Category: Events

  • Episode 63 – Russian Academia and Urban Activism in Times of War: Insights from St. Petersburg

    Episode 63 – Russian Academia and Urban Activism in Times of War: Insights from St. Petersburg

    Meet urban scholar Oleg Pachenkov who left Russia few weeks after the invasion of Ukraine. Markus speaks with him about his personal and professional trajectory as a critical scholar bringing him to Berlin. The conversation covers the breakdown of the public sphere in Russia within weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine and…

  • Episode 59 – Inside the Woman Life Freedom Movement in Iran

    Episode 59 – Inside the Woman Life Freedom Movement in Iran

    Listen to this gripping account from the current „Woman Life Freedom“ movement in Iran and its impact on cities and their inhabitants. The movement was sparked by the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini in the custody of the Islamic regime’s „morality police“ in September 2022. After several weeks of uprising, the media coverage in Western…

  • Episode 49 – Ukrainian Cities at War

    Episode 49 – Ukrainian Cities at War

    Listen to urban researchers sharing their insights on the situation in Ukrainian cities at war, from Kyiv, Kharkiv to Mariupol. Our guests discuss Putin’s identity politics and the way his propaganda hits a wall in the context of the shelling of Ukrainian cities. Countering the images of an opposition of “Ukrainian vs Russian” inhabitants as…

  • Episode 47 – Housing Expropriation Referendum in Berlin: How it was won and what comes next?

    Episode 47 – Housing Expropriation Referendum in Berlin: How it was won and what comes next?

    On the 26th of September over million Berliners voted to expropriate and return to public ownership over 200,000 homes in the city. Deutsche Wohnen und Co Enteignen targeted a number of large real estate companies in Berlin that had control of what had previously been social housing stock. The referendum is not legally binding, requiring…

  • Episode 14 – Chile Despertó! Social Uprisings in Santiago

    Episode 14 – Chile Despertó! Social Uprisings in Santiago

    Chile despertó – Chile woke up – is a key slogan oft he ongoing uprisings in Chile that began in the capital Santiago in October 2019. Since then, heavy confrontations happened with the regime of president Piñera. For the first time since the dictatorship that ended in 1990, the army was deployed and curfews were…

  • Episode 9 – Be Water! Urban Protests in Hong Kong

    Episode 9 – Be Water! Urban Protests in Hong Kong

    Activist-scholar Sampson Wong offers captivating insights on the current wave of protests that has galvanized Hong Kong since June. Sampson explains what is at stake, how the political dimension has gained predominance over economic concerns of the population, and why the protesters have become radicalized over the past few months.  If you want to find…