CARE-DATA
Collaborative methods for caring urban development in small cities of Armenia and Kazakhstan
Core project partners:
Duration: 2026 – 2027
Funding: OEAD “Eurasia-Pacifc Uninet (EPU)“, EPU 14/2025
What is CARE-DATA about?
The overall objective of CARE-DATA is to collaboratively develop methodologies to better understand socio-spatial fragmentation patterns in the context of current care practices, manifested particularly in so-called left-behind small cities of Kazakhstan and Armenia.
Its aims are threefold:
- Establish a collaborative urban research agenda on post-Soviet cities with a focus on socio-spatial fragmentation and care practices, resulting in the preparation of a larger joint research proposal at the end of the project.
- Expand multilateral interdisciplinary academic cooperation as well as staff and PhD student mobility in urban research between Armenia, Austria and Kazakhstan.
- Strengthen research capacities of tenured and early career researchers to co-design and implement participatory methods for data collection and analysis, which in turn, can be integrated into research-led teaching at various levels in higher education.
What are the different phases of CARE-DATA?
Collaborating (until October 2026)
- We identify commonalities and differences between urban development in Armenia and Kazakhstan regarding fragmentation patterns and care practices,
➔ This will lead to the selection of case cities to pilot participatory data collection.
Collecting (November 2026 – April 2027)
- We will conduct participatory data collection with mixed methods, data processing and in-depth analysis in each case,
➔ This will lead to a deepened understanding of fragmentation and care subjects, objects and modes as relational concepts across various scales.
Communicating (until June 2027)
- We well develop joint interpretation of findings and facilitate comparative learning from the participatory methodological approach,
➔ The results will be disseminated to academia (research and education), local stakeholders and the public.
Core project partners
Project details
Project partners:
Other USLL-projects:
ReCity
ReCity An inter- and transdisciplinary approach to the revitalization of former small industrial towns in Armenia with regard to their sustainable transformation potential What is ReCity about? This project aims to promote sustainable urban development in small industrial cities in Armenia. The working group is collaborating with the Department of Sociology at Yerevan State University
ZOE – Zoonosis Emergence across Degraded and Restored Forest Ecosystems
ZOE – Zoonosis Emergence across Degraded and Restored Forest Ecosystems What are the relations between biodiversity loss and the risk of zoonosis, that is, the transmission of diseases between animals and humans? How can we create synergies between holistic approaches to health and biodiversity conservation to reduce the risk of zoonosis emergence? And what is
GReenSCape
The international collaboration project GReenSCape addresses and analyzes the multifunctionality of different types of Urban Agriculture, their impact on the resilience capacities of cities, and their ability to contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which extend beyond SDG 2 – ‘No Hunger’ and SDG11 – ‘Sustainable Cities & Communities’.
