Landscapes of Post-Modernity: Changes in the Built Fabric of Belgrade and Sofia since 1990
Professor Sonia Hirt will present research on the recent physical changes in the built fabric of the Serbian capital of Belgrade and the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. She will apply two bodies of literature, involving postsocialist urban transitions and postmodern urban transitions. Hirt will present empirical observations on changes in building functions, scales, and styles in both cities. The presentation will highlight common traits that prevail in the evolution of urban forms in both Belgrade and Sofia, but will examine how contrasting social and cultural experiences of Serbia and Bulgaria during socialism and postsocialism have produced locally specific results. Hirt’s work suggests that postsocialist cities represent textbook examples of urban postmodernization, much as socialist cities epitomized the essential legacy of modernist urbanity.
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Urban Sustainability Laboratory
Since 1991, the Urban Sustainability Laboratory has advanced solutions to urban challenges—such as poverty, exclusion, insecurity, and environmental degradation—by promoting evidence-based research to support sustainable, equitable and peaceful cities. Read more
Global Europe Program
The Global Europe Program is focused on Europe’s capabilities, and how it engages on critical global issues. We investigate European approaches to critical global issues. We examine Europe’s relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our initiatives include “Ukraine in Europe”—an examination of what it will take to make Ukraine’s European future a reality. But we also examine the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE, Europe’s energy security, transatlantic trade disputes, and challenges to democracy. The Global Europe Program’s staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media. Read more