From spatial research to regional science: A draft of Eastern and Central European science history

Abstract

While regional science has produced significant results within Eastern and Central European social sciences, a broad survey of its origins, development and results is still to be undertaken. Recent publications with a special thematic focus were published about the state of spatial research in some countries, and a summary about the state of social geography was prepared in the framework of a research investigating the state and results of Eastern European social sciences, where we find ample references to spatial research. Nonetheless, no comparative analysis has been performed as yet about the development of the complex institutional system of Eastern and Central European regional science. The present study evaluates the regional research capacities of the countries of the former socialist block. It provides a picture of the historical antecedents of spatial research, the specifics of regional tasks to be resolved, the characteristics of the institutionalisation of regional science and its publication forums. As a conclusion, it summarises the presence of various criteria of regional science in the individual countries.