Local Communities in St. Petersburg: Politicisation of Claims to Contested Urban Spaces

Abstract

This paper considers the opportunities of local communities in St. Petersburg, Russia, to claim their right to the city under the conditions of aggressive urban (re)development initiated by strong advocacy groups from 2008 to 2012. It questions whether and to what extent local communities conceptualise their demands to influence decision-making in urban planning and development as ‘political’ and, in doing so, acquire collective identity. It also describes the role of political opportunity structures in such conceptualisation. Its purpose is, ultimately, to determine whether the politicisation of protest initiatives is an effective tool that local communities use to defend their neighbourhoods against outer threats. To tackle various responses of the locals to unwanted urban change, this article focuses on four of ten investigated cases of negotiations and conflicts between advocacy groups with differentiated bargaining power around residential areas subjected to redevelopment, spot construction, demolition, etc.

Legitimate Political Demands? How Young Russians of Different Political Orientation Assess Protests

“…Local activists in Russia tend to frame their own engagement as non-political and some even consider themselves as politically indifferent when they get involved in activism addressing local shortcomings. Rare are those activists who openly make their claims in political narratives (Tykanova and Khokhlova 2013).…”

“…It is striking that there is very little desire for radical mobilisation, which reflects on the power of the Russian state to determine what is considered appropriate civic activism. Young activists seek the rhetoric of depoliticisation to create a space in which they can act -such as the Fridays for Future movement in Russia or local activism (Tykanova and Khokhlova 2013). At the same time, the focus groups underline that the seal of a genuine political nature of protests is fiercely disputed: regime critical young people argue for the genuine political demands that mobilisation voiced, and supporters of the regime frequently dismiss mobilisation as illustrating personal frustration.…”