Dear all,

Please see below for a call for abstracts for 10th of Cities After Transition (CAT) Conference aka International Urban Geographies of Post-Communist States Conference.

If interested, please send your abstracts and register for the conference before June 20, 2023 by using the following link: https://www.cat2023.lu.lv/registration/registration-form/

More information: https://www.cat2023.lu.lv/

Hope to see you at CAT-ference!


Best wishes, and apologies for cross-posting,
Ingmar Pastak and Jānis Zālīte
Department of Geography
University of Tartu
www.cmus.ut.ee

New Publications:
Tammaru, T., Kliimask, J., Kalm, K., & Zālīte, J. (2023). Did the pandemic bring new features to counter-urbanisation? Evidence from Estonia. Journal of Rural Studies, 97, 345-355.
Pastak, I., Kährik, A. (2021). Symbolic displacement revisited: Place-making narratives in gentrifying neighbourhoods of Tallinn. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 45 (5), 814-834.

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CAT-ference 2023

Riga: 18 – 22 September, 2023

Session title: Gentrification, urban-rural migration and the digital transition

Session organisers: Ingmar Pastak & Jānis Zālīte (University of Tartu)

Key words: counter-urbanisation, housing markets, second homes, remote working

The post-socialist transformation of housing demonstrates the erosion of socialist values towards rapid financialisation and commodification of housing. This has not left any housing market segment untouched (Bernt, 2022) and it is no wonder that over last 20 years academic publications on gentrification in CAT countries have taken off massively. The wide spectrum of post-socialist gentrification studies has varied from discovering new types of gentrification to examining the particularities of ownership, the implications of neoliberal policies and systemising developers’ capitalist intent (Kubeš and Kovács, 2020).

Although first the object of post-socialist gentrification studies was the functional change of inner cities that made possible speculative investment in housing and played a major role in the commodification of the disinvested housing stock (Olt and Csizmady, 2020), recent (post-) pandemic and boom years have shown that gentrification could read the processes beyond the inner-city neighbourhoods (Phillips, 2004). The increasing investments that are made to purchase a second home outside of the large cities and regional capitals have resulted in rapidly rising market prices for property in the countryside (Pitkänen et al, 2020). 

The housing market transformations in both urban and rural areas have been boosted by digital transition. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, remote working has become a widely accepted form of work, thus reducing the need to consider commute when choosing residential location. At the same time, access to the benefits of digital transition is inequal, as remote work is more readily available in higher paid jobs (Randall et al, 2022). Therefore, those who are most tied to their workplace location experience the most pressure in the housing market.

Inspired by the recent counter-urbanisation trend and second homes boom as a result of the pandemic flight from cities, this session aims to present the newest research in discovering the interrelations between population change and urban-rural transformations, displacement, state and local government induced redevelopment and its influence on urban and rural communities. The session is aimed at researchers undertaking empirical research and interested in methodological and theoretical discussions on:

•	Gentrification, displacement and housing market evictions;
•	Counter-urbanisation and second homes boom;
•	Interrelations between population change and urban-rural transformations;
•	Urban and rural regeneration and redevelopment of industrial/residential properties;
•	Opportunities and barriers of digital transition in the housing market;
•	Contextual accounts with respect to governance and policies, etc.

Those interested, please send submit the abstract to the CAT-ference web page (https://www.cat2023.lu.lv/registration/registration-form/) before 20th of June 2023. Please mark in the registration form that the abstract is intended to be submitted to this pre-organized session. 

References
Bernt, M. (2022) The Commodification Gap: Gentrification and Public Policy in London, Berlin and St Petersburg. London: Wiley
Kubeš, J. and Kovács, Z. (2020) The kaleidoscope of gentrification in post-socialist cities. Urban Studies, 57(13), 2591–2611.
Olt, G. and Csizmady, A. (2020) Gentrification and functional change in Budapest – ‘ruin bars’ and the commodification of housing in a post-socialist context. Urban Development Issues, 65, 17-26
Phillips, M. (2004) Other geographies of gentrification. Progress in Human Geography, 28(1), 5–30
Pitkänen, K., Hannonen, O., Toso, S., Gallent, N., Hamiduddin, I., Halseth, G., Hall, M. C., Müller, D. K., Treivish, A., & Nefedova, T. (2020). Second homes during corona - safe or unsafe haven and for whom? Reflections from researchers around the world. Finnish Journal of Tourism Research, 16(2), 20–39
Randall, L., Ormstrup Vestergård, L., Rohrer, L., Huynh, D., Lidmo, J., Stjernberg, M., Weber, R., Sigurjonsdottir, H. R., Guðmundsdóttir, H., & Kivi, L. (2022). Remote work: Effects on Nordic people, places and planning 2021-2024. Nordregio.

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