Ethnographies of urban change: introducing homelessness and the post-socialist city

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since urban homelessness first appeared in modern cities, it has served as an indicator of the current socio-spatial order and of its change. Here, we turn our attention to cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in an attempt to discuss homelessness and social change through these cities’ specific historicity and their story of transition from state-socialism to a, mostly, neoliberalized global economy. We argue that this endeavor opens inspiration and new perspectives on: (1) the post-socialist (urban) transformation; (2) urban homelessness as a socio-material experience; (3) the political aspects of informal practices. Relying on research in various spatial and temporal contexts, authors in the special issue inquire into an alternative politics of living in current (post-socialist) cities. They shed light on how homelessness and the lives of people who struggle with housing precarity codefine change, and how they become active agents of urban transformation.