Catherine Raya Polishchuk
Value(s)
Policymaking
Urban planning
Citizen participation
Bureaucracy
Bio
Catherine Raya Polishchuk is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna and a fellow at the ifk | International Research Center for Cultural Studies University of Art and Design Linz (2025–26). She was an ÖAW Doc Fellow (2020–24) and a visiting research student at the London School of Economics (2022–23). She holds degrees from the University of Zurich and the Graduate Institute Geneva (IHEID). In 2023, she was awarded the Theodor Körner Prize. Her current research examines urban renewal in Vienna, with a focus on policymaking, citizen participation, city branding, and the tensions between social-democratic values and economic imperatives in urban transformation.
Publications
Publications
Selected publications
- Juggling with urbanization and housing insecurity: Lived experiences from four cities - Newspaper Article
- Essaim d’Accueil: an example of youth work with young adult refugees in Geneva - Book Chapter
In: Between Insecurity and Hope: Reflections on youth work with young refugees, edited by Pisani, M., Basarab, T., Bello, B. G., and Laine, S.
- Citizenship in Theorie und Praxis: Kategorien als Leitfaden in Europa: Durch Migration bedingte Veränderungen von Citizenship am Beispiel Frankreichs - Thesis
Bachelor’s Thesis in Anthropology
Other Media
- The Livability Apparatus. Establishing Vienna as Most Livable in the World
Barely anyone living in Vienna remains unfamiliar with the narrative that the city affords a comfortable lifestyle. Public transportation, cleanliness, and medical care are said to contribute to that liveable life one allegedly has in Vienna. International indexes affirm this image by placing Vienna at the top of the list of most liveable cities worldwide.
Among the many factors shaping this portrayal, housing plays a particularly distinctive role. Housing policies build on the legacy of interwar social democracy and municipal housing remains a prominent landmark across the city. This lecture posits the »livability apparatus« as emerging from an interplay between discourse and institutions. This apparatus establishes the truth of Vienna’s livability as an uncontested value, prompting public institutions to act in ways that preserve the image and maintain the city’s international reputation. The lecture shows that the workings of the apparatus depoliticize the issues at stake and conceal the primacy of economic development in livability issues. By situating the apparatus within interurban competition and analyzing selected housing policies, the question is whom this »livability« serves.
Talks and Events
Past
An Ethnography of Conflicting Values of Urban Regeneration - Presenter
RC21 Urban and Regional Development Conference: Inequalities and the City
University of Vienna
The Livability Apparatus: Establishing Vienna as the Most Livable City in the World - Presenter
Architecture_Media_Politics_Society Conference Livable Cities: Critiquing the Urban Renaissance (AMPS)
University of Salford
Planning the Livable City of Vienna: The Curious Mix of Social Democratic and Neoliberal Values - Presenter
Brownbag Lunch Series at Research Platform The Challenges of Urban Futures
University of Vienna
The Livability Apparatus. Establishing Vienna as Most Livable in the World - Speaker
Monday Lectures at ifk
International Research Center for Cultural Studies University of Art and Design Linz
Early-Career Workshop in Urban Studies: “What’s the Urban worth? Revaluing the value of urban life” - Participant
University of Lisbon
Soziale Durchmischung: von radikalem Tool zu oberflächlichem Marker von Diversität - Presenter
Tagung Stadt, Land, Wohnen: Herausforderungen und Perspektiven der regionalen Wohnungsmarktforschung
Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg
Shifting Ideology: When Social Inclusion Gives in to Livability in Urban Renewal Policies - Presenter
Anthropology of the State Network Conference
University of Amsterdam
Workshop on Urban space in tension between financialization and the right to the city - Organizer
Vienna Doctoral School of Social Sciences, University of Vienna
Participate! Co-producing citizen participation practices and democratic ideas - Presenter
EASST and 4S Joint Conference
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Mitgestaltung von urbanen Transformationsprozessen – vom Brunnenmarkt bis zur Thaliastraße - Presenter
with Cornelia Dlabaja
Talks & Walks Series: 50 years of soft urban renewal in Vienna with Sektion Stadtforschung
Austrian Association for Sociology (ÖGS)
In/formality as a Working Style: Urban Renewal in Vienna, Austria - Presenter
CEU Graduate Conference
Central European University (CEU)
Wem hört Wien zu?: Bürger*innenbeteiligung in Stadterneuerung - Speaker
Politiken des Schweigens | lecture series Disziplinen in Bewegung
Faculty Center for Transdisciplinary Historical and Cultural Studies, University of Vienna
Einführung in das wissenschaftliche Arbeiten - Lecturer
Winter Term, 2023/24
Seminar at the Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Vienna
Planning without Responsibility: ‘quality of life for all’ in Vienna without resources - Presenter
Anthropology of the State Network Conference
Riga Stradiņš University
Participation in Urban Planning: A Path to Less Inequality? - Presenter
ÖGS Kongress
Vienna University of Economics and Business
Inklusion und Exklusion durch Stadterneuerung in Wien - Lecturer
Winter term, 2021/22
Guest Lecture in the course “Aktuelle gesellschaftliche Themen und Fragestellungen“ at the Faculty for Social Sciences, University of Vienna
13th EthnoDoks workshop: What can ethnography really do? - Organizer
University of Vienna
Repräsentativität in qualitativer Sozialforschung. Und was hat das mit Beteiligungsverfahren zu tun? - Speaker
WIP Lecture Series
Municipal Department 25 (MA 25)
Governance Arrangements of Urban Renewal - Presenter
CEU Graduate Conference
Central European University (CEU)
Fit for FÖP - Lecturer
Winter term, 2020/21
Workshop at Social Science Studies Program, University of Vienna
Soft Urban Renewal: Inclusive Governance Technique? - Presenter
The European Association of Social Anthropologists 2020
University of Lisbon
Mediated negotiations for space between Viennese municipal authorities and residents of the city - Speaker
Creole Intensive Program
University of Lyon