'City of the Future’ is the first of its kind. As a long-awaited comprehensive account of the rise of Astana… it is a remarkably thoughtful and thought-provoking book. Laszczkowski is a skilled ethnographer and he recounts his rich and insightful research in a style that captivates and challenges readers to think outside the box.”

Natalie Koch, University of Syracuse

Astana, the capital city of the post-Soviet Kazakhstan, has often been admired for the design and planning of its futuristic cityscape. This anthropological study of the development of the city focuses on every-day practices, official ideologies and representations alongside the memories and dreams of the city’s longstanding residents and recent migrants. Critically examining a range of approaches to place and space in anthropology, geography and other disciplines, the book argues for an understanding of space as inextricably material-and-imaginary, and unceasingly dynamic – allowing for a plurality of incompatible pasts and futures materialized in spatial form.

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