Posted on

Railway Conjunctures: Postcolonial and Postsocialist Trajectories of Urban Renewal

In their newest open access article Wladimir Sgibnev, together with our colleagues Laura Kemmer, Tonio Weicker and Maxwell Woods showcase how postsocialism and postcolonial studies can be brought into dialogue and learn from one another. Their contribution is based on the comparison of the historical case studies of tramway lines construction in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The article further investigates specific historical trajectories of mobility development in the postsocialist urban context and thereby draws converse lines to western hegemonial narratives of the modern city.

Read the full article here.

Posted on

Blog post: One modernity lost, the other out of reach – Contested post-Soviet infrastructures

Infrastructures serve as basis for developmental discourses, preconfigure our ideas, and literally build futures because of their decades-long lifespans. Debates on infrastructures surely relate to materialities – rails, concrete, and wires. However, it is crucial to note that cultures, political regimes, and markets, as well as the (unequal) geographies of knowledge production matter just as prominently.

This article by CoMoDe researchers Lela Rekhviashvili and Wladimir Sgibnev was originally published  in German at Berliner Gazette on 15th April 2021 and in English on LeftEast.org on 30th of April.
Continue reading there: English / German.