ERC GeoDiverCity International Workshop

ERC GeoDiverCity International Workshop

The ERC GeoDiverCity will organize an International Workshop in October about « Theories and models of urbanization« . The ambition of the meeting is to engage discussion about fundamental questions regarding urban theories and modeling. Invited keynote speeches will be followed each by a roundtable of discussion. Related major results from the ERC will also be presented. The intention of the workshop is to summarize the state of knowledge and prepare an agenda for future research.

The provisionnal programme and the procedure of registration can be found on this dedicated page.

How to estimate the singularity of (post-)Soviet cities?

Revue d'Economie Regionale et Urbaine - n°1 - 2017 New Article, in RERU – Revue d’Économie Régionale et Urbaine.


Cottineau C., 2017, « How to estimate the singularity of (post-)Soviet cities? », Revue d’Économie Régionale et Urbaine, n°1-2017.

Abstract. Although the urbanisation of the Former Soviet Union is a unique experience, this article questions the possibility of estimating the share of the generic processes of urban growth, spatial location and economic specialisation, the share of the particular processes of urbanisation linked to the size and political organisation of the country, and the share of the singular processes that cannot be explained without a local knowledge of the events which happened in the cities under study. Using several types of models at different scales, we identify the residual as the element that “resists modelling” and illustrates the singular evolutions of the Soviet Union and its cities. To do so, we built a harmonised urban database and fitted hierarchical, spatial and regression models. We conclude that city size inequality increased in a generic manner compared to other systems of cities, that the spatial distribution of cities resemble that of vast countries (especially with the increased reliance on sub-surface resources), and that there exists a set of singular urban trajectories.

Key-words. System of cities, Soviet Union, Singularity, Models, Urban growth, Urban trajectories, Urbanization.

Link. Revue d’Économie Régionale et Urbaine