About
General Information
Theme
The overall theme of the 11-th CATference – “Cities after Transition: Innovative, inclusive, informal?” –
builds on CAT’s long-standing endeavour to intensify knowledge production in the field of
contemporary urban studies. The main goal of the conference is to encourage conversations of a
comparative nature regarding cities and urbanism in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, as
well as in other contexts frequently referred to as “post-socialist”. Fresh empirical and theoretical
contributions at different scales, from different perspectives, and with different disciplinary vantage
points are warmly welcomed.
Place
Tirana is the perfect place to see, feel and study the spirit of a CAT. It is a City after (or stuck in?)
Transition, not least due to the unique interpretation of socialism and the bumpy pathway of
subsequent transition Albania took afterwards. The latter has led to urban dynamics that are visible
in an incredible (horizontal) urban sprawl that started in the early 1990s. Since the Millennium this
dynamics are accompanied by the inner city’s “explosion” into the vertical dimension which has
reached a new level in the last years. Tirana’s urban dynamics are characterized by a high degree of
informality, spontaneity and creativity – just to mention the most relevant features for Tirana’s
“urbanism of exception”. Thus, the city is the ideal spot for CATs to discuss all facets of post-socialist
urbanism between exceptionalism and the ordinary.
Topics
The main themes we wish to focus on are:
- The place of CATs in urban theory
- The neoliberal CAT
- CATs and the smart city
- Left-behind CATs
- Migration and mobilities in CATs
This could include possible topics such as (not exclusively!):
- CATs as arrival cities
- CATs and the creative economy
- Global trends and local urban development in CATs
- Prospects for small and medium sized CATs
- Challenges of urban shrinkage
- Megaprojects and (authoritarian?) entrepreneurialism
- CATs and democratic backsliding/autocratization
- Urban movements and activism in post-democratic (?) societies
- CATs during and after armed conflicts
- CATs and critical junctures
- Urban geopolitics
- Socio-spatial patterns and processes
- Suburban and peri-urban patterns and processes
- Housing
- Gentrification and related processes
- Urban planning in CATs
- Urban informality
- Historical legacies and (urban) memory politics
- Commuting and urban transport development
- Urban resilience and climate adaption
- Smart CATs: smart for whom?
Articles about Albania
- Doka, Dh. & Qiriazi, P. (2022). The Geography of Albania
- Göler, D. & Doka, Dh. (2021): Busting the Scales : From Small-Scale Informal to Investor-Driven Urban Developments: The Case of Tirana/Albania., Pg. 65–90
- Golubchikov, O., Pittini, A., Grimsley, C. K. and Lakatos (2024). Country profiles on urban development, housing and land management: Albania.
Organizing Comitee (‘The Septemvirate’)
Michael Gentile
Oslo
Daniel Göler
Bamberg
Dhimitër Doka
Tirana
Matthias Bickert
Würzburg
Zaiga Krišjāne
Riga
Gruia Bădescu
Konstanz/Paris