ABSTRACT
Since 2015, Dushanbe has been experiencing one of the largest and fastest urban transformations in Central Asia. In a few years, Tajikistan's capital has become almost unrecognisable not only for returning visitors but also for its local inhabitants. Established initially in the 1920s as the capital of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, Dushanbe is increasingly losing its Soviet identity as Soviet architecture and spaces are being actively demolished both by the state and by private developers for the construction of new commercial high-rise and monumental administrative buildings—a process that reflects a strive for a new national identity and a more contemporary globalised urban image. This chapter addresses several significant aspects of Dushanbe's urban transformation and situates them in the context of global, regional, and local processes. The chapter argues that this transformation serves as a crucial lens to study emerging social, economic, and cultural transformations in Tajikistan, as well as to better understand changing identities and complex power relations in the region. This discussion contributes to a gap in the literature that explores the relationship between urban space, nationalism, neoliberalism, decolonisation, and identity in the context of Central Asia.
