Urban Activism in Eastern Europe and Eurasia: Strategies and Practices

(Paperback)

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Drawing on these multi-disciplinary perspectives, the volume hopes to overcome distances and trigger dialogues in several respects and realms: among the interested public, activists, 'urban decision makers' and scholars in East and West, North and South alike.

With the rise of grassroots initiatives in urban spaces across Eastern Europe and Eurasia in recent decades, Urban Activism in Eurasia approaches central questions: what are distinctive features and the dynamic of urban activism in contemporary post-Soviet cities What are the strategies and practices of an urban civic engagement that evolves on a micro level and in larger scale processes A variety of group and individuals claims to the city space and its development, finding their own ways to initiate local urban change.

The volume challenges the prevailing simplistic view of weak, passive and scared citizens in Eastern European and Eurasian cities, which are often seen to be predominantly shaped by neo-liberal and authoritarian structures. Instead, we argue for the vibrant diversity and dynamism in the contemporary urban civic activism in Eurasia. Employing diverse sources such as intriguing photographs, interviews with local activists and scholarly reports from the field of anthropology, planning, architecture, political sciences and sociology, the edited volume explores the creativity and novelty of Eurasian urban grass roots activism.

Author Bio

Dr. Tsypylma Darieva is Social Anthropologist and a Senior Researcher at Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) in Berlin. She coordinates the research area "Migration and Diversity" and she is teaching at Humboldt University Berlin within Central Asian Programme. Tsypylma Darieva's research interests include anthropology of migration, transnationalism, post-socialist urban spaces and religious diversity. Among her recent publications is "Urban Spaces after Socialism. Ethnographies of Public Spaces in Eurasian Cities" (together with W. Kaschuba, Campus 2012), "Sacred Places-Emerging Spaces: Religious Pluralism in the post-Soviet Caucasus (together with F. Mhlfried and K. Tuite, Berghahn 2018). Dr.-Ing. Carola S. Neugebauer studied landscape architecture and urban designs in Germany and France. She is Associate Professor at the RWTH Aachen University. Taking up an interdisciplinary and comparative stance on cities, her research has been focussed on urban transformations, planning, and cultural heritage in Central Eastern Europe and the post-Soviet space. Her recent publications are the edited volume "PostSocialist Urban Infrastructures" (2019, Routledge, together with T. Tuvikene and W. Sgibnev) and the theme issue "Designing transformation - postmining experiences in Europe" (2019, Magazine of World Architecture, together with C. Reicher and A. Weber).