Mariya Petrova

Mariya Petrova is a Researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (IfL) in Leipzig, Germany, where she has been employed since January 2021. She is a core member of the Mobilities and Migration research group within the Department of Regional Geography of Europe, focusing on urban transformations in Soviet and post-Soviet contexts, particularly Central Asia.

Her educational background includes:

• M.A. in Central Asian Studies from Humboldt University Berlin (2014-2017)
• B.A. in Media and Communication, History of Art, and Social Anthropology from Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (2007-2013)

Petrova's research explores urban infrastructures, Soviet/post-Soviet city planning in Central Asia, public transportation systems, governance mechanisms, and urban activism. Her current project Contentious Mobilities: rethinking mobility transitions through a decolonial lens (CoMoDe) examines mobility transitions through decolonial frameworks, intersecting with the IfL's Leibniz Lab Upheavals and transformations and ScienceCampus EEGA initiatives.

Analysis of her 2018-2023 publications reveals consistent focus on Central Asian urban history under Soviet rule, particularly Samarkand and Tashkent. Her work combines historical geography, material culture studies, and anthropology to investigate how urban spaces were planned, constructed, and appropriated, emphasizing governance practices, housing conflicts, and everyday lived experiences during socialist modernization.

As part of the Mobilities and Migration research group, Petrova contributes to the institute's interdisciplinary examination of geographies of belonging, migration patterns, and regional development transformations across Europe and its neighboring regions.