After the Break: Urban Spaces Between "No Longer" and "Not Yet"
Deadline for applications: February 8, 2026
Panel at the Y-Conference: SPACES — Yerevan Center for International Education
Yerevan, Armenia | May 22–24, 2026
Organized by our colleagues Elena Batunova and Albina Davletshina (RWTH Aachen University), the panel focuses on urban spaces shaped not by gradual transformation, but by rupture—war, natural disasters, economic collapse, political upheavals, or institutional failures that abruptly interrupt established urban functions. Rather than leading to clear transitions, such breaks often produce spaces of suspension: unfinished districts, abandoned buildings, residual infrastructures, and wastelands suspended between a past that has unexpectedly ended and a future that remains uncertain.
We invite contributions that explore how physical urban space, social practices, and memory intersect under conditions of rupture and suspension. The panel is particularly interested in questions of meaning-making, everyday use, informal practices, and the re-evaluation of both recognized and unrecognized heritage when growth, progress, and linear development no longer organize urban life.
Check the call and apply here: https://yerevancenter.org/y-conference-2026-papers/
Please feel free to share this opportunity with colleagues and networks who may be interested.