International Scientific Seminar «Urbanization and regional development in Russia and Europe»

- Russian – A.G. Druzhinin, Doctor of Geography, President of the Association of Russian geographers, social scientists “Argo”, Director of the North Caucasus Research Institute of Economic and Social Problems of the Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don), Kolosov V.A., Doctor of Geological Sciences, Past President of the International Geographical Union, Deputy. Director of the Institute of Geography RAS (IG RAS), head of the Department of World Economy Geography of the Moscow State University; Treyvish A.I., Doctor of Geography, Chief Researcher of the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow), Professor of the Geography Department of Moscow State University

- Foreign - Benet Vincent, PhD in Slavic Studies, Director of the Center for Franco-Russian Studies (Moscow); Cezary Mądry Ph.D., member of the Institute of Social and Economic Geography and Organization of the Space of the Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznan, Poland); Pierre Thorez, Professor (France, Université Le Havre Normandie), Mayor Manfred Sauer, Laurent Coudroy De Lille, Professor (Paris, France).

The structure of the seminar: the seminar was divided into 2 plenary sessions (April 19 passed in RUDN University and April 20 in the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences) and 3 thematic sections:

• «Urbanization and Regional Development: Theoretical, Methodological and General Issues»;
• «Urbanization and regional development: international and European research experience»;
• «Urbanization and regional development: the experience of Russian regions»

The presentations were dedicated to the following issues:

1. Urbanization as the driving force of regional development: issues of theory and methodology.
2. Historical and geographical trends of urbanization in Russia and countries of foreign Europe.
3. Urban resettlement in Russia and European countries: the inherited spatial structures and the latest shifts.
4. Issues of the city economy.
5. Migrants in cities of Russia and countries of foreign Europe: economic, social and cultural-geographical aspects.
6. Sociocultural processes in the cities of Russia and countries of foreign Europe.
7. Ethnic and confessional communities in the cities of Russia and countries of foreign Europe.

More than 100 delegates took part in the work International Scientific Seminar «Urbanization and regional development in Russia and Europe», including representatives of the city's legislative and executive authorities, specialists in urban planning and regional development from universities and research institutions in Russia and other countries of the world - Germany, France, Poland, Japan, India, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

The purpose of the seminar - discussion of the issues of interrelation of urbanization and regional development in Russia and foreign countries - was fully achieved during fruitful discussions. The main attention was paid to key factors, driving forces and trends of regional development, drivers of social and economic transformation processes of urban spaces and urbanized areas.

The program of the seminar, in addition to reports and plenary sessions, included 3 scientific excursions, united by a single theme: «Local conflicts in a global city» (Shchukino), «Problems of development of the center of Moscow» (Moscow districts in the triangle: metro Kropotkinskaya - Arbat - metro Park of Culture), Tverskaya Street - the main street of Moscow.

Participants noted the high level of preparation and organization of the seminar and made a proposal to make the seminar on this topic annual, translating it into the format of a major international conference.