Exploring micro-spatiality, acceptance and contestation of monuments in the central area of a post-socialist city

Abstract Recent debates on political monuments in Central and Eastern Europe have highlighted the need to study the spatial dimension and contestation of statues and other monumental sites in more detail. By employing GIS spatial analysis and media framing at the local level, our study adopts a micro-spatial perspective and critically contests monuments in the central area of Timisoara, Romania. Besides presenting differences at micro-scales of monuments based on a methodology that incorporates the Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index, Hot-Spot Analysis, Getis-Ord Gi*, and Kernel density, the results from the local media framing reveal the tensions created by nationalist and progressivist monuments. For instance, if Decebalus is a statue that has recently inspired nationalist and even far-right actions of identity, Supermam is a progressivist monument that has also been criticized and less accepted by local stakeholders. However, behind the nationalist-progressivist layer of statues, the local community still accepts the Austro-Hungarian layer of statues, which are imposing in the public space of Timisoara.