Representation of Discourse About City Improvement in the Minds of Omsk

Abstract

The article analyzes the urban discourse on the improvement of the city of Omsk. The results of a qualitative sociological study conducted with city activists are compared with the results of a survey of residents of Omsk aimed at identifying satisfaction with the improvement of the urban environment. The analysis found that the dominant type of urban discourse of urban activists is the discourse of creative urbanism (creating comfortable and beautiful public spaces), and the discourse of left-wing urbanism (improving the social environment) is less relevant. The results of the survey showed that the residents of the city of Omsk are also dominated by the discourse of creative urbanism, and the discourse of the left urbanism is weakly expressed. Both the urban community of activists and the residents of the city of Omsk absolutely did not show the discourse of high industrial urbanism associated with the development of industry in the region. The degree of satisfaction of Omsk city environment is determined. The actions of key discourse actors, determined by the request of communities to increase the degree of improvement of urban space, are characterized and systematized. The conclusions are formulated about the dominance of the stereotypical concept of urban improvement, which causes a discursive conflict and affects the request of citizens in relation to the quality of the urban environment.