PIMs Annual Research Conference: Urban elites, rural margins?

Annual Research Conference (1I)

Places Identities Memories (PIMs) Research Centre

School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)

University College London

Urban elites, rural margins? Comparative perspectives on urban-rural divisions from post-socialist Europe and Latin America

This year’s annual conference of the Places Identities and Memories (PIMs) Research Centre titled Urban elites, rural margins? Comparative perspectives on urban-rural divisions from post-socialist Europe and Latin America adopts a multidisciplinary approach to understanding how spatial, regional, and urban-rural differences affect economic, political, and social outcomes such as inequality, political preferences, and belonging.

A comparative perspective is especially informative because post-socialist Europe and Latin America differ sharply in overall inequality levels and agrarian structures (relatively lower inequality and smaller-scale agriculture in the former, extremely high inequality and the persistence of large landholdings in the latter). However, they share important features, including rapid political transitions, the dominance of external influences, and the enduring role of religion. The aim of the conference is to answer the following questions:

· How have urban–rural divisions evolved in these converging regions, and how are they reflected in political preferences, particularly support for anti-establishment or anti-elite movements?

· How do spatial differences affect local identities, a sense of belonging, and social cohesion?

· How is migration influenced, and how is it influencing these divisions?

Day 1: 15 June 2026

1 pm: Registration and Refreshments

1.40pm: Welcome by Paweł Bukowski (UCL SSEES) and Jessie Barton Hronešová (UCL SSEES)

2pm Panel 1: Patterns and Dynamics of Spatial Inequalities

Moderator: Elodie Douarin (UCL SSEES)

Speakers:

· Néstor Castañeda (UCL Institute of the Americas) Inequalities and Redistribution in Latin America: through the lenses of Rural-Urban divisions

· Paweł Bukowski (UCL SSEES) Inequalities and Redistribution in Central and Eastern Europe: through the lenses of Rural-Urban divisions

· Paulina Lenik (Jagiellonian University) Grants Without Gratitude? EU Rural Development Funding and Institutional Trust in Poland

· Ramon Ramon-Muñoz (University of Barcelona) Urbanization, Living Standards, and Physical Stature in Latin America: The Case of Females in Peru Born in the Late Twentieth Century [REMOTE]

4pm: Coffee Break

4:30pm: Panel 2: Urban-Rural Divides Representations in Narratives, Discourses, and Cultures

Moderator: Uilleam Blacker (UCL SSEES)

Speakers:

· Agata Zysiak (University of Vienna) People Will Enter the Downtown: Urban–Rural Divides in Postwar Poland

· Maria Glushkova (Queen Mary University of London) Gentrification in London, São Paulo, and Moscow: a comparative discourse analysis of its linguistic representation

· Karolina Wilamowska (University of Warsaw) The hero with a thousand faces? Rurality in contemporary Polish and Hungarian literature

6pm: Wine & Nibbles

7.30 pm: Dinner (invitation only)

Day 2. 16 June 2026

9.30 am Panel 3: Identities, Margins and Social Developments

Moderator: Zsofia Stavri (UCL SSEES)

Speakers:

· Radost Waszkiewicz (University of Potsdam) Secular cities, pious margins. Emergence of single axis conflict in Poland. Evidence from religious marriage data

· Anne White (UCL SSEES) Place attachment and livelihood strategies in a peripheral Polish ‘urban-rural district’: why Poles and migrants choose to settle

· Oana Borlea-Stancioi (University of Kent) The Absconded Peru-Urban: Proximity, Distance, and the Strategic Production of Remoteness [REMOTE]

11.00am: Coffee break

11.15am Panel 4: The Politics and Experiences of Urban-Rural Divides

Moderator: Jessie Barton Hronešová (UCL SSEES)

Speakers:

· Adam Gendźwiłł (University of Warsaw) Is the Urban-Rural Cleavage Becoming More Salient in Poland?

· Aleksandra Marković (University of Belgrade) Position in the Agri-Food Chain: Farmers’ Grievances and Agrarian Protest in Serbia

· Kristóf Szombati (Central European University) Manufacturing Rural Dependence and Its Limits: Mayoral Clientelism and Illiberal State-Making in Hungary, 2010–2026

12.45pm: Buffet Lunch

2pm Keynote: Andrés Rodríguez-Pose (LSE)

Moderator: Pawel Bukowski (UCL SSEES)

3:30pm: Final words: Paweł Bukowski and Jessie Barton Hronešová

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