Suzanne Harris-Brandts

Faculty Appointment

School of Architecture and Urbanism

Faculty Affiliation

Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies

Suzanne Harris-Brandts  is Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University, a licensed architect (OAA), and founding partner of Collective Domain, a practice for spatial analysis, urban activism, architecture, and media in the public interest.  Her research brings together design and the social sciences to explore issues of power, equity, and collective identity in the built environment. It covers topics as broad spanning as iconic city building, incentivized urbanism, contested place meanings, and design’s relationship to conflict-induced displacement—often foregrounding the role of designer agency.

Research Interests

• contemporary South Caucasus and Balkans
• iconic city building, including mega-projects, mega-events, and incentivized urbanism
• politics of urban development and image-making, particularly in capital cities
• contested place meanings and reflections of identity in the built environment
• design’s relationship to conflict-induced displacement
• design and designer socio-political agency

Research

2023-25 SSHRC Insight Development Grant (PI) “Megaproject Mirages: Uncovering the Politico-Economic Uses of Speculative Eco-flagships in the ‘Global East’”

2021-26 SSHRC Insight Grant (Co-applicant) “Gardens Otherwise and Elsewhere: A Historical and Ethnographic study of Georgian Gardens”

2022-24 SSHRC Connection Grant (Co-applicant) “Displacement in Wartime; Routes and Destinations, Space, Place and Pluralism: Russia’s Invasion, Ukrainian Actions and Consequences for Europe and Eurasia”

2022-23 SSHRC Connection Grant (Co-applicant) “Agora II: (Un)Common Precedents”

2020 Tbilisi Architecture Biennial (PI for Collective Domain) “Build it and they will come”

2018-22 NSF Georgia Fundamental Research Grant (Co-applicant) “Examining the Social Impacts of Large, Private Sector Urban Development in Batumi and Tbilisi, Georgia”

Select Publications

Harris-Brandts, S., Gogishvili, D., & Sichinava, D.  (2024). #SpendYourSummerInGeorgia: Popular Geopolitics and Tourism Marketing in Georgia-Russian Relations, Social and Cultural Geography, 1-19.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2024). Heritage Diplomacy, Neo-Ottomanism, and a Local Quest for a New Place of Worship: The Politics of Mosque Building in Batumi, Georgia. Fabrications, 34(2). Special issue: What is “shared”? Architectural Heritage in Conflict, 1-18.

Harris-Brandts, S., & Sichinava, D. (2024). Re-conceptualizing the social, environmental, and political hazards associated with displacement in the Republic of Georgia. In Gaillard, J.C., Rodriguez Alarcón, M., Ocampo Go, C. (Eds.) Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Natural Hazard Science. Oxford University Press.

Harris-Brandts, S. & Goci, E. (2023). Formalizing Tirana. OnSite Review, 43 (Temporary Architecture), 32-37.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2022). The ‘White Palace’ Party Headquarters: Architecture, Urban Design, and Power in North Macedonia. In Koch, N. (Ed.) Spatializing Authoritarianism. 86-112. Syracuse University Press.

Harris-Brandts, S., & Sichinava, D. (2021). Architecture and Friendship Among Nations: The Shifting Politics of Cultural Diplomacy in Tbilisi, Georgia. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 27 (12), 1213-1229.

Harris-Brandts, S., & Sichinava, D. (2021). The Politics of Urban Recovery in a Soviet-era Resort Town: Heritage Tourism and Displaced Communities in Tskaltubo, Georgia. In Al-Harithy, H. (Ed.) Urban Recovery: Intersecting Displacement with Post War Reconstruction. 271-294. London, UK: Routledge.

Harris-Brandts, S., & Gogishvili, D. (2020). Lofty Ideals in Aerial Connectivity: Ideology in the Urban Cable Car Network of Tbilisi, Georgia. Eurasian Geography & Economics, 65 (3), 289-319.

Gogishvili, D., & Harris-Brandts, S. (2020). Coinciding Practices of Exception in Urban Development: Sports Events and Special Economic Zones. European Planning Studies, 28 (10), 1999-2019.

Gogishvili, D., & Harris-Brandts, S. (2019). The Social and Spatial Insularity of Internally Displaced Persons: “Neighbourhood Effects” in Georgia’s Collective Centres. Caucasus Survey, 7(2), 134-156.

Harris-Brandts, S., & Gogishvili, D. (2018). Architectural Rumors: Unrealized Megaprojects in Baku, Azerbaijan and their Politico-Economic Uses. Eurasian Geography & Economics, 59 (1), 73-97.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2018). The Role of Architecture in the Republic of Georgia’s European Aspirations. Nationalities Papers. 46 (6), 1118-1135.