"Suburbanization in Central and Eastern European cities has become the predominant form of metropolitan growth, undermining seriously the application of sustainable urban development principles in the region. The negative impacts of sprawl are just beginning to emerge as an area of public concern in the post-socialist cities where urban growth is managed through a mixture of uncoordinated and often conflicting policies. The proposed research project is aimed at investigating the impact of contemporary public policies on the patterns of urban growth in Central and Eastern European cities. The project will employ the latest theoretical and technological advances in urban growth modeling through the application of agent-based systems and cellular automata. The following objectives define the projects scope: 1. Developing an agent-based cellular automata model of urban growth applicable to the urban development context of post-socialist cities in Central and Eastern Europe. 2. Applying the model for evaluation of different urban growth scenarios based on existing and alternative public policies in select case studies from the region. 3. Using the model output to identify key policies for the effective control of urban sprawl and the application of sustainable development principles in managing the growth of Central and Eastern European metropolitan areas. The project will be hosted by one of the world’s leading research institutions in the field of urban studies - the Center for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London. It is intended to provide the applicant with cutting-edge knowledge and scientific skills in a new (for the applicant) area of urban analysis. The experience from the project will become a stepping stone in setting up Dr. Stanilov’s future career development and long-term research agenda."