Contentious Spaces - by Maja Babic & Tino Mager (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The architectural heritage of socialist modernism and conservation in former Eastern Bloc countries.

Contentious Spaces explores the heritage of state-socialist architecture and urbanism, examining the socio-political, economic, and cultural processes that shaped these developments. The articles collected in this volume investigate both the conservation and preservation of this heritage, as well as the historicisation of modernist architectural vocabulary in the contemporary era. Moreover, the texts consider state-socialist architecture and urban planning heritage in relation to today's built environment globally and current geopolitical and socio-cultural processes.

Contentious Spaces expands existing scholarship by engaging with marginalised actors and spaces within post-socialist discourse. This includes acknowledging the architectural heritage of women architects and minorities, as well as the links between the political centres of power and modernist architecture in geopolitical peripheries and their contemporary heritage. Geographically, the chapters engage with East-Central Europe, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and other post-socialist spaces worldwide.

Contributing authors: Abigail Karas (University of St Andrews), Tatjana Aleksic (University of Michigan), Elsa Turkusic Juric (University of Sarajevo), Carmen Popescu (Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture Paris Val-de-Seine), Nikolina Bobic (University of Plymouth), Jovana Janinovic (University of Montenegro), Emma Louise Leahy (Sapienza Università di Roma), Nadezda Gobova (University College London), Ruxandra Balcanu ("Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism, Polina Gundarina (Leibniz-Institute for History and Culture of Eastern Europe) and Marina Sapunova, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology).

Review Quotes

An exciting study which draws on broad theoretical frameworks of urban and architectural heritage following the end of state socialism in Europe. Suggested by its title, Contentious Spaces, this compelling volume captures the multifaceted discourses and rhetorics of urban identity in former socialist states. Through individual chapters that skillfully bring together different intellectual traditions, this book offers insights into the narratives of the complex formation of heritage in vibrant post-socialist cities, also tracing the contours of their acceptance. - Jasna Mariotti, Queen's University Belfast

About the Author

Maja Babic is an architectural historian. She is an assistant professor of history and theory of architecture at the University of Groningen.

Tino Mager is associate professor of history and theory of architecture at the University of Groningen and president of ICOMOS Germany.