Producing an Inventory of the Void, Administering to Russify: Observations on the Municipalization of "Ownerless" dwellings in Mariupol under Russian Occupation
Guénola Inizan
Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig9.12.2025, 16:00
Library of Center for Urban History
The research project of Guénola Inizan lies at the intersection of geo-legal studies and political geography. It begins with the existing tension between, on the one hand, the complete illegality under international law of the Russian occupation in Mariupol since 2022 and the extreme violence on which control over the city is based, and, on the other hand, the development of an institutional framework to "legalize" the massive confiscation of housing.
The research targets housing units that are classified as "ownerless," although most of their residents were in fact forced to flee the war and/or the occupation or were killed. It presents the main dynamics revealed by the analysis of these sources: the systematization of housing seizures; the development of the bureaucratic activity of the occupying authorities around dispossession; strategies of legitimation; and the exportation of authoritarian practices. Additionally, the project addresses the remaining blind spots, first from the perspective of empirical knowledge of the housing confiscations and the methodological and ethical challenges this raises; and presents the resistance tactics implemented by residents/owners and Ukrainian institutional actors in response to this organized dispossession, whether through immediate reactions or de-occupation scenarios.
During the Urban Seminar the researcher also present the methodology (cartographic analysis, discourse and documentary analysis), as well as the sources used: regulatory texts and housing lists from the occupying administration, reports, and press reviews, outlining both their value and their limitations. She will also discuss the ethical issues that accompany this research.
She is a geographer specializing in urban and social geography. Her research focuses on issues of home, housing, residential trajectories, demolition, and urban planning policies. Her research focuses on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, where she examines the urban planning and housing policies implemented by the Russian occupying administration, including the confiscation of housing property. During her residency at the Center, Guénola is continuing her study of housing property seizures in the TOT of Ukraine. Through interviews, she will document the various forms of response and resistance that have emerged in reaction to these seizures. She will also dedicate part of her residence to analyzing archival and documentary materials concerning several cities currently under temporary occupation.
Guénola Inizan
Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig
Urban Seminar will be held in a workshop format. Researchers are invited to discuss scholarly projects, research at various stages of development, and completed research that is being prepared for publication.
Participation in the Urban Seminar requires preliminary reading and discussion of the researcher's text. If you would like to join the Seminar, please email Maryana Mazurak (m.mazurak@lvivcenter.org), and we will send you the materials in advance.
Credits
Cover Image: Mariupol, Livoberezhnyi District – housing units targeted by the occupying administration for ‘municipalization’ (2023–2025)