Langugae SWITCH
The focus of the research project lies in the processes of multiple redefinitions of urban identities and ways of life in Croatian cities under the influence of various global and national trends and policies (deindustrialization, development of new and creative industries, development of digital technologies, post-earthquake reconstruction, touristification, migrations, neoliberal governance, development of sustainability strategies etc.). Through qualitative cultural anthropological (ethnographic, archival, discursive, comparative) research on urban policies, urban ethics, concepts of “good life” and everyday life, the project aims to contribute to a broadly contextualized scientific knowledge of the transformations of urban life in Croatian cities of different sizes, historical development and contemporary situations. On this basis, it will be able to interpret the actors, factors, relationships and atmospheres that influence the current state, with a particular focus on understanding the future-making in the cities studied and the role of citizens in this process.
Academically, the project will contribute to the conceptual and methodological development of urban studies, futures studies, disaster studies, outdoor studies and migration studies. In addition, the project has envisaged various forms of dissemination and knowledge transfer, such as conferences, university lectures, workshops and public discussions. The relevance of the project is based on the complementarity with urgent issues and urban development policies at European level and the further possibility to use the project results in the elaboration of strategic documents and guidelines as well as in awareness raising and empowerment for civic engagement (“Right to the City”,” “futures literacy”).
Project team:
Jasna Čapo, PhD, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Fellow of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences
Valentina Gulin Zrnić, PhD, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, project leader
Sanja Đurin, PhD, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research
Tihana Rubić, PhD, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Mirna Tkalčić Simetić, PhD student, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research
The project is funded by NextGenerationEU
Previous project
Urban Futures: Imagining and Activating Futures in Unsettled Times (2020-2024, HRZZ-ARIS)
This urban ethnological/cultural anthropological project is dedicated to in-depth research of future-making in selected Croatian and Slovenian cities.
Future-making refers to comprehensive understanding of elements which are combined in imagining, anticipating and perceiving futures – cognitively, discursively, and affectively – as well as in modalities of everyday life and engagement that contain a particular relationship towards futures.
The process of urban future-making will be analysed from top-down (strategic documents and visions of particular cities) and bottom-up (civil associations and initiatives) perspectives, as well as from individual/personal perspectives (experiences, expectations, practices), particularly of young people.
“Future” as a (novel) object of study in ethnological/cultural anthropological terms is considered culturally and contextually dependant, and together with the notions of probabilities and possibilities which are immanent to future, it sets the stage for researching multiple urban futures – desired and undesired, official and alternative, supported and resisted, contested, challenged, as well as invisible, “silenced”, or “stolen”.
The project is firmly grounded in ethnography and discourse analysis and is structured around three axes of research: public space (future-oriented spatial-social urban projects and their potential to enhance social integration, inclusion, health, and wellbeing for urban citizens); creativity and innovations (creative hubs developed by various actors to build and promote good practices, education, and social engagement envisioning futures); and civic participation (diverse ways in which citizens enact “the right to the city”, contributing to current debates on effective urban governance as a prerequisite of liveable and sustainable urban futures).
This cross-national project seeks to establish a wider network for comparative ethnological/cultural anthropological (urban) futures research.
