Transformation in focus: Workshop highlights post-socialist cities!

Transformation in focus: Workshop highlights post-socialist cities!

The workshop “Tales of Transformation: Postsocialist Cities as Laboratories of Change” will take place at the Bauhaus University Weimar on May 8th and 9th, 2025. This two-day workshop is led by Prof. Dr. Cecile Sandten from Chemnitz University of Technology and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Daniela Zupan from the Bauhaus University Weimar organizes and focuses on the urban transformation processes in post-socialist and post-colonial cities. This opens up interdisciplinary exchange opportunities between students and teachers from the fields of literary studies, urban studies, architecture, spatial planning and cultural theory, such as tu-chemnitz.de reported.

As part of the workshop, the program not only includes lectures, but also a film evening followed by a discussion as well as guided walks through the socialist housing estate “Waldstadt” in Weimar-Schöndorf. These events are part of a broader offering, which also includes the continuation of the workshop on June 5th and 6th, 2025 in Chemnitz under the title “Tales of Transformation: Postsocialist and Postcolonial Cities”. This second phase will be accompanied by guests such as Dr. Lieven Ameel from Tampere University and PD Dr. Nora Pleßke from the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg was enriched.

Thematic focuses and other events

The planned activities of the workshop include keynotes, student presentations and interactive museum tours, with a special exhibition in the Chemnitz Industrial Museum entitled “Tales of Transformation: Chemnitz – Gabrovo – Łódź – Manchester – Mulhouse – Tampere” being on view from April 25th to November 16th, 2025. City walks through Chemnitz's transformation spaces, such as the garage campus and the old stock spinning mill, are also planned. The main goal is the exchange between scientific research, museum practice and urban experience, emphasizes the event program bpb.de.

The organizers, Sandten and Zupan, have had a long-standing collaboration, which is characterized by joint publications and a podcast. The event language will be English, which reflects the international nature of the topic. If you have any questions regarding the content, you can contact Prof. Dr. directly. Contact Cecile Sandten by email. Organizational queries and registrations are made via Christiane Seyfert.

Transformation of post-socialist cities in Europe

The topics of the workshop correspond to broader discussions on the transformation of post-socialist cities, as recently discussed in a workshop organized by TACT and the Herder Institute. This event addressed how to deal with socialist heritage and its influence on public urban spaces. In Budapest, for example, political discourses from both conservatives and socialists have taken hold since the 1990s. Waves of renaming in Budapest that emphasize historical eras have increasingly pushed out younger names, in what critics have called "memory erasure." hsozkult.de.

Similar conflicts can also be observed in other cities. In Berlin, the debates about the former “Palace of the Republic” and the reconstruction of the Berlin City Palace are coming to a head. These disputes show the unequal treatment of East German architecture and the divergent national debates about representative architecture as an expression of power and identity. In Moscow, work is also being done on the “reinterpretation of public space”, although disregard for such initiatives is common.

The context and challenges of these transformations are deeply rooted in the political development after 1989 and 1991. Studies show that the original assumptions about the transition to democracy and a market economy need to be viewed more differentiated, as autocratic structures often exist that appear legitimate. Research on the transformation of public urban spaces therefore also sheds light on the diverse causes and effects of these developments, which will be of great relevance to the workshop.

The research landscape in this area shows gaps, particularly in relation to specific countries and regions, and requires more comprehensive and differentiated analyzes to understand the advantages and disadvantages of different regime forms.