Assoz.-Prof. Dr. Christian SMIGIEL
Paris Lodron University of Salzburg | Department of Sociology and Human Geography | Division 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 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:
- Platform capitalism and housing: investigating platform capitalism and socio-spatial implications in housing markets // Data, crises, strategies
- Socio-spatial inequalities: Questioning processes such as gentrification, touristification, segregation, polarization, forms of poverty in European housing markets
- 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
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.
More on this in my publications, courses or directly at: christian.smigiel[at]plus.ac.at
Selected publications:
Smigiel, C. (2024): Touristification, rent gap and the local political economy of Airbnb in Salzburg (Austria) In: Urban Geography, VOL. 45, NO. 4, 713–733. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2023.2233352
Musil, R.; Smigiel, C. & Zeller, C. (2024): Stadt, Land, Wohnen. Regionale Wohnungsmärkte zwischen Boom und Krise. ISR Forschungsbericht, Heft 60. https://doi.org/10.1553/ISR_FB060
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, NO.7, 1601-1608. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X211042634
Armas-Diaz. A.; Smigiel, C. & Janoschka, M. (2021): Stadt | Tourismus kritisch hinterfragt – Zur Einführung in ein aufstrebendes humangeographisches Forschungsfeld. In: BERICHTE.GEOGRAPHIE UND LANDESKUNDE. Band 94, Heft 1. S.3-19. https://doi.org/10.25162/bgl-2021-0001
Smigiel, C. (2020): Behind The Smart City: Theoretical Arguments and Empirical Findings of a Multiscalar Strategy in Austria (in German). In: GEOGRAPHISCHE ZEITSCHRIFT. Vol. 108, 1, pp.39-62. DOI: https://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
