Maja Babic

Maja Babic is an Assistant Professor in History and Theory of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Groningen’s Faculty of Arts. Her research focuses on state-socialist and post-socialist architectural and urban developments in East-Central and Southeastern Europe, particularly former Yugoslavia. She examines intersections between architectural production, urban planning, and socio-political dynamics in 20th-century state-socialist contexts and contemporary post-communist transitions.

Key research areas include:

• State-socialist urbanism in East-Central Europe and the Balkans
• Islamic cultural heritage in 20th/21st-century urban contexts
• Post-disaster reconstruction strategies in post-socialist spaces
• Negotiations of urban identities through material heritage

Her work appears in journals like International Journal of Islamic Architecture and Architectural Histories, and she contributes to collaborative research networks such as SHERA, YARN (Young Arts Network), and the ICOG Spatial Heritage Group. Her recent publications analyze topics ranging from Skopje’s post-earthquake urbanism to Slovene socialist modernity and post-Yugoslav urban transformations.

Affiliations include the Eastern European Cultures and Heritage in a Global Perspective research group at Groningen. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates architectural history, urban studies, and socio-political analysis to explore how built environments reflect and shape socio-cultural transitions.