This year's theme reflects the current situation, as new problems that emerged due to Russian aggression in Ukraine prevented European society to deal with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. This has brought with it not only security threats, a new wave of migrants, but also new and unforeseen problems in the area of energy prices and availability. All these problems have to be dealt with not only by Europe as a whole, by individual states, but also by each region, city or municipality. The aim of the conference was therefore to create a platform for the transfer of new scientific knowledge and experience on how to analyse and solve the problems that have arisen and to propose ways, tools and innovations to deal with their consequences.
For active participation in the conference, we managed to attract a number of esteemed and kind guests not only from the Czech Republic, but also from many other countries, who shared their knowledge and experience with us, either in person or online. The conference was divided into three thematic blocks "Cities in Transition", "New Development Approaches" and "Smart and Sustainable". Among the international participants were Dr. Lulzim Beqiri, Dean of Faculty of Architecture of UBT, Prishtina, Kosovo, prof. Anna Karwińska from University of Economics in Krakow, Prof. Egon Smeral from Modul University in Vienna and Prof. Eleonóra Marišová from Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra.
All of the speakers brought a very valuable set of information, but also a number of personal insights that will certainly contribute to a better and more comprehensive understanding of the complex transformation of Europe in the post-pandemic period and during the war in Ukraine. Selected papers from the conference will be published in Acta Polytechnica journal and in the Regional Development between Theory and Practice journal, so that those who were unable to attend the conference will be able to read them as well.
