Laboratory of Critical Urbanism

The Laboratory of Critical Urbanism was founded at the European Humanities University in 2007. It serves as a platform for scholars and practitioners in the region working in the field of urban studies.

LCU conducts multidisciplinary cross-sectoral research on urban space and urban development, organizes conferences, exhibitions, and cultural projects, and is running educational programs in integrative urbanism.

LCU objectives and topics:

  • strengthening the profile of the EHU Laboratory of Critical Urbanism as one of the regional centers, both study and enhance civic participation in urban development and planning;
  • being part of academic discussions within ‘infrastructural turn’ in both urban and media/communications studies; analyzing urban environment as knowledge infrastructures;
  • building institutional partnerships with academic study programs, NGOs, state institutions, and research centers specializing in urbanist research, in architecture and urban planning practice, and in digital/media infrastructures research;
  • exploring varieties of civic engagement in the process of urban development and planning in the CEE region.

Corresponding study programs

  • Critical Urban Studies track within Master’ program Cultural Studies (functioned from 2012 to 2020)
  • Forthcoming joint English-instructed Master’s program in Integrative Urban Studies (pool of partners includes institutions from the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus).

Team in AY 2021/22:

Contact details

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Lead: Assoc. Prof. Siarhei Liubimau
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Activities 2014-2019

Edited books:

Journal issues:

Chapters and articles:

Organized conferences

  • Populism and the City, Vilnius, 2017, in cooperation with Vilnius Art Academy with participants from the University of Helsinki, Central European University, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Vilnius University, etc. (Funding from Lithuanian Research Council). Responsible – Siarhei Liubimau
  • Infrastructure, Sovereignty and Urbanity in the Baltics and Germany, Visaginas, 2016, in cooperation with Herder-Institute Marburg, Urban Institute Riga, Tallinn University, EHU Center for German Studies, German Historical Institute Warsaw (Funding from Baltisch-Deutsches Hochschulkontor Riga) Responsible – Siarhei Liubimau, Felix Ackermann and Benjamin Cope

Other events

  • Workshop Mapping Sounds and Cities in 2017 in Vilnius. Responsible: Benjamin Cope (Funding by Sida)
  • Methodological Approaches to Public Space Making in Digital Urban Studies, Vilnius, 2017. (Funding from Sida). Responsible – Siarhei Liubimau
  • Cultures of Shrinking, Visaginas, 2015, in cooperation with Estonian Academy of Arts, Herder- Institute Marburg, Lithuanian Social Research Centre, Architekturos Fondas Vilnius, EHU Center for German Studies (Funding from Baltisch-Deutsches Hochschulkontor Riga). Responsible – Felix Ackermann, Siarhei Liubimau and Benjamin Cope
  • Popularization of Urbanism and the New Modes of Social Solidarity in Europe, Vilnius, 2014, (result – Horizon 2020 application in 2015 with EHU as leader in cooperation with University of Edinburgh, Open University UK, University of Lodz, Estonian Academy of Arts, etc.). Responsible – Siarhei Liubimau and Benjamin Cope

Projects

  • Urbanist competition process Yards of Mind in 2019 in Vilnius. In cooperation with Performative Design Association and Xwhy Agency of Understanding. Responsible: Siarhei Liubimau
  • Summer School Post-Nuclear Urbanism in 2019 in Visaginas. In cooperation with Brno University of Technology, Wroclaw University. Responsible: Siarhei Liubimau
  • DAAD Summer School Mapping Visaginas. Re-Tooling Knowledge Infrastructures in a ‘Post-Nuclear’ Town in 2018 in Visaginas. In cooperation with Architecture Fund, CANactions School of Urban Studies Kyiv, Visaginas Public Library, Visaginas Municipality. Responsible: Siarhei Liubimau, Benjamin Cope and Miodrag Kuc (Funding by DAAD, participants fees, Sida)
  • DAAD Summer School Mapping Visaginas. Re-Tooling Knowledge Infrastructures in a ‘Post-Nuclear’ Town in 2017 in Visaginas. In cooperation with Architecture Fund, CANactions School of Urban Studies Kyiv, Visaginas Public Library, Visaginas Municipality. Responsible: Siarhei Liubimau and Benjamin Cope (Funding by DAAD, participants fees, Sida)
  • DAAD Summer School Mapping Visaginas. Sources of Urbanity in a Former Mono-functional Town in 2016 in Visaginas. In cooperation with Visaginas Public Library. Responsible: Siarhei Liubimau, Benjamin Cope and Miodrag Kuc (Funding by DAAD, participants fees)
  • DAAD Summer School Mapping Visaginas. Sources of Urbanity in a Former Mono-functional Town in 2015 in Visaginas. In cooperation with Architecture Fund and Visaginas Municipality. Responsible: Felix Ackermann, Siarhei Liubimau and Benjamin Cope (Funding by DAAD)
  • DAAD Winter School Mapping Post-Socialist Urban Spaces in Vilnius in 2014 in Vilnius. In cooperation with Architecture Fund, EHU Center for German Studies, Laimikis. Responsible: Felix Ackermann, Benjamin Cope and Miodrag Kuc (Funding by DAAD)
  • Research-based workshop series Issues of Critical Cartography. Social Participation and Urban Change in 2016-2017 in cooperation with German Studies Center (Funding by German Embassy Vilnius, German Federal Foreign Office). Responsible –Felix Ackermann, Siarhei Liubimau and Benjamin Cope: Vilnius workshop in cooperation with Architecture Fund; Riga workshop in cooperation with Urban Institute Riga; Berlin workshop in cooperation with Zentrum fur Kunst und Urbanistik; Kyiv workshop in cooperation with CANactions School of Urban Studies; Minsk workshop in cooperation with Minsk Urban Platform

Partners