International Workshop
Informal Housing and Property Rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
Dates: 29-30 November 2018
Host Institute: ISEK-Social Anthropology, University of Zurich
Venue: ISEK-Social Anthropology, Andreasstrasse 15 (AND), 8050 Zürich
Rooms: Day 1 – AND 5.29/31 and Day 2 – AND 3.46
Workshop Program
Day 1 | Arrival of Participants
13.30: Welcome speech from the organizers and the host institution
13.45: Keynote speech Dr. Udo Grashoff (UCL SSEES): “Is Informal Housing in Eastern Europe Different?”
14.30: Q&A Session
14.45: Coffee break
15.00: Panel 1: Historical Development
Chair: Jovana Dikovic
Agnes Gagyi and Andras Vigvari: Informal housing in Hungary: history and present practices
Jakob Warnecke: “Capital of squatters”. Squatting in Potsdam in the ‘80s and ‘90s
Joseph Bristley: Uncontested occupation: appropriating abandoned property in revolutionary Mongolia
16.30: Coffee break
16.45: Panel 2: Economic Development
Chair: Eliza Isabaeva
Sasha Tsenkova: Informality, People, Places
Nikolai Karbainov: “Nakhalovki”: informal real estate market and property rights in post- Soviet Ulan Ude
Balihar Sanghera: The moral economy of informal housing in Central Asia
18.15 onwards: Apéro
Day 2 | Continuation of the Workshop
10.00: Panel 3: Squatting Practices
Chair: Udo Grashoff
Petra Matijevic: Slovenia’s garden squatting
Arnost Novak: Squatting and property rights in Prague
Grzegorz Piotrowski: Politicization of squatting and housing rights in Poland
12.00 onwards: Lunch
13.00: Panel 4: Legalization, State, Recognition
Chair: Jovana Dikovic
Mariya Petrova: Unauthorized housing construction in Soviet Samarkand
Eliza Isabaeva: Desiring the state? Squatters in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Nebi Bardhoshi: Time, law and “sphere of exchange”: on political economy of legalization of informal settlements in contemporary Albania
14.30: Coffee break
14.45: Panel 5: Perceptions
Chair: Udo Grashoff
Bermet Zhumakadyr kyzy: Myths and Realities of Bishkek’s Novostroikas
Anna Varfolomeeva: “Every house has to survive by itself”: the perceptions of housing in Kvartsitnyi settlement in the North-West of Russia
Ivan Maksimovic: Collective identifications of former informal housing residents in a social housing project in Belgrade, Serbia
16.15: Coffee break
16.30: Panel 6: Social Consequences of Informality
Chair: Eliza Isabaeva
Milos Zaric: Dynamic domains of Belgrade’s “Deponija” informal settlement: the anthropological analysis of children’s healthcare system
Justyna Koscinska: Social consequences of the reprivatization process – case of Warsaw
17.30: Coffee break
17.45: Round-table on Global Informality Project led by Prof. Dr. Alena Ledeneva (UCL)
Speakers: Udo Grashoff, Jovana Dikovic, Petra Matijevic, Eliza Isabaeva
18.30: Departure to the restaurant in the city center
19.00: Dinner
Day 3 | Wrap-Up of the Workshop by Eliza Isabaeva and Jovana Dikovic
10.00: Discussing the perspectives of the planned edited volume
12.00: Departure of the participants