Last week I had the pleasure and honor of giving the Eurasian Geography and Economics keynote lecture at the 10th International Urban Geographies of Post-Communist States conference. This year it was in Riga – my first time there. The opening was held in this gorgeous Stalinka that has been mostly de-Sovietized. It was a very fitting venue.

This was the 10th edition of the “Cities After Transition” conference – our beloved CATference. In my keynote, I took stock of the conference’s storied past and looked forward to the next 10 years in order to advance what might be an agenda for scholars from, of, and linked to these regions.

Given today’s multiple overlapping crises, I argued that we should strive more than ever to speak to wider audiences and break out of the regional container that too often reduces our scholarship to something like a reflection of the dominant centers of knowledge production.

I suggested multiple theoretical and practical approaches for taking on this challenge, and it’s my sincere hope that the next decade sees scholarship from Central and Eastern Europe taking center stage in the Anglo-American literature.

Please keep an eye out – both here and at Eurasian Geography and Economics – for this talk in paper form.

Thank you – paldies! – to the local CATference organizers, who were incredible and thoughtful hosts; to the grey cardinal behind the scenes who makes everything better; and to the chief editor and entire team behind Eurasian Geography and Economics, which has long been a journal very close to my heart. This was a real honor. Thank you.