Assoz.-Prof. Dr. Christian SMIGIEL
Paris Lodron University of Salzburg / Department of Sociology and Human Geography / Devision of Human Geography
Hellbrunnerstraße 34, A-5020 Salzburg
Tel.: +43 (0)662-8044-5248
Fax.: +43 (0)662-8044-525
E-Mail:
Short bio:
Christian Smigiel is Associate Professor of Human Geography (Urban and Social Geography) at the University of Salzburg (PLUS). He holds a Diploma in Geography, Political Science and Economics from the University of Münster (WWU). In 2015, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Leipzig for a thesis entitled “Productions of space: materiality, symbolics and everyday life of Sofia’s gated communities”. In 2022, the University of Salzburg approved his cumulative habilitation. Christian Smigiel has directed several research projects on short-term rentals, financialization, gentrification, smart cities in Austrian, German, and Italian as well as in several Central and Eastern European contexts.
Research interests:
I have been researching and teaching at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (PLUS) since 2016. My research focuses on interdisciplinary and comparative urban and housing studies. I am currently working primarily in the following areas:
- Socio-spatial inequalities: Analyzing processes such as gentrification, touristification, segregation, polarization, forms of poverty in Europe
- Legal geographies: developing perspectives for applied-critical urban studies with a view to legal practices in the area of housing
- Critical tourism studies: developing analytical perspectives on touristification and exploring new policy approaches
- Geographies of digitalization: investigating platform capitalism and socio-spatial implications in cities // Data, crises, strategies – a critical look at urban policies
I explore these topics in different spatial contexts and in a multiscalar perspective, starting from Salzburg, Austria, Germany, Eastern and South(Eastern) Europe (esp. Italy) to the Global South. In particular, the exchange and cooperation in interdisciplinary research networks with international colleagues is of central importance.
Selected publications:
Smigiel, C. (2023): Touristification, rent gap and the local political economy of Airbnb in Salzburg (Austria). In: Urban Geography Vol. 44(6). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2023.2233352
Smigiel, C. (2021): Wohnungsfrage(n) – Multiple Perspektiven auf ein zentrales Themenfeld sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung konkretisiert am Beispiel Kurzzeitvermietung. In: GW-UNTERRICHT 163, 3. S. 5-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1553/gw-unterricht163s5
Cocola-Gant, A.; Hof, A.; Smigiel, C. & Yrigoy, I. (2021): Short-term rentals as a new urban frontier – evidence from European cities. In: Environment and Planning A. Vol. 53(7) 1601–1608. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X211042634
Smigiel, C. (2020): Why it did not work? Reflections over regulating Airbnb and the complexity and agency of platform capitalism. In: GEOGRAFICA HELVETICA. 75, pp.253-257. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-75-253-2020
Smigiel, C. (2020): Behind The Smart City: Theoretische Einordnungen und empirische Erkenntnisse einer multiskalaren Strategie am Beispiel Österreichs. In: GEOGRAPHISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT. Vol. 108, 1, pp.39-62. DOI: http://doi.org/10.25162/gz-2019-0017
Smigiel, C. (2019): Urban political strategies in times of crisis: A multi-scalar perspective on smart cities in Italy. In: EUROPEAN URBAN & REGIONAL STUDIES, 26 (4), pp. 336-348. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0969776418792049
