International Students, Scholars & Programs Events

Location

McGlothlin-Street Hall, Room 20
251 Jamestown Rd
Williamsburg, VA 23185Map this location

The past few decades have seen a significant redrawing of the public/private boundary in cities across the globe. These have expressed themselves, on the one hand, in new forms of interiorization and privatization, and, on the other, in new forms of public space and sociability, many of which are organized around consumption and consumer activities.
The talk will explore this dual process specifically in relation to postsocialist cities, with particular reference to Moscow, Shanghai and Beijing. What might link the current developments in these cities, which are not generally compared with each other? To what extent has the common socialist experience determined the pattern of change in the postsocialist city? How can these urban changes help us to understand the ways in which the public and the private spheres are being redefined and renegotiated?