This paper is concerned with three levels of urban system changes; changes in the intra-urban structure of cities after the collapse of the communist regimes; changes in the national or state urban systems, i.e. inter-urban systems; and changes in the international system of capital cities in central Europe. The restoration of the land market and the removal of rent controls will lead to socially polarised neighbourhoods and new retail patterns. The reintroduction of market economies will convert the socialist policy of even development into one of increased concentration on growth centres within deindustrialisation in which national capitals will play a greater role. Lastly, at the international level national capitals will hierarchicise as in pre-1914 years and new dynamic frontier zones may arise.