The term 'transformation' has established itself as the key word to describe the change processes which have been taking place in Eastern Europe since the 1990s, and which have taken effect in the political, economic and social arena. For the region, transformation means fulfilling the prerequisites of the more expansive globalization. This calls attention to different levels (from the global to the local and the budget-related level), on which transformation takes place in each case in a different manner. In addition the time factor of different rates of change should be taken into account. Previous geographical transformation research has dealt with various different segments, whereby metropolitan developments have been granted more attention than changes in rural areas. Retail sales, housing, development of urban systems, migrations, alterations in the social structure and socio-spacial differentiation, changes in land ownership and land use patterns as well as new international complexities are all important subject-matter. Not all regions of Eastern Europe or the CIS have been given the same treatment, and there are still large gaps of knowledge. This also makes - in contrast to the currently noticeable tendencies - an institutional encouragement of geographical transformation research necessary, which must come into being on the basis of close multi-disciplinary cooperation between the economic, social, and political sciences. The pending eastward expansion of the EU brings with it new challenges for the geographical transformation research, which should increasingly perceive itself as integration research.
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