A new position for doctoral studies is available under the supervision of our research team leader Martin Ouředníček. The deadline for applications is 15. 12. 2025!
The changing urbanization and urban processes are increasingly linked to international migration and significantly affect daily mobility within metropolitan areas. A number of traditional urban functions are partially or completely disappearing from the physical space, and thus the localization factors of these functions are also changing. As a result of digitization and the Covid-19 pandemic, work, services, shopping, entertainment, education and leisure activities are decentralized from urban cores and delocalized outside the physical world in the form of home offices, e-jobs, e-services, e-shops, e-learning. Following the theoretical concepts of structuration theory, mobility transition, pacemakers and heterolocalisation, the aim of the dissertation project is to describe and explain how the processes of intensive international migration, especially to large cities, are interrelated with gentrification and subsequent decentralization of the residential function of the urban population (suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation). Changes in migration flows subsequently also affect the relationship between the location of residence, workplace, services and leisure activities and daily activity systems within metropolitan regions shaped by new forms of spatial mobility.
Title: Interaction between variant forms of spatial mobility within the settlement system
Department: Department of Social Geography and Regional Development (31-340)
What will be the main focus?
The main focus will be on comparative research of European cities.
What methods are expected to be used?
Methodologically, the dissertation should use mixed research based on the triangulation of methods of quantitative analysis of traditional statistical data (population census, ongoing migration records), big data (data from mobile operators, GPS, social networks) and case studies in selected European cities.
A PhD candidate would participate in the research project within the consortium of Charles University, Masaryk University and Academy of Science A Mobile Society: Opportunities and Risks of New Forms of Mobility for Czech Society and Economy.
Requirements for potential doctoral candidates:
Analytical thinking ability
Theoretical background in urban social geography
Teamwork
Ability to write academic texts
Skills in the collection, management and analysis of statistical and spatial data
A new article has been published in Urban Studies, with contributions from Martin Šimon and Martin Ouředníček, In it, the researchers focus on a comparative study of socio-economic segregation in European capital city regions.
The current paper extends comparative research on residential segregation in Europe by incorporating the latest 2021 census and register-based data to determine whether segregation levels have continued to rise or have peaked, or whether there are signs of desegregation. It also examines how changes in segregation align with shifts in income inequality and occupational structures.
A comparative analysis of 16 European capital city-regions shows a slowdown in the rise of segregation, with some city-regions transitioning from segregation to desegregation. These changes coincide with both a slowdown in the growth of income inequality and increased professionalization of the workforce.
11th International Urban Geographies of Post-Communist States Conference (CATference) took place in Tirana, 22–25 September 2025. The theme of this year’s edition was: Cities after Transition: Innovative, inclusive, informal?
As usual, several members of our team attended the conference. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to meet not only researchers from other countries, but also several researchers from other Czech universities and research institutions (e.g., from Brno and Ostrava).
The conference again included a field trip. As part of this, the participants saw Tirana’s city spread out into the countryside and then travelled around the mountains on a boat trip on Lake Koman. They also visited small towns that used to be new towns in communist times, such as Fierza, Reps and Rubik, as well as the cities Prizren and Kukës. They spent the night in Valbona Valley, then visited Kosovo quickly before going back to Albania.
What presentations did our team give at the conference?
New socio-spatial differentiation finally comes: Mapping of segregation in Prague Metropolitan Area 2001–2011–2021 (Martin Šimon, Martin Ouředníček)
At the Edge: Migration and Peripheralization in Czechia’s Westernmost Region (Adam Klsák, Jiří-Jakub Zévl, Jiří Nemeškal)
Mapping gentrification in Prague inner city neighbourhoods: a quantitative analysis (Martin Ouředníček, Adela Petrović)
Housing Choices of Young Families: Housing Estate, Inner-City Neighbourhood, or Both? (Petra Špačková, Niloufar Ghafouriazar)
Urban Regulations and Political Memory: Towards Understanding Spatio-Temporal Aspects of Urban Development (UNREAD)
Course description:
„Urban Regulations and Political Memory: Towards Understanding Spatio-Temporal Aspects of Urban Development” is an international, interdisciplinary course organised by five 4EU+ member universities: University of Warsaw, University of Milan, Charles University, Sorbonne University,Heidelberg University as part of the 4EU+ joint educational offer during the academic year 2025/2026.
Key topics of the course are the driving forces of urban changes, development of smart cities and interdisciplinary methodologies of urban studies. The course is developed as part of an educational project which addresses changes in the conditions of the urban development of smart cities in Poland, Italy, Czechia and Germany, according to three dimensions: past (history), present (law) and future (geography). Emphasis is put on integrated and interdisciplinary approach in order to help students understand the complexity of new urban centres in which real estate development must coexist with the protection of the environment and with the history and heritage of the local community.
The course will be conducted by an interdisciplinary team of historians, lawyers, geographers and educational sciences specialists.
Course dates: virtual part – Wednesdays afternoons, starting from 8 October 2025 (13:15-14:45 / 13:15-15:45 / 13:15-16:30); on-site part 23-27 February 2026
Language of instruction: English.
Number of online didactic hours: 47 (lectures and workshops): 27 virtual hours (October – December 2025), 20 on-site hours (23-27 February 2026)
Assessment methods and conditions for obtaining credit: Group work: producing an essay and delivering a presentation (each student group has to comprise participants from different universities). Essays will be presented at a face-to-face conference (2 days) held at the University of Warsaw in February 2026 during 5 days on-site period of the course.
ECTS: 6.
How to apply?
The students will be selected based on their CV and motivation letter.
The deadline for sending the documents is 23 September 2025.
The CV and the motivation letter should be sent as a single PDF document to unread@wpia.uw.edu.pl
The file’s name should contain the applicant’s name (surname_name.pdf), and the subject of the email should be “UNREAD recruitment”.
The motivation letter should indicate the students’ objectives and motivations for taking the course.
The motivation letter should not exceed 1,000 characters.
Join our dynamic research team for a postdoctoral fellowship within the project “A Mobile Society: Opportunities and Risks of New Forms of Mobility for Czech Society and Economy”, funded by the Johannes Amos Comenius Programme (P JAC), Ministry of Education.
Research focus: New forms of socio-spatial mobility in metropolitan areas
The postdoc will explore:
everyday and residential mobility in relation to social inequality
urban processes shaped by migration, digitalisation, and flexible work
Prague metropolitan area as the main case study
either qualitative or quantitative approach (based on applicant’s expertise)
Other information
Location: Urban and Regional Laboratory, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague
Includes opportunities for teaching and developing follow-up grant proposals
Start date: January 1, 2026 | Application deadline: August 1, 2025
The paper on the basis of detailed migration data, shows the structure of in-migration (invasion of gentrifiers) and out-migration (displacement) in Karlín during the 2010-2020 period. In contrast to many authors from CEE countries, Adela and Martin argue that in selected neighbourhoods of Prague, classical gentrification has developed instead of other inner city transformation processes. Foreigners are the main group of gentrifiers, while the Czech population has the highest out-migration rate in recent years.
Members of Urrlab attended the GIS Research UK Conference 2025 (GISRUK), hosted by the University of Bristol from 23 – 25 April. Researchers Martin Fleischmann, Krasen Samardzhiev, and Anna Brazdova presented their contributions on the topics of Simplification of Street Networks, Hierarchical Classification of urban form, and Spatial Modelling of the Relationship between urban form and population data.
From 16th to 17th April 2025 the ISAB (International Scientific Advisory Board) meeting took place within the framework of the currently implemented project P JAC: A Mobile Society: Opportunities and Risks of New Forms of Mobility for Czech Society and Economy. The event was really successful. It was full of stimulating discussions and all the planned activities were implemented.
The members of the International Scientific Advisory Board are:
Prof. Eva Fodor
Prof. Russel King
Prof. Robert Roth
Prof. Tiit Tammaru
On the first day, there was a welcome to the faculty, introduction of the project, presentation of individual research plans and election of the ISAB chairman. On the second day, we prepared excursions for ISAB members in the morning around the Černý Most housing estate, and after lunch, there was an open lecture by one of the ISAB members, Tiit Tammaru, entitled: A Comparative Study of Socio-Economic Segregation in European Capital Cities.
⚠️ POZOR ZMĚNA MÍSTNOSTI: AKCE PROBĚHNE VE VELKÉ PALEONTOLOGICKÉ POSLUCHÁRNĚ ⚠️
We would like to invite you to a public lecture of Prof Tiit Tammaru: A Comparative Study of Socio-Economic Segregation in European Capital Cities: From Segregation to Desegregation?, which will take place on 17 April 14:50 at Albertov and online.
About the lecture
He will present a comparative research on residential segregation in Europe, exploring whether segregation levels continued to rise, have peaked, or show signs of desegregation. He will also focus on how changes in segregation align with shifts in income inequality and occupational structures.ách.
Tiit Tammaru
Tiit Tammaru is a Professor of Urban and Population Geography at the University of Tartu, Faculty of Science and Technology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences and Director of Human Geography at the Department of Geography. He is a leading expert on socio-economic and ethnic segregation, urban and neighbourhood transformation, migration, and residential mobility and housing, and is particularly interested in understanding the spatial dimensions of urban poverty and migration and related spatial and social policies. He is interested in the paradigm shift in studies of spatial inequalities from neighbourhood tracking to an activity space approach and how the shift of many activities to digital space affects activities in physical space.
Further information
You can either come to the lecture in person to Velká paleontologická posluchárna at Albertov 6 or listen to it online. Link to watch here: meet.google.com/kef-negb-nwk
Mobility, migration, and socio-spatial inequalities
A new phase of economic and social globalization
Transformational processes in the settlement system and metropolitan areas
The impact of new technologies, big data, and cartographic visualization
The main research goal is to conduct multidisciplinary research through five research objectives. The project aims to generate new insights, methodological approaches, and innovative analytical methods, as well as develop advanced modeling tools and cartographic visualization techniques.
The project is divided into five research objectives, which are interconnected through the composition of research teams from partner institutions, shared theoretical concepts, and methodological approaches.
More information about our research team’s activities can be found at www.urrlab.cz, and soon also on the project’s website, which is currently under development.
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A new position for doctoral studies is available under the supervision of our research team leader Martin Ouředníček. The deadline for applications is 15. 12. 2025!
The paper on the basis of detailed migration data, shows the structure of in-migration (invasion of gentrifiers) and out-migration (displacement) in Karlín during the 2010-2020 period. In contrast to many authors from CEE countries, Adela and Martin argue that in selected neighbourhoods of Prague, classical gentrification has developed instead of other inner city transformation processes. Foreigners are the main group of gentrifiers, while the Czech population has the highest out-migration rate in recent years.
