session on 'Africa in a Changing World'.

Learning a Foreign Language Can Delay the Onset of Dementia

Dementia, a debilitating form of cognitive impairment, can be preventable. According to Professor Jubin Abutalebi of the University Vita Salute San Raffaele, Italy, and the Arctic University of Tromsoe, Norway, the easiest way to prevent cognitive decline after the age of 60 is to learn and practice foreign languages – the more languages, the better, suggests Professor Abutalebi in his presentation 'Preventing dementia through bilingualism' at the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference.

‘The BRICS Strategic Partnership Offers the World Creative, Unifying, Forward-Looking Initiatives’

Today, BRICS has become an influential factor in modern international relations and is perceived as one of the pillars of a more just world order. This association is not based on one party’s dominance, but instead, is built on a sound balance of interests. The role of the association was discussed by the participants of the plenary session ‘BRICS Development Strategy: Equal Opportunities in an Unequal World’at the XXIV Yasin (April) International Academic Conference.