By using photography and historical documentation, Elian Somers investigates in 'Border Theories' the relationship between architecture, politics and historyin three Russian cities.

In the 20th century Birobidzhan, Kaliningrad and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk were designed, built and redeveloped under the Soviet regime, with the utopian vision of a socialist city as the guiding principle. By examining their development, Elian Somers reveals how visions of urban planners, nourished by political convictions, could control but never fully overwrite a city and its history.

By using photography and historical documentation, Elian Somers investigates in 'Border Theories' the relationship between architecture, politics and historyin three Russian cities.

In the 20th century Birobidzhan, Kaliningrad and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk were designed, built and redeveloped under the Soviet regime, with the utopian vision of a socialist city as the guiding principle. By examining their development, Elian Somers reveals how visions of urban planners, nourished by political convictions, could control but never fully overwrite a city and its history.