Lela Rekhviashvili

Dr. Lela Rekhviashvili is a Researcher and Project Manager at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography in Leipzig, Germany. Her work focuses on Political Economy, Urban Geography, and informal economic practices in post-socialist and post-colonial contexts. She holds a PhD from the Central European University and has conducted extensive research on urban transport, mobility justice, and contentious public space politics in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Her research often intersects with questions of development, infrastructural contestations, and post-Soviet socio-spatial transformations.

Education

• PhD in Political Economy (Central European University, Budapest, 2015)
• M.A. in Political Science (Central European University, 2010)
• B.A. in Transformations in South Caucasus (Tbilisi State University, 2009)

Key Research Projects

• Reactions of Grassroots Movements to Green Transformations
• Cities 'Becoming Lost': Ruptures of Modernity Narratives
• Contentious Mobilities: Decolonial Lens on Mobility Transitions

Research Interests

Her studies emphasize informal economic practices (e.g., marshrutka transport systems), urban mobilities, and the politics of public space in post-socialist Eurasia. She critically examines Chinese infrastructural investments in Georgia and explores post-Soviet dialogues with post-colonial theory. Recent work analyzes development politics in the Rioni Valley and infrastructural contestations in Georgia.

Labs/Teams

She contributes to the Upheavals and Transformations research lab (Leibniz Lab) and the EEGA Science Campus, focusing on interdisciplinary regional geography studies.