In the USSR, the state housing programme
was offering standardised mass dwellings
which provided citizens with long-desired
private flats. Today, however, many see
these neighbourhoods as outdated and
stagnant, not only because of the
modernist layout, but also their social
disunity and weak grassroots culture,
aggravated by the vivid social mix of
residents. The paper explores the ways of
enhancing social cohesion in standardised
socialist-era neighbourhoods in Russia. It
suggests scenarios for different communitybonding practices, and appropriate spaces
to perform them within the modernist
layout of the neighbourhood. It also
addresses the ways in which these practices
can expand community networks and serve
as catalysts for emergence of further
initiatives suggested by other residents.
These scenarios are applied to
Metrogorodok neighbourhood in Moscow,
Russia. It is suggested that the
interventions performed on different scales
- from an amateur exhibition inside a house
entrance hall to a pop-up market on the
busy main street - will result in residents
forming stronger bonds and strengthen
their sense of place, resulting in them
proposing their own initiatives and
potentially self-organise to defend neighbourhood interests in front of the
council.
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