Author: CoMoDe

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Seminar: Mapping Mobility Transition in Central Asia: Sustainability, Power and International Financial Institutions (Bishkek trolleybus case study)

Tuesday 8 July, 16:00, room 407.
Schongauerstraße 9, Leipzig
Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL), Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde

Visiting Fellows Programme –  2025
The CoMoDe project, ‘Contentious Mobilities: Rethinking Mobility Transitions through a Decolonial Lens (CoMoDe)”

The IfL Visiting Fellowship Programme, ‘Mobility Transition in Central Asia: Sustainability, Power and International Financial Institutions (IFIs)’, will focus on the case of Bishkek’s wasted trolleybus system, which was once the most sustainable form of transport in the city. In recent years, public concern has grown over rising levels of air pollution in Bishkek. According to IQAir, an air quality information platform, Bishkek often ranks among the world’s most polluted cities. In an attempt to address this issue, Bishkek City Hall, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), intends to purchase 120 electric buses to replace the trolleybuses that were financed by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

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Open Call for the „Transformation in Motion“ summer school

The Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) invites researchers, students, media and art professionals to take part in a one-week train journey through transformation regions in East Germany and Poland. Applications are open until 15 June 2025.

The summer school entitled ‘Transformation in Motion’ starts on 22 August 2025 in Berlin. The route leads via Węgliniec, Görlitz, Torgau, Naumburg (Saale), Erfurt and the Thuringian Forest and ends in Halle (Saale) on 29 August 2025. The journey along past and present borders is intended to offer participants a deeper insight into the social, economic and ecological changes that are summarised under the term transformation. The focus will be on phenomena such as structural change, transport and climate issues, cultural initiatives and specific aspects of urban and regional development.

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Meet Mariya Petrova and Dr. Wladimir Sgibnev at “Book-A-Scientist” 2025!

At “Book a Scientist” on 3 June 2025, anyone who is curious and thirsty for knowledge will have the opportunity to talk to an expert from the Leibniz Association for 25 minutes and ask everything they have always wanted to know about their favourite topic.

You can now book your discussion with a Leibniz scientist. To do so, click on one or more dates of your choice on the event website and fill in the corresponding booking form. The individual, 25-minute one-to-one meetings will take place online on 3 June 2025 between 10 and 11 am and 4 and 5 pm. The offer is free of charge.

All topics and dates can be found here:
https://www.leibniz-gemeinschaft.de/ueber-uns/neues/veranstaltungen/book-a-scientist

Mariya Petrova
Transport reforms in Uzbekistan: a view from the inside

After years of cuts and stagnation, Uzbekistan has recently started investing in the modernisation of public transport and mobility infrastructure in general. However, the process is characterised by complex social and political conflicts and hurdles: Shortage of skilled labour, authoritarian political culture, the (vested) interests of decision-makers. What are the perspectives of the people working at the various levels of the system

Mariya Petrova is a researcher in the Mobilities & Migration research group focussing on infrastructures in the (post-)Soviet space.

Dr. Wladimir Sgibnev
Mobility in rural areas: perspectives and strategies for coping with everyday life

Everyday mobility in peripheral areas requires solutions that go beyond “urban” concepts. The widespread unease of being dependent on one’s own car is an important signal for discussions on the mobility turnaround. What seems realistic is a mix of local supply, coordinated or on-demand public transport services and – in the medium term – probably also the car.

Dr Wladimir Sgibnev coordinates the IfL research group ‘Mobilities and Migration’ and deals with issues of mobility in peripheral areas, among other things.

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4th and final Call for Visiting Fellows

We invite applications for our Visiting fellows programme (f/m/d) within the research project “Contentious Mobilities: Rethinking Mobility Transitions through a Decolonial Lens – CoMoDe”.

Applicants are welcome to apply for stays ranging from one to six months at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig (IfL). The fellowship scheme is administered by the IfL and financed by the Leibniz Association in the framework of its Junior Research Group programme.

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New Article by Lyubomir Pozharliev on Sofia’s Trolleybuses and their Decolonial Implications

The Bulgarian Sociologičeski Problemi Journal recently published their final issue of 2024, with the overarching topic being “From one Language into another”: Social Problems Seen Through the Eyes of Bulgarian Scholars in Foreign Countries (Issue Editors: Raia Apostolova, Neda Deneva). CoMoDe’s own Lyubomir Pozharliev contributed an intriguing article to the edition with the title Decolonial Insights into Public Transport in Sofia: “Eastern” Trolleybuses Vs. “Western” E-Buses.

Abstract: The battery industry, i.e. battery-powered electric cars and buses, has been on the rise for the past decade or so. Several municipalities in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and elsewhere in the world are promoting and advertising their progressiveness by being ready to introduce (or have already introduced) the new battery-electric buses wherever and whenever possible. On the other hand, trolleybus technology is still widespread in post-socialist countries and offers an electric alternative to the battery-powered bus. This paper attempts to address the introduction of the new technology from the per- spective of the older technology – the trolleybus one. Based on interviews with local experts and data from the Bulgarian capital, the paper will explore the potential of the decolonial perspective in addressing public transport developments in a post-socialist, Eastern European context.

The full article in Bulgarian, as part of Issue 2/56 in Sociologičeski Problemi Journal, can be accessed here (no free access).

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New Article by Bermet Borubaeva and Egor Muleev on the Trolleybus Case in Bishkek

Published by the Berliner Gazette on the 11th of November 2024

In “Governing ‘Green’ Public Infrastructure: The Trolleybus Case in Bishkek,” Bermet Borubaeva and Egor Muleev take us on a ride through the tangled wires of Bishkek’s trolleybus saga—a tale of sustainability, bureaucracy, and a city at a crossroads. At the heart of the drama is Bishkek’s trolleybus system, the capital’s only electric public transport with enough capacity to avoid daily gridlock, yet it’s on the brink of extinction. City Hall, nudged by foreign consultants and seduced by shiny new e-buses, wants to ditch the old for the new—even though the old is green, functional, and beloved by the people. What follows is a classic case of public infrastructure caught in the gears of bureaucracy, where short-term decisions and backroom deals hold more weight than long-term planning.

The article further explores the role of local governance, workers’ struggles, and grassroots resistance in shaping the future of public infrastructure, using the trolleybus as a case study for broader issues in urban mobility and democratic accountability.

Read the whole article here.

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New review by Lyubomir Pozharliev on “If Cars Could Walk: Postsocialist Streets in Transformation” ed. by Ger Duijzings and Tauri Tuvikene

The October 2024 issue of Technology and Culture is officially out and with that, a fresh review on the recently published “If Cars Could Walk: Postsocialist Streets in Transformation” ed. by Ger Duijzings and Tauri Tuvikene” by Lyubomir Pozharliev, part of the CoMoDe research group, has been published.

Read an excerpt of the review & get access here: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/940504

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Keynote Speaker | t2m Annual Conference 2024, Leipzig

We are happy to share that Prof. Waldemar Kuligowski will be joining us as a keynote speaker at the t2m Annual Conference in Leipzig in 2024. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the intersection of mobility, sustainability, and digitalization. His research interests focus on the theory of culture, reflexive ethnography, anthropology of motorway, festivals and festivalization.

Recently he published Modernizing Localities in Poland: A Never-ending Transformation (Lanham – London – New York 2024) and (with Marcin Poprawski) Festivals and Values. Music, Community Engagement and Organisational Symbolism (Cham 2023). A selection of his critical essays in Serbian under the title “Polish Christ and Serbian Trumpets” is being prepared. As a “public intellectual”, he publishes his essays and articles in leading Polish newspapers and magazines. Recently he has been involved in organizing scientific conferences in a jazz club and at a punk rock music festival.

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Registration for the 2024 Annual T2M Conference in Leipzig is now open!

The pre-submission of conference contributions closed in April. If you are still interested in participating, please contact us at t2m@leibniz-ifl.de and we can discuss your options of participation!

Register before 7 September!

If you have not received a registration invitation email from us, please contact us at t2m@leibniz-ifl.de. Registration, payment, and submission of contributions are processed via the Indico conference registration portal.

Become a T2M Association member

We also invite you to become a member of the T2M Association if you have not done so yet. Being a T2M member yields numerous benefits, including discounted conference fees and access to the Journal of Transport History, Transfers and Mobilities. You will find more information here: https://t2m.org/internal/become-a-member/

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at t2m@leibniz-ifl.de. We are here to help!