László Jeney and Dávid Karácsonyi (eds.): Minsk and Budapest, the two capital cities 157Literature – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 (2015) (2) 155–158. While Budapest used to be the bridge between the West and East in Central Europe, Minsk seems to be in a similar role between the Russian and the EU–Polish infl uence zones, or in other words, both capitals are situated on the frontiers between the Euro-Atlantic and the Euro-Asian macro regions. Besides their situ- ations, their similarity in size renders the comparison and the cooperation obvious to proceed. The volume is divided into two parts; the fi rst deal- ing with the socio-economic development of the two cities and the second with urban climate, environ- ment and ecology. The fi rst chapter writt en by Zoltán Kovács introduc- es Budapest as a Central European metropolis with its historical trajectories and the results of the post- socialist transformation. Aft er a short introduction of the city’s past development preceding 1990, the author identifi es administration, economy and housing mar- ket as the main factors infl uencing the post-socialist urban development in Budapest. The main socio-spa- tial restructuring of the metropolis taking place aft er 1990 includes the city centre as the result of a busi- ness function explosion; the up- and downgrading of the inner-urban residential quarters; the transitional zones of slow conversion; the dangerous heritage of the communist ‘fl at-factories’ that acts as a time-bomb in the housing estates; the space of the newly developing garden suburb zones of the well-to-do; the residential ’villa quarter’ areas of the ageing upper-middle class households; and the urban sprawl of the agglomeration zones encircling Budapest. The chapter succeeded in giving a detailed picture of the developing business hub in central Europe with its few upward trajectories and the numerous downward ones characterising it. Ivan Pirozhnik, Henryk Oziem and Vladimir Korotayev wrote about the major issues of spatial structure planning of Minsk in a similar context, describing the past and the present changes taking place in the spa- tial structure of the metropolis. The trends in the development of the city are analysed in comparison with other European capitals together with the spatial characteristics of the population of Minsk. Special att ention is paid to the dynamics of the city’s master plan and the evolution of its spatial structure in the post-industrial transition period. In summarising the study we can conclude that post-Soviet and post-industrial renovations in Minsk are in full swing, however the dy- namics of present transformation depend on the degree of restrictions of market regulation mechanisms which is thought to ‘soft en’ the extent of spatial diff erentiation of the urban environment. This is an important diff erence in the case of Minsk compared to Budapest. The spatial and temporal diff erentiation of demographic development of Minsk is char- acterised by Ekaterina Antipova and Liudmila Fakeyeva. The spatial structures of demo- graphic development, population increase and migration factors are analysed in the chapter. Three main types of geodemographic districts are identifi ed in the metropolis: progressive with natural increase and stationary age structure (1); stable with natural increase and regressive age structure (2); regressive with natural decrease and regressive age structure (3). Besides the intensive housing and regres- László Jeney and Dávid Karácsonyi (eds.): Minsk and Budapest, the two capital cities. Department of Economic Geography and Futures Studies, Corvinus University of Budapest; Geographical Institute RCAES, Hungarian Academy of Sciences; Faculty of Geography, Belarusian State University; Institute for Nature Management, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Budapest, 2015. 194 p. Literature – Hungarian Geographical Bulletin 64 (2015) (2) 155–158.158 sive industrial development of the city, a distinctive fea- ture is manifested in the fact that Minsk has more or less preserved its role as a major industrial centre during the period of transition and post-industrial age aft er 1993. The study gives an example of how Eastern European metropolises experienced the demographic transforma- tion processes of the post-socialist era. Balázs Szabó and Ágnes Erőss wrote about the main features of large housing estates and the re- sults of their rehabilitation in Budapest. The chapter surveys the history of the housing estates with com- parison outlooks to other West and Central European cities. Then the authors explore the rehabilitation initiatives carried out in Budapest in the last decade, with special att ention to their outcomes and eff ects. They also examine whether renovations resulted in some new socio-spatial diff erentiations at large hous- ing estates. The rate of renovation is relatively high in some low statues large housing estates built in the 1970’s. The renovation is likely to be an instrument that could be used to prevent the declining status and position of such housing estates on the housing mar- ket. Achieving that aim could be further enhanced by the renovation eff orts of residents. Completely reno- vated housing estates are hardly found in Budapest, while there are a great number of them without ren- ovation. If the government fi nanced rehabilitation support was concerned, for a longer period, the large non- renovated housing estates would be in a desper- ate situation, because they are not able to compete with either the smaller estates with good location or the renovated larger ones on the housing market. The fi rst chapter of the second part of the volume deals with the urban climate of Budapest, the trends and perspectives, writt en by Ferenc Probáld. The author surveys the milestones of climate research of Budapest; he defi nes the urban heat island, and the rising heat stress in the city. The metropolitan growth and the cli- mate change have brought about new global ecological conditions and this would require more responsibility in preparing decisions regarding the values of envi- ronment. In Budapest the ultra-liberal mayor and city council that led the city between 1990 and 2010 adopted laissez-fair att itude, thus, allowing private companies to get through their interests at the cost of the whole urban community. In order to save the environmental assets of Budapest and to achieve a turn towards a sustainable property development, bett er governance, comprehen- sive planning and appropriate regulation measures as well as their rigorous implementation are needed. The following chapter writt en by Vladimir Loginov focuses on the estimation of the impact of urbanisa- tion on climate and extreme weather phenomena. The chapter includes the survey of the role of urbanisation in the increasing use of South Belarussian thermal resources, the estimation of contribution of urbanisa- tion to regional climate changes and the evaluation of the urban impact on air humidity, fog, heavy rains and hails. While investigating the impact of anthro- pogenic heat sources on Belarussian cities and the countries of the world, the calculation shows that in the majority of the countries the anthropogenic fl uxes exceed the geothermal fl ow by times. It is estimated that urbanisation plays an increasing role in the rise of thermal resources in South Belarus. The chapter sheds light on anthropogenic heat fl uxes in urbanised areas, the contribution of the heat islands to the tem- perature changes, the diff erences of air humidity and temperature between cities and their vicinities. The integrated assessment of the state of urban envi- ronment is examined on the example of Minsk by Valery Khomich, Sergey Kakareka, Tamara Kukharchyk and Ludmila Krauchuk. This chapter presents the ap- proaches and results in measuring the condition of air quality, underground water and soil pollution as well as the state of vegetation on the territory of Minsk. The integrated assessment is based on the analysis of monitoring and statistical data, result of geochemical investigation and modelling. The obtained and spatial diff erentiated and integrated data of urban environ- ment including natural and technogenic factors served as a basis for urban planning, technical, technological and organisational actions that aim at the realisation of planning decisions and ecological regulations. They are manifested in the optimisation of the environment is zones belonging to the most adverse ecological catego- ries outlined in the General Plan of Minsk City. The last chapter deals with the ecological frame of the environmental planning in urban agglomerations, using the case of Minsk writt en by Mikhail Struk. It gives the explanation of optimal environmental plan- ning in the metropolitan area. Due to the growing urban population and anthropogenic pressure recom- mendations were made to introduce environmental planning for the suburban area to carry out the func- tions of sanitation, water supply and recreation. It is based on a recommended spatial model of the ecologi- cal system providing specialised methods of nature management in diff erent parts of the urban areas. Ecological and geographical criteria were deter- mined for outlining suburban area boundaries of the natural frame. They are based on the analysis of exter- nal matt er and energy relations of the city mainly by air and water fl ows. On the basis of the obtained criteria the external environmental boundaries of Minsk ag- glomeration could be identifi ed. They cover a more extended territory than the boundaries of suburban and green zones. The volume serves as a good starting point of an extensive cooperation between Belarussian and Hungarian geographers dealing with social and phys- ical urban environment, the state of which deserves extra att ention especially in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. István Tózsa