Conference overview
METREX and Riga Metropolitan Area brought Members together online to learn from the new Riga Regional Plan and the action plan for the Development of Riga Metropolitan Area.
On day two, we took a step back to explore the concept of a Central European approach to planning. For this we invited participation from several Central and Eastern European METREX Members. We also reflected on it from the perspective of the New Planning approach from the Netherlands.
Theme
The metropolitan landscape in former Central-Eastern European states have changed radically in the past thirty years. The overall increase of metropolitan land consumption has changed the settlement structure, with new mobility patterns and the need for public services as a result, leading the transformation of metropolitan space. Nevertheless in some cases metropolitan areas are still in the process of being recognised by the governing structures and given some kind of governance status.
In the case of Riga Metropolitan Area (RMA), the planning has been widely discussed in the past decade and the municipalities have come up with a mutual agreement to work together in developing a more efficient and competitive city region as well as to contribute to the macro-regional metropolitan networks strengthening the BSR in Europe and beyond.
The process and results so far will be explained in the METREX Riga Conference, with a focus on the new jointly achieved RMA development plan in a context of BSR and overall development tendencies of metropolitan regions. We will also explore if there is a Central European planning approach as a result of the specific post-war cultural historical background.
