David Gogishvili

David Gogishvili is a senior researcher in the Department of Geography and Sustainability at the University of Lausanne and part of the research team M3 (Materialities | Multiplicities | Metropolis). His research focuses on the role of large-scale urban development projects, such as mega-events and flagship cultural institutions, in cities around the world. He has research expertise in the cities of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and is currently developing in the Gulf region. While primarily relying on qualitative research tools, he has recently been involved in research using spatial analysis methods and has developed several large databases for academic research over the past four years.

David is currently a senior researcher and project coordinator for the Swiss National Science Foundation's project, "Sports for the Planet?" The sustainability of major sports events. Major sports events, as resource-intensive and highly visible undertakings, have a heightened responsibility to be sustainable. Yet their sustainability remains largely understudied. The project addresses this gap by developing a conceptual model, indicator framework, and contextual analysis of the sustainability of major sports events along four thematic axes: Cities & Environment, Governance & Performance, Integrity & Human Rights, and Media & Diversity.

Previously, David worked on the project Cultural Flagships: Pathways, Practices and Politics of a Global Urban Type. As part of this project, he built a global database of cultural flagships with around 80 variables to analyse their prevalence, genealogy, context, rationale, and outcomes. You can view the first major results of this research in the article Culture Goes East: Cultural Flagships and the Making of Global East Urbanism published in Urban Studies. He also conducted qualitative research on the multiple lives, promises, and mobilities of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Saadiyat Island Cultural District in Abu Dhabi, reconstructing the genesis of these developments by tracing the multiple relationships that shaped them over time.

For publications, see: ResearchGate.

Curriculum vitae