The **Urban Political** delves into contemporary urban issues with activists, scholars and policy-makers from around the world. Providing informed views, state-of-the-art knowledge, and unusual insights, the podcast aims to advance our understanding of urban environments and how we might make them more just and democratic. The **Urban Political** provides a new forum for reflection on bridging urban activism and scholarship, where regular features offer snapshots of pressing issues and new publications, allowing multiple voices of scholars and activists to enter into a transnational debate directly. Hosted and produced by: Ross Beveridge (University of Glasgow) Markus Kip (Georg-Simmel-Center for Metropolitan Studies - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Mais Jafari (Technische Universität Dortmund) Nitin Bathla (ETH-Zürich) Julio Paulos (Université de Lausanne) Nicolas Goez (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) Talja Blokland (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Hanna Hilbrandt (Universität Zürich) Powered in partnership with the Georg-Simmel-Center for Metropolitan Studies at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Music credits: "Something Elated" by Broke For Free, CC BY 3...
https://urbanpolitical.podigee.io/
episode 63: Russian Academia and Urban Activism in Times of War: Insights from St. Petersburg
Conversation with Oleg Pachenkov
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 Oleg's personal confrontation with a repressive system ready to crack down on critical voices. Self-censorship, Aesopian language and the retreat to the private sphere are aspects that now characterize dynamics of discussion in the attempt to cope with the authoritarian reality in the country. Olegs talk to us about the institutionalization of Urban Studies and the discrepancy between those parts who have arranged themselves within the regime, and those that didn't, between those actors who have stayed in the country and those who have fled. We hear Oleg reflect on these divisions and what needs to be learned for the future - for scholars both in Russia as well as beyond.
Guest:
Oleg Pachenkov, Dr., is a sociologist specialized in urban studies. He received his Doctor degree (Candidate of Science in sociology) at sociology department of St.-Petersburg State University in 2009. Since 2023 he is working as Research fellow at Humboldt University of Berlin in a research group "Urban Futures at Risk" supported by Einstein Foundation and based at Georg Simmel Zentrum for Metropolitan Studies. He is working mainly in the fields of urban studies and interdisciplinary art / social science projects as well as consulting on participatory urban development and participatory budgeting, and organises informal education & training programs for urban activists.
Previously, he worked for more than two decades as a leading researcher and a project coordinator ate the Center for Independent Social Reserach (CISR) in St.-Petersburg Russia. Starting in 2016 Dr. Pachenkov has also been working as an expert in the projects of CISR e.V. Berlin. From 2012 until 2022, he also led the Center for Applied Research (CeAR) at European University at St.-Petersburg (EUSP), worked as a Project leader and consultant at the Center "UP" for Urbanism and Participation at EUSP (2020-2022).
In 2006 Dr. Pachenkov received prestigious German Chancellor scholarship by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (BUKA) and did a research based at Humbioldt University of Berlin. In 2010 Oleg Pachenkov co-established an interdisciplinary expert & activist platform Open Urban Lab (OUL). Since 2012 he is a chief editor of the series of books titled Studia Urbanica at the NLO Publishing House in Russia. In 2021 he established an interdisciplinary educational program CO-URBANISM based at EUSP.
More about his activitires at: http://www.pachenkovvoronkova.com
Image Credits: View on St. Petersburg Graham from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons