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Giorgi Kankia

urban geographer and planner

Urban planning and geography graduate with over 7 years of practical experience.

My researh interests range from the exploration of the fluidities of urban space and human bodies, the socio-material nature of the built environment and the everyday practices of urban living, to planning practices and urban policy-making. I believe in dense, human-scale and walkable communities.

In my previous work I have focused on urban analytics, such as accessibility and sustainable mobility, land-use change, real estate analysis and segregation. I have conducted several workshops on open-source and participatory mapping, data analysis and visualization using GIS, Python and other spatial modelling and visualization tools.

To encapsulate all of the above, I have co-founded and co-run a data visualization and analysis project Z.axis with my fellows. The project aims to bring data visualization and analytics tools closer to the general public and explain more thoroughly some of the pressing social issues happening on a daily basis.

I try to make or to put it mildly, LEARN HOW to make pretty-looking maps and visuals in my spare time. I am always open for an interesting and challenging collaboration, both through the organization and individually.

While you can scroll down to see my portfolio for the professional or personal projects I have worked over the years, I have compiled them in a much more accessible way over here. Please, have a glance and enjoy!

Education

  • PhD in Technology and Social Change, Ongoing

    Linköping University, Sweden

  • MSc in Urban and Regional Planning, 2021

    Stockholm University, Sweden

  • MA in Urban Planning, 2015

    Universidad de Granada, Spain

  • BSc in Human Geography, 2011

    Tbilisi State University, Georgia

Publications

(2022). Queer Trauma and Urban Space. WISG.

Source

(2021). Stockholm’s New Golden Bridge. Stockholm University, Department of Human Geography.

PDF

(2021). Urban Mobility Policy in Tbilisi. Publika.

Source

(2020). Social Infrastructure of Mobility and Residential Spaces. Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

PDF Video

Mappy Portfolio

Personal and professional work visualized

Talks

Media Appearance and Public Seminars

RFE/RL - Urban Protests in Georgian Context

A short documentary on observing recent urban protests in Tbilisi and reflecting on the human and built environment interaction.

PUTSPACE Research Symposium

International Research Symposium on Public Transport as Public Space.

Euronews Georgia - Urban Cycling in Tbilisi

On bicycles as an alternative to dominant urban mobility forms in Tbilisi and how the hilly terrain may not be that big of a deal.

Heinrich Böll Stiftung - How Pandemics Change Cities

Public Talk (in Georgian) at Green Academy 2020 - Panel “The Role of the State (or Its Absence) in the City.

Ilia State University - Mobility Infrastructure and Segregation

Research Talk (in Georgian) at Iliauni Research Seminar Series - “Tbilisi as a Space for Urban Encounters”.

First Channel - Cities and Pandemics

Interview about the urban factors that might contribute or deter the spread of the infection.

Walk 21 Bogotá - Tbilisi as a Walkable City

A Global Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility

Blog

Analysis, reflection and even more visualizations

Exactly, how hilly is Tbilisi for cycling?

Not as much as one would expect!

University Metro Station

Tbilisi version of Transit-Oriented Development

AXIS Towers

The story of how private capital appropriated public space