Authoritarian urbanism in the 21st century. Progressive urban design and participatory planning in Hungary and Serbia

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Daniela Zupan
• Subject Area: City Planning, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 537835253

Over the past years, urban development in authoritarian contexts increasingly exhibits trends that challenge common assumptions about authoritarian urbanism. Public spaces that follow human-scale design principles and display an open and progressive image are on the rise, and in many places participatory and evidence-based planning approaches are booming. While these forms of urban development, which are often associated with democratization, have been extensively studied in liberal-democratic societies, relatively little is known about their political functions and effects in other contexts. Indeed, studies that examine such policies in authoritarian contexts have so far yielded contradictory results. While some studies find that these policies help to stabilize authoritarian regimes, others point to their potential for democratization. This project responds to the resulting need for further empirical research. It does so by taking counterintuitive developments as its analytical starting point, namely the growing importance of participatory planning and progressive urban design in contexts facing autocratization. Based on an international comparative study of these policies in Hungary and Serbia - two of the contexts currently most affected by autocratization worldwide -, the project examines their political functions and effects and uncovers the technologies of government displayed therein. It does so through a qualitative discourse analysis of textual and visual data, expert interviews and participant observation. The project seeks to gain insights into the the role of urban development within increasing processes of autocratization in contemporary societies and to identify the particularities of contemporary manifestations and dynamics of authoritarian urbanism. Building on interdisciplinary governmentality studies, the project strengthens the burgeoning scholarship on contemporary forms of authoritarian urbanism and contributes to an actualization of relevant research in planning history.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants