Programme

MONDAY – 15th JUNE 2026

9h – Welcome coffee

9h30 – Welcome speech and the presentation of SPACEPOL Research Programme – Gülçin Erdi & Clara Rivas Alonso

Session 1: Spatial imagination of capitals, national imaginary and spatio-symbolic struggle of power

10h15-12h45 – Panel 1: Capital space at the intersection of symbolic and political – Chair: Paul Wolkenstein – Discussant: Eric Verdeil

Laura Monfleur, Tahrir Square and the Politics of the Synecdoche: From Stage of the Nation to Authoritarian Space

Gülçin Erdi, The modernist and republican configuration of urban public spaces in Ankara and the symbolic manufacture of places of everyday life

Vladimir Kolossov & Maria Zotova, Political landscape of Moscow as a mirror of geopolitical transformations

Anahi Alviso Morino, Place-making, national storytelling and un-monumenting through Abu Dhabi’s monuments

Discussion (30 minutes)

12h45-14h15 – Lunch Break

14h15-15h15 – Keynote: Nathalie Koch, "War at the door: How new imperial conflicts are challenging symbolic capital city projects in Eurasia and the Middle East" – Chair : Adrien Fauve

15h15-15h30 – Coffee break

15h30-18h – Panel 2: Urban projects and City-making in Capitals as showcases of the Nation – Chair: Vladimir Kolossov – Discussant: Clarisse Genton

Azadeh Mashayekhi, Navigating the Politics of Planning Large-Scale Urban Projects in Capital Cities: Insights from Tehran

Julien Thorez, Adrien Fauve, Paul Wolkenstein: "City-making in Astana: planned urbanism driven by Kazakhstani actors"

SavaşZafer Şahin, “Competition between central government and the local opposition in making the capital city of Ankara”

Amin Moghadam, Planning Diversity, Building Power: The Abrahamic Family House in AbuDhabi

TUESDAY – 16th JUNE 2026

9h Coffee

Session 2: Governance, Environment, and Public Spaces from the Perspective of Capital Cities

9h30-12h – Panel 1 – Chair: Vladimir Pawlotsky – Discussant: Ozan Karaman

Roman Stadnicki, The Developer and the City: A Geography of Rescaling in Abu Dhabi

Youenn Gourain, River flooding, pluvial flooding: urban translations to join two risks in Mamak, Ankara

Corten Pérez-Houis, Building (in) the « New Republic » : excluding or standardising red brick in Greater Cairo’s construction

Paul Wolkenstein, Julien Thorez, Adrien Fauve, Astana: Urban parks in Astana: Public spaces unifying a fragmented city?

Discussion (30 minutes)

12h-13h30 – Lunch Break

13h30-14h30 – Keynote: David Jackman, “Controlling the Capital : Perspectives from South Asia and Africa” – Chair: Corten Pérez-Houis

Session 3: Dislocating power in urban space: from the multiplicity of the everyday experiences to collective practices of dwellers in capital cities

14h30-16h15 – Panel 1: Place of dwellers and Collective Practices – Chair: Amin Moghadam – Discussant: Savaş Zafer Şahin

Cosimo Pica, Seeing Ankara from below: the experience of the Birlikte Kent association in the Altındağ's interstices

Undem Collective: Cairo’s Planned Urban frenzy: the capital driver in a gigantic metropolis (table/frame on New Capital by Randa)

Randa Mahmoud, Urban Growth by Relocation. Egypt’s Desert-City solution: the case of New AlameinDiscussion

16h15-16h45 – Coffee Break

16h45-17h45 – Keynote: Thomas Maloutas and Stavros Nikiforos Syprellis, "Athens Social Atlas: A dynamic tool to investigate inequalities and social polarisation in the Greek Capital" – Chair : Clara Rivas-Alonso

18h30-20h – Opening Cocktail of SPACEPOL photographic exhibition “Geographie intime des capitales. Rêves d’Etat, vie des citoyens” – Salle panoramique, MSH Paris Nord

WEDNESDAY – 17th JUNE 2026

9h – Morning Coffee

9h30-11h30 – Panel 2: Struggle between Conceived and Perceived Space in the Capital – Chair: Cosimo Pica – Discussant: Laure Assaf

Mina Saïdi Shahrouz, Urban projects as generators of alternative public spaces in Tehran

Vladimir Pawlotsky, Life among the stars: the geography of elite in the western suburbs of Moscow

Clara Rivas-Alonso, Creating a comparative framework: the impact on women of gendered monuments in public spaces in Ankara and Abu Dhabi

Discussion (30 minutes)

11h30-12h30 – Keynote: Marco Cremaschi, "Beyond Haussmann: dematerialising power in Greater Paris" – Chair: Laura Monfleur

12h30-14h – Lunch Break

14h-16h – Conclusive Roundtable: SPACEPOL and Working on Capital Cities: How to sustain the research on Capitals in the Global South ?

Participants: David Jackman, Adrien Fauve, Nathalie Koch, Marco Cremaschi, Gülçin Erdi, Azadeh Mashayekhi, Agnès Deboulet, Clara Rivas Alonso

16h-16h30 – Coffee Break

17h – Documentary film on 4 capital cities: Astana, Ankara, Abu Dhabi and Cairo produced for SPACEPOL Research Programme and realised by Mina Saïdi Shahrouz

END OF THE CONFERENCE

Privacy | Accessibility