PhD Candidates Yulia Shaffer and Žaklina Grgić authored a chapter on the Socialist City with Dean Sonia Hirt in “From the City as a Project to the City Project,” published this fall.
For many PhD students, the opportunity to publish a book chapter may seem like a far-off dream. But for Yulia Shaffer and Žaklina Grgić, the opportunity came sooner than expected.
Amid their own dissertation research, Shaffer and Grgić, both PhD candidates in the College of Environment and Design’s Environmental Design and Planning PhD program, authored a chapter on the Socialist City with Dean Sonia Hirt in “From the City as a Project to the City Project,” published this fall.
The book, part of the international book series “The Urban Book Series,” highlights the history of urbanism through case studies in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. In their chapter, Shaffer, Grgić and Hirt gave an overview of urban planning under state socialism in the Soviet Union and Eastern European cities.
“I hope that both the readers who have no prior knowledge of the Soviet city and those who have a proven academic record in it find something new in our chapter,” said Grgić.
Shaffer and Grgić decided to organize the chapter into two parts: the socialist city as a process, and the socialist city as a product. Shaffer, who is further in the program and has spent more time in the literature, took on the first part, where she explained what state socialism was, and how it impacted urban development.
“It was very dense,” said Shaffer. “I had to touch on some broader themes of economic redevelopment and infrastructural development and give some examples of debates, like whether socialist cities were truly socialist or was really just another way to get ahead in industrial development.”
Grgić’s section of the chapter focused on the distinct physical features of cities under state socialism. These features included a lack of urban sprawl, ample public space, microrayon neighborhoods and downtowns not centered on commerce, but on architecturally magnificent administrative buildings, plazas and cultural centers.
“I particularly enjoyed decisions on which cities we should include in our written presentation, as the existing literature is heavily focused on the most common examples, such as Moscow, Russia,” said Grgić. “Within our chapter, we tried to expand the selection to include a bit less famous examples and highlight the broad variety of cities that fit the definition of our topic.”
Both Shaffer and Grgić explore former socialist cities in their own dissertation research. Shaffer, who grew up in Baku, Azerbaijan, researches the spatial transformation of post-Socialist cities, drawing on critical urban morphology, public space analysis and a broader dynamic of cities and their changing identities in the global economy. Grgić grew up in Zagreb, Croatia and researches how young adults in Zagreb navigate the path to independent housing.
“I believe we really delivered a good quality piece, considering the fact that all three of us authors not only have knowledge and professional training in post-socialist and soviet cities, but also lived experience which adds layers on really being connected with the topic,” said Grgić.
After finishing writing the book chapter, Hirt, Shaffer and Grgić published another article on the comparison of Eastern European cities to western cities, calling for a different approach on how East European cities are studied in academia.
“The only way to really learn a subject in depth is to is to either teach about it or write about it,” said Hirt. “We’re grateful to support our PhD students through these opportunities.”
