Laboratory of Critical Urbanism

Laboratory of Critical Urbanism LCU approach is synthetic both in terms of process and results: it entails simultaneously conceptual and applied critical perspectives.

The Laboratory of Critical Urbanism at the European Humanities University in Vilnius (founded in 2007) serves as a platform for scholars and practitioners working in the field of urban studies. The Laboratory conducts multidisciplinary cross-sectoral research on urban space and urban development, organizes conferences, exhibitions and cultural projects, and is running educational programs in integrative urbanism. Laboratory’s members are European Humanities University actual and former faculty, students, as well as affiliated partners. The Laboratory works under the principle that new interdisciplinary configurations of academic thought and applied intervention are necessary to more fully understand the complexity and entanglements of emergent socio-spatial forms. This is particularly so in the case of the regions, cities and rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe, where hybrid and often paradoxical spatial paradigms and social processes can be observed. In particular, the Laboratory works to explore the potential and obstacles caused by the persistence of the socialist built environment in its complex and uneven interaction with the international movement and regulation of people, artefacts, ideas, goods and money characteristic of contemporary capitalism. Through developing a range of research and intervention projects, the Laboratory of Critical Urbanism works in collaboration and overlaps with the various University education projects. The goal of such collaboration is to organize long-term urbanist work as systematically triangulated: as legitimized simultaneously for a community of professional researchers, for students engaged in the process of learning and for social partners in the field. Such a triangulation amplifies an awareness of and sensitivity to the possibilities, hindrances, pains and hopes out of which urbanist research settings are composed. Thus, it allows a grounded development of proposals for alternative models of spatial organization, experience and governance.

Siarhei Liubimau: "Realm of freedom and realm of necessity in definitions of the 'planetary': Cold War, Great Accelerati...
28/01/2026

Siarhei Liubimau: "Realm of freedom and realm of necessity in definitions of the 'planetary': Cold War, Great Acceleration and the impediments of human-Earth entanglements" - https://fennia.journal.fi/article/view/161768

In spring semester 2023 EHU hosted “The Generator” Field School for the group of students from European Humanities Unive...
28/01/2026

In spring semester 2023 EHU hosted “The Generator” Field School for the group of students from European Humanities University, Arizona State University and Bard College Berlin -

"The Generator Project" is a multi-sited, multi-campus, and multi-disciplinary seminar on energy justice, co-organised by the European Humanities University,...

August 2022: "Charity Dinner", a format of a community-driven town museum in the making.
05/08/2025

August 2022: "Charity Dinner", a format of a community-driven town museum in the making.

"Charity Dinner" is a memorialisation project for Visaginas (a nuclear town after the nuclear power in Lithuania). Visaginas was built with the sole purpose ...

Three more weeks to apply - Joint Masters "Integrative Urban Studies". More information at https://inus.school
30/07/2025

Three more weeks to apply - Joint Masters "Integrative Urban Studies". More information at https://inus.school

In spring semester 2023 EHU hosted “The Generator” Field School for the group of students from European Humanities Unive...
24/07/2025

In spring semester 2023 EHU hosted “The Generator” Field School for the group of students from European Humanities University, Arizona State University and Bard College Berlin -

On May 22-26, 2023 EHU hosted “The Generator” Field School for the group of students from European Humanities University, Arizona State University and Bard C...

The OSUN Network Collaborative Course "The Laboratory and the City: Critical Approaches in Urban Studies" in 2025 focuse...
17/07/2025

The OSUN Network Collaborative Course "The Laboratory and the City: Critical Approaches in Urban Studies" in 2025 focused on Karoliniškės Landscape Reserve - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga1ATk46BMc&t=7s

With European Humanities University Open Society University Network Performatyvus dizainas

The OSUN Network Collaborative Course "The Laboratory and the City: Critical Approaches in Urban Studies" focused on Karoliniškės Landscape Reserve in 2025.

We had great applicants in the first round, and now the second round of applications is open for the Joint Masters in In...
19/06/2025

We had great applicants in the first round, and now the second round of applications is open for the Joint Masters in Integrative Urban Studies -- with a curriculum distributed among Brno University of Technology, European Humanities University in Vilnius, and the University of Wroclaw. Apply via https://inus.school by August 23. Applicants who require EU visas or hold diplomas from outside the EU are encouraged to apply by June 30 or to contact us at [email protected]

Summer School "Green Infrastructures for Diverse Users" in Brno, Czech Republic - apply by June 9 via https://inus.schoo...
29/05/2025

Summer School "Green Infrastructures for Diverse Users" in Brno, Czech Republic - apply by June 9 via https://inus.school/summer/

New Joint Masters "Integrative Urban Studies" with curriculum distributed among Brno University of Technology, European ...
30/04/2025

New Joint Masters "Integrative Urban Studies" with curriculum distributed among Brno University of Technology, European Humanities University in Vilnius and University of Wroclaw. More information -

Shape the cities of tomorrow. Apply for the two-year Master’s Programme in Urbanism.

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The Laboratory of Critical Urbanism at European Humanities University (founded in 2007) serves as a platform for scholars and practitioners in the region working in the field of urban studies. The Laboratory conducts multidisciplinary cross-sectoral research on urban space and urban development, organizes conferences, exhibitions and cultural projects, and is running educational programs in integrative urbanism.

The Laboratory works under the principal that new interdisciplinary configurations of academic thought and practical intervention are necessary to more fully understand the diversity and complexity of emergent socio-spatial forms. This is particularly so in the case of the regions, cities and rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe, where hybrid and often paradoxical spatial paradigms and social processes can be observed. In particular, the Laboratory works to explore the potential and obstacles caused by the persistence of the socialist built environment in its complex and uneven interaction with the international movement and regulation of people, ideas, goods and money characteristic of contemporary capitalism.

Thus, through developing a range of research and intervention projects the Laboratory of Critical Urbanism works in collaboration and overlap with the Critical Urban Studies track within Cultural Studies MA programme at EHU to construct a repertoire of work enabling both the better understanding of socio-spatial forms, on both local and comparative international levels, and the development of proposals for alternative models of spatial experience or organization.