SPACE AND POLITICS: CAPITAL CITIES AS INSTRUMENTS OF POLITICAL STRUGGLE AND POWER – SPACEPOL

The research adopts a pluralistic and reflexive methodology, tied to its interdisciplinary character, bringing together geographers, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, architects and urban planners in sustained dialogue. It is structured around a comparative framework that rejects any single universal method in favour of complementary approaches, developed iteratively through cross-case discussions. A shared conceptual vocabulary—covering spatial power, authoritarianism, modernity, public space and the North-South divide—was collectively built to enable transnational comparison while remaining attentive to local specificities, historical trajectories and contextual variations.

Multi-sited ethnography constitutes the core fieldwork approach. Each capital city is examined across three interconnected domains: state and municipal institutions, including planning agencies and local administrations; professional and para-professional organisations, such as architectural firms and trade associations; and civil society spaces, notably activist collectives and neighbourhood groups. Participant observation traces how urban policies and political imaginaries translate into concrete realities, through meetings, bureaucratic routines, informal negotiations, and everyday uses of emblematic public spaces.

Documentary and historical methodologies contextualise these practices within longer-term trajectories of state formation and urban governance. Policy documents, strategic plans and regulatory frameworks are interpreted as governance technologies that define problems, prescribe desired publics, and legitimise urban transformation. Archival research has been systematically conducted to trace the evolution of symbolic repertoires, ceremonial practices and aesthetic codes through which political authority is staged and contested across different regimes.

Mapping and quantitative indicators serve as analytical and comparative tools, tracing logics of spatial concentration, displacement and fragmentation across selected cities. Statistical data are used contextually, without assuming identical meanings across cases, and are systematically triangulated with qualitative insights from ethnographic observation and interviews.

Visual methods form a distinctive project dimension. Visual practices—from institutions, media, residents and researchers—are treated as data in their own right. Techniques include mental mapping, urban walks, photographic ethnography and documentary films, designed to foster collective interpretation and dialogue with diverse audiences, including policymakers and local communities.

Risk is conceptualised as a method, not merely a constraint. Research in politically sensitive environments reshapes 'access'—who, where, and on what subjects. These limitations are interpreted as data on urban governance through uncertainty and opacity. Ethical responsibilities cover publication, anonymisation, informed consent, and unequal exposure

The SpacePol project has produced a fresh interpretation of urbanisation dynamics in the capitals of semi-authoritarian regimes, through a comparative, interdisciplinary and decolonial approach.

Field research has highlighted three major phenomena: firstly, deep interconnections between these capitals in terms of the circulation of urban models and the transfer of influence; secondly, the moderating role of authoritarianism, the intensity of which opens or closes varying windows of opportunity for urban actors; and finally, the role of urban planning in political legitimisation, which incorporates attractive amenities to strengthen public support for the regime.

From a scholarly perspective, the project represents several advances: it incorporates lived urban experience into the analysis of authoritarian capitals, generates knowledge on cities that have been little studied at the international level, and highlights academic works in Turkish, Arabic and Russian that have hitherto been largely inaccessible. It also contributes to a reinterpretation of urban theories beyond a Eurocentric framework, by adopting a decolonial perspective and a viewpoint from the Global South.

The objectives have evolved to incorporate contemporary geopolitical issues, a deeper exploration of environmental governance, and the strengthening of visual tools — interactive maps, a documentary film and an exhibition — as integral components of comparative research.

With the aim of disseminating its findings to the general public, the following materials and events have been produced:

- Photographic exhibition “Intimate Geography of Capitals. Dreams of the State, Lives of Citizens” in 2026, open to the public at the University of Tours (18 April–21 May), at the MSH Paris Nord (2 June–21 September), and in the Humathèque exhibition hall at Campus Condorcet (1 November–15 February 2027)

-Documentary film “The Walls of Power”, directed by Mina Saidi, preview screening at C. Condorcet on 17 June 2026

-Production of interactive maps, particularly for schools, in MP4 format: spacepol.hypotheses.org/category/capitals-maps

-Production of “city profiles” for six capital cities: spacepol.hypotheses.org/133

-Creation of a website accessible worldwide, featuring the project team’s research outputs, field notes and reports on scientific events

-Media dissemination of the project’s results across various platforms and in different locations: spacepol.hypotheses.org/category/media-audiovisual-resources

-A selection of scientific publications, amongst others:

1) G. Erdi, Ankara, Mirror of Modern Turkey: Utopias, Power, Resistance, Editions de l’Université libre de Bruxelles, 2025

2) R. Stadnicki, Beyond Dubai, Editions de l’Aube, 2026

3) Issue 135 of the Revue Méditerranée: “Symbolic and political production of space in the capitals of the Middle East and the Muslim world”, tinyurl.com/5tykak4p

The SpacePol project has highlighted the need to place the capitals under study within a broader perspective, by incorporating an analysis of both old and new capitals, as well as those located in developed countries and the Global South. A shift towards a more general framework is required in order to refine our understanding of the dynamics of spatial production and the relationship between urban planning and authoritarianism.

An extension of the comparative analysis is envisaged, incorporating other capitals undergoing transformation, such as Baku, Riyadh, Tbilisi and Sarajevo. The aim is to examine whether the trends observed in SpacePol are reflected in other geopolitical contexts, whilst deepening the study of social mobilisations and forms of urban resistance in the face of authoritarian regimes. Consideration will also be given to post-project dynamics: how do the findings influence public policy and perceptions of the capitals studied?

Development of new research areas

Several research areas emerge from the findings:

For futur perspectives, we would like to focus on three important aspects :

-Urban planning and surveillance: analysing how semi-authoritarian and authoritarian regimes use technology to control and secure public space.

-Environmental issues: exploring the consequences of rapid, vertical and spectacular urbanisation on the environment and natural disasters.

-The circulation of urban models: examining the stance of authoritarian regimes towards neoliberal urbanisation and the globalisation of urban planning practices.

For sustaining the consortium and collaborations:

The network of researchers established by SpacePol will be maintained in a collaborative format, enabling continued exchanges and the organisation of scientific events. Discussions are currently underway with existing partners regarding the establishment of a European COST project, incorporating new stakeholders such as New York University Abu Dhabi, Nariqbayev University in Astana, the American University in Cairo, METU Ankara, the UMR EVS, the UAR IFPO, etc. An application for MRSEI funding is planned to formalise this cooperation.

Furthermore, new collaborations have been initiated, notably between institutions in Turkey and France, thanks to the conferences and publications resulting from the project. A collaboration with Turkish universities under the EU’s WIDERA programme is under discussion, with a view to strengthening research on urban governance and authoritarian policies.

Future projects and proposed funding:

The project team aims to expand its research through Horizon Europe and COST Actions, by partnering with the French Institutes for cultural and scientific collaboration. The objective is to situate SpacePol’s work within a comparative and transnational framework, by broadening the range of case studies and exploring urban dynamics under authoritarian regimes in greater depth.

This research project involves the international comparison of different capital cities to study the place and role of political power and global urban governance in the creation, making and development of capital cities as well as the impacts of grassroots claims and demands about urban and environmental design on these political processes. The following questions will constitute the core of our interrogation: how are the national imaginaries of capital cities forged by the spatial configuration of political symbols? What are the conflictual and/or consensual relationships between different political actors in the conception of capital cities? To what extent could the nature of the political regime have an important impact on this conception with regard to the highly competitive context of planetary urbanization? What are the specific socio-political and economic flows among these countries and how do they in turn influence capital city building? Finally, how is it possible to tackle the interactions between urban design policies and multiple societal and environmental advocacy programs, considering the growing importance of urban democracy in many countries and international agendas?

Our main objective is to study, in a comparative manner, the production of capital cities according to three different but interconnected research themes:
1- The spatial imagination and conception of capital cities by national political power, as a symbolic struggle of different political visions.
2- The influence of global urban networks and the circulation of international models in urban development and urban space.
3- The reciprocal impact between urbanisation policies in capital cities and various demands and protests from divergent actors concerning urban spaces and the environment.

In order to study these questions, we propose the cases of Ankara, Moscow, Tehran, Abu Dhabi, Nur-Sultan and Cairo. Our choice to focus on these capitals comes from the fact that the countries in which they are located are often present in the studies of international relations in terms of geopolitics, state and diplomatic relations but less in urban studies. The cities of the project are deliberately chosen as being situated in states perceived among an international community as relatively illiberal and non-democratic. We are interested in analysing how authoritarian governments express themselves spatially in the city. The existing scientific literature on this topic has focused primarily on the fixed staging of illiberal political power in political geography and geopolitics, and less has been said on the dynamics between the political regime and city design as well as the lived and perceived spaces in these cities.

The main contribution of the project will be the realisation of an international comparison of cities including their diversity, particularities, and also their shared strategies. What interests us is to observe if they are affected by similar political and symbolic processes among various actors, have similar strategies of integration in global urbanism and use similar tools in urban space in order to reflect an image of a strong state at the international level despite their diverse histories, settings and cultures.

The major ambition of the project is to delve into unexplored fields/areas of urban studies. We will link our research themes through multiple threads that will follow state actors at both national and local levels, inhabitants in their lived and conceived spaces, urban activist networks and civil society. We will focus on political decision-making places of urbanism as well as on the historical and symbolic development of cities. We will bring together different methods and tools and will use especially filmmaking and photography for each stage of the work, not only as a research method but also as a storytelling medium.