Realms and Raions

Realms and Raions

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So, why have I started a Substack? And what's the plan?
 • Charlie Norman
Tashkent, City of Bread(s)
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Going it Solo
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The Bazaars I’ve Been To Before
 • Charlie Norman
All Around the Oblasts: Off-Beat Tourism Outside Tashkent
A sensory journey outside the capital, through Tashkent Oblast, where nature, history, and food reveal a side of Uzbekistan that locals and tourists…
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Charlie Norman
A New Tashkent but a long wait at the starting line
A delayed race, a new park, a planned city: tracing the contours of change in Uzbekistan’s capital, and months of delays (like this post).
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Charlie Norman
Apricot Time: Reflections on Produce and Punctuality
In Uzbekistan, seasonal eating isn’t just practical, but feels like a moral obligation. Blessed with rich soil and sunshine, food rituals here shape not…
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Charlie Norman
Sizing up the city- and where I stay in it.
Tashkent is a not small, but often feels like a village. Its shape and a foreigner’s lifestyle shrinks how we interact. As my (first) year here draws to…
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Charlie Norman
A Tale of Two Kishlaks- Tourism and Transition in the Nurata Mountains
In Uzbekistan’s timeless mountain valleys, two villages face the same desert, beauty, and challenges, but represent two futures. What changes does…
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Charlie Norman
Adapting to the Unexpected- the World, Nukus, the Aral Sea and Me
Things don’t always go as planned. In Nukus, in the unexpected turns of a scientific conference, I was reminded of resilience, community, and the local…
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Charlie Norman
Rediscovering Uzbekistan’s Green Cities- truisms and Timurid Gardens
Everyone’s using the phrase, but are we talking about the same thing? From ancient gardens to asphalt jungles, I'm finding why a clearer vision for…
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Charlie Norman
Chilanzar Urbanism- where I work, what I do, and where the Soviets went wrong.
The Soviets built the place I work to reshape society, but forgot its people and nature. Cities thrive when locals lead; and my work seeks to create…
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Charlie Norman
Not All That Glitters Is Culture- But Some Of It Is.
Tashkent’s cultural landmarks are vanishing- some behind scaffolding, some lost. But Tashkent's Solar Furnace shows how cultural value goes far beyond…
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Charlie Norman
Realms and Raions
Realms and Raions
Dispatches from the world around me (22, far from home (in Central Asia), working on climate policy). Writing about places, environment, sociology, urbanism, transport, philosophy, food...
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