Critical geopolitics and/in cities

Geopolitical tensions between Greece and Turkey are often framed through elite-level diplomacy, territorial claims and statist narratives. Yet such macro-scale discourses are continuously negotiated, contested and subverted in the everyday spaces of cities situated on Europe’s geopolitical periphery. This paper examines how Nicosia (Cyprus) and Xanthi, (Western Thrace) function as borderland sites where hegemonic geopolitical imaginaries intersect with quotidian practices of coexistence, revealing a “double helix” that binds macro-level narratives to micro-level lived experience. Nicosia exemplifies a “checkpoint city,” where the legacy of partition, the UN-controlled Buffer Zone and Orientalising discourses of the divided island shape socio-spatial life. By contrast, Xanthi represents an unpartitioned periphery where Muslim communities exempted from the Treaty of Lausanne population exchanges negotiate coexistence within the Greek nation-state. Both cities share histories of imperial governance and subsequent Westphalian nation-state imposition, yet their divergent geopolitical configurations – partition versus coexistence – produce distinct urban geographies of peace-making. Drawing on critical and feminist geopolitical frameworks as the theoretical foundation of an ethnographic PhD project, this paper conceptualises peace as plural, personal and place-specific – performed through everyday encounters in markets, schools, civic spaces and public institutions. It illustrates how marginal cities are constructed as liminal spaces subverting Westphalian statist territorial logics, whilst simultaneously offering sites of possibility in which local actors can reinterpret dominant geopolitical narratives through embodied everyday practices. By foregrounding Southeast European cities as sites of geopolitical theorisation, this paper contributes to Critical Geopolitics, Geographies of Peace and Borderland Studies. It demonstrates that geopolitics is not produced at the political core, but negotiated continuously at the margins. By tracing the intersection between discursive geopolitical power and lived geopolitical experiences in cities of Greek-Turkish interaction, this comparative framing demonstrates how the geopolitical configuration of cities actively shapes the production, negotiation and spatialisation of everyday peace.

This research examines the issue of inhabiting in Gaza Strip during the 21st century. The investigation focuses on materiality as a central aspect of the experience of inhabiting, in relation to the socio-political conditions of settler colonialism imposed by the Israeli state in the region. In Gaza, urbanization and urbanity are constituted—amid multiple experiences of violent displacement and spatial confinement—as fields of control, precarity, and collective punishment. The siege of the Gaza Strip and the socio-spatial conditions it created, implicating severe restrictions on basic goods, infrastructure, and public services, had clear effects on the transformation of housing typologies and on the emergence of informality as a necessity through which the Palestinian community develops its own spaces of living. The analysis of this condition includes concepts such as Yiftachel’s “gray spaces,” situated between legality and illegality, as well as the notion of “urban citizenship”, as a means of claiming the right to the city against regimes of spatial inequality and urban apartheid. Israeli aggression, as it has evolved throughout the 21st century against the Gaza Strip, in conjunction with transformations of contemporary warfare, led to the reuse of the term “urbicide”, understood as the extensive and deliberate destruction of the built environment aiming to the present or future annihilation and/or erasure. Subsequently, by constructing the concept of home as a universal human experience, the investigation turns to the term “domicide”, understood as the intentional destruction of home by humans, causing suffering to its victims for specific purposes—in this case, forced displacement or even genocide. The destruction taking place in the Gaza Strip must be understood as a process of systematic erasure of a nation from its land, embedded in the fundamental logic of elimination, with intervention in territory and territoriality constituting a central objective of settler colonialism.

This article examines the practice of illegal pushbacks at Greece's borders through the lens of ‘enemy under-criminalization’. Drawing on field reports, testimonies, and academic analyses, the study identifies three defining characteristics of pushbacks: raw violence, permanent exclusion, and the absence of the law. It argues that, unlike crimmigration, which merges criminal and immigration law, pushbacks operate entirely outside legal frameworks, creating an extra-legal space where unrestrained violence replaces legal procedures, treating irregular border crossers as ‘enemies’. The concept of enemy under-criminalization reflects the exclusion of irregular migrants from both physical territory and legal protection, framing them as adversaries to be removed rather than individuals with rights. By situating pushbacks as a punitive strategy beyond crimmigration, this study underscores their implications for justice, accountability, and the integrity of democratic institutions.

This paper was motivated by the shipwreck off the coast of Pylos in June 2023. The aim of this research is to highlight critical cartography as an analytical tool for recognizing migrant shipwrecks in the Aegean as spatial and political phenomena, rather than as isolated, tragic incidents, during the period 2015–2025. The research approaches the sea as a dynamic border space where control, surveillance, and selective intervention produce uneven geographies of protection and exposure. Methodologically, secondary quantitative data from the IOM – Missing Migrants Project and UNCHR are integrated with principles of critical cartography. The data were processed and visualized using GIS. The mapping comprises a flow map of migratory routes, a heat map of incidents, two maps illustrating the spatial distribution of the dead and missing, and an interactive map enabling temporal exploration of shipwrecks. The mapping reveals recurring spatial patterns and clusters of shipwrecks, highlighting specific zones of precarity in the Aegean. These patterns confirm that shipwrecks are not random incidents but integral elements of the biopolitical practices implemented within border regimes. The border constitutes a field of continuous negotiation. The Aegean Sea emerges as a “spatio-temporal threshold”, where mobility is intertwined with precarity and surveillance. This research does not seek to impose a definitive conclusion, but rather to suggest that understanding shipwrecks, as well as the borders within which they are inscribed, requires continuous reflection. Mapping constitutes an ongoing political act that challenges dominant narratives of borders, migration, and humanitarianism.

In 2015, Europe faced an unprecedented increase in refugee arrivals, leading to the so-called “reception crisis” (Rea et al., 2019). As part of the externalization of migration governance (Niemann & Zaun, 2018), the EU imposed the establishment of 'hot spots' at its entry points (Greece-Italy) (Kreichauf, 2018). A decade later, despite the significant decline in refugee arrivals and efforts to implement alternative, more sustainable, and inclusive forms of housing, Greek reception policy continues to be based on the logic of siting large refugee camps. The siting of these controversial facilities often provokes reactions from the local community associated with the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) movement (Makridou et al., 2024). Lesvos, as an informal gateway to Europe, constitutes a geopolitical space par excellence where supranational strategies of migration governance are embedded at the local level, directly influencing social relations, representations, and spatial practices across urban and peri-urban areas. In this context, the present research focuses on the local reactions that emerged in Lesvos in February 2020 against the creation of a new refugee camp in the Karava area. The hypothesis is that these specific forms of protest constitute fluid, multifactorial, and dynamic phenomena that are shaped in direct relation to central planning practices and geopolitical strategies for immigration management. The theoretical framework draws on Lefebvre (1991) and Rémy (1975), and is enriched by NIMBY reactions and migration governance studies. Following a socio-spatial approach, the methodology is based on qualitative research through semi-structured interviews with experts, stakeholders, and residents of the Regional Unit of Lesvos. The research contributes to a deeper understanding of how geopolitical strategies of migration governance are implemented and challenged at the local level, highlighting spatial planning’s role in shaping social tensions and resistance, as well as the interconnection between supranational, national, and local levels.

Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe, constitutes a dense geopolitical landscape where sovereignty, population management, and everyday life intersect. Established through the division of the island in 1974, the city operates simultaneously as a site of territorial fragmentation and as a key node in the spatial consolidation of the Turkish settler project in Northern Cyprus. This paper examines the socio‑political dynamics of Turkish settlement through the lens of critical geopolitics and biopolitical governance. The analysis focuses both on settlers, approached as mobile populations organized and regulated by state power, and on indigenous Turkish Cypriots, whose positioning is marked by tensions between ethnic affiliation and geographically grounded forms of belonging. Drawing on an analysis of legal frameworks alongside demographic and population data, the paper situates settler presence within international legal debates while engaging with the lived realities produced by long‑term population displacement. Building on Ghassan Hage’s concept of “generalized domestication” (2017), the paper conceptualizes settlers as domesticated subjects: populations governed through intersecting racial, spatial, and political technologies that seek to regulate land, bodies, and social relations. This framing moves beyond treating settlers as mere demographic agents and instead highlights their role within a broader nationalist project that produces hierarchies and exclusions. In Nicosia, this process unfolds through housing allocation, property regimes, restricted mobility, and differentiated access to citizenship and rights, transforming the city into a frontier where national projects are materially enacted. The settlers’ ambiguous legal status, constrained movement, and structural dependence on the Turkish state reveal the internal contradictions of settler colonial power. By tracing these dynamics across multiple spatial scales—from the urban to the international—the paper contributes to critical discussions on imperialism, racialization, and anticolonial resistance. Key Words: Settler Colonialism, Northern Cyprus, Nicosia, Biopolitics, Racialization, Critical Geopolitics, Displacement, Imperialism

Securitization strategies in Greek higher education institutions involve reframing issues of education and politics as matters of security and public order, thereby justifying increased control and intervention. In recent years, this shift is primarily driven by legislative changes, including the abolition of the academic asylum and the establishment of a university police force, alongside subsequent legislation introducing, among other measures, video surveillance systems, controlled access points and stricter disciplinary legal frameworks, all aimed at securing campus life and the educational process. At the same time, the dominant narrative promoted by political actors, university administrations and the media, portrays universities as spaces of lawlessness requiring immediate and decisive intervention. Within this discourse, security is framed as freedom, while those who oppose such measures are marginalised as a reactive minority acting against public interest. By constructing a sense of urgency and cultivating social consent, political authorities reinforce strategies presented as necessary and inevitable. The case of NTUA on Patission Street exemplifies this transformation in a historically symbolic context. Situated in the centre of Athens and serving as a landmark of democratic resistance during the 1973 student uprising against the military junta, the campus has been associated with political engagement, social ferment and struggles, openness and public accessibility. Over the past years, however, it has increasingly been subject to surveillance and control, reflecting the broader securitization of Greek universities. Framed as a risk hotspot, it has, following constant police interventions, become an example of the effectiveness of security policies. This transformation highlights not only a change of policy, but also a spatial and symbolic redefinition of the university. The shift from an open, public and free space to a controlled and monitored environment raises critical questions about the implications for academic freedom, political expression and the overall quality of the educational process.

The announcement will highlight the field of urban geopolitics, with emphasis on the phenomenon of urbicide, in liquid modernity/urban pastiche. Synthesizing critical infrastructures, institutional restructuring, international relations, spatial planning, and the reconstruction of megacities, as fields of regional and international conflict poles in the Global South. The first case will be Mogadishu. This is a city that has been affected by hostilities since 1991, initially in the context of a civil war and then as a field of power for Islamist networks. The city faces structural human-security problems within the institutional framework of a failed state, resulting in successive crises. Since 2023, its reconstruction has been attempted through the projects “Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development Project” and the “New Mogadishu Project”. The second case is that of Aleppo. With the beginning of the Syrian civil war, the city found itself at the target of the opposing sides and suffered a multi-year humanitarian crisis. Both its structural infrastructure and its social identity were battlegrounds, leading to the breakdown of its economic and urban structures. Since 2024, the city has been the stronghold of the new Syrian leadership, while ethnocultural neighborhoods are being militarized. The main reconstruction models are "Law 10" and the policy of "selective restoration of emblematic monuments". The third case, that of Mosul, lies mainly in the three years 2014-2017, when the city was occupied by the Islamic State (ISIS). In this case, there was extensive destruction of monuments and the city's rich cultural heritage, as well as widespread population displacement. The dominant reconstruction model, carried out by UNESCO with international participation, is “Revive the Spirit of Mosul”. The three case studies reveal the strategic value of cities in contemporary geopolitical rivalries in zones of limited sovereignty and surveillance, and a cognitive mapping of securitization as a geography of polycrisis.

In the spring of 2026, a large billboard by the Israeli real estate company “Palmo” at Athens International Airport sparked considerable controversy. Addressed to Israelis, the billboard read: “We don’t return home without a home in Greece”. The campaign’s aggressive marketing—particularly striking in a period during which Israel acts as a key organizer of the war while simultaneously continuing to perpetrate genocide. From large-scale tourism investments in central Athens and beyond, to hybrid real estate schemes involving serviced apartments for short-term or mid-term rentals, Israeli capital has established an expanding presence in the city center. In the contested neighborhood of Exarcheia—both a testing ground for urban securitization policies and a hotspot of touristification—Israeli investments are particularly intense. Based on primary research conducted at the National Cadastre as part of my doctoral project, which examines changes in property ownership in the area between 2018 and 2023, a clear trend emerges: the purchase and conversion of entire buildings. These properties are effectively withdrawn from the available housing stock, thereby significantly exacerbating the housing crisis. Corporate actors account for a substantial share of these transactions, with Israeli-linked investments standing out. More specifically, over half of the properties acquired by companies during the period under study were purchased by firms that are either directly or indirectly connected to Israeli capital. Building on these findings, this presentation seeks to map Israeli investments in the Exarcheia neighborhood. What specific forms do these investments take, and through which channels are they implemented? Under what conditions do they contribute to the touristification of the neighborhood and to the material and symbolic displacement of its residents? Why do Israeli investments display such intensity, and how is this intensity shaped by the broader geopolitical context, the strategic alliances of the Greek state, and ultimately the war itself?

The city of Belgrade, as the capital of Serbia and former capital of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, has historically occupied a strategic position at the intersection of social, cultural and geopolitical transformations in Southeast Europe. In March 1999, during the Kosovo War and the broader process of Yugoslavia’s dissolution, Belgrade became one of the main targets of NATO’s aerial bombing campaign, known as Operation Allied Force. This study explores whether, and to what extent, the bombing of Belgrade can be interpreted through the concept of urbicide, understood as the deliberately or systematic destruction on the urban environment and the social relations embedded within it. More specifically, it is investigated how this military intervention impacted not only the city’s infrastructure, but also its social life, symbolic identity, and memory narratives. The destruction caused by the bombing is approached not merely as physical damage to buildings and infrastructure, but as an attack on the conditions that allow urban life to function: networks, communication systems, public services, everyday routines, and the sense of security among residents. In this context, Belgrade is examined as more than a passive backdrop to international conflict. It becomes a field where geopolitical power and lived urban experience intersect. Furthermore, the research argues whether the 1999 bombing can be deciphered as a form of violence directed against the city itself. At the same time, the aftermath of the bombing opens up questions of collective memory, concerning how the traces of the intervention are represented, or silenced. The city is therefore highlighted both as a target of geopolitical conflict and a space where its consequences are remembered, negotiated, and reproduced. The case of Belgrade offers an important example for understanding how war, destruction, and politics of memory can shape a city’s contemporary urban landscape and identity.