Meeting-places of transformation

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What happened to urban spaces of everyday life after the collapse of the Soviet Union? This study, based on extensive qualitative fieldwork in post-Soviet Russia, employs time-geographic, social, and semiotic theory to develop a model for understanding urban space formation. Using Ligovo/Uritsk, a high-rise residential area on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, as a case study, it examines the evolving relationship between people's lifeworlds and governance systems, reflecting the transformations in Soviet and Russian society over recent decades. The empirical findings document processes related to urban identity formation, spatial representations, and local politics. This research contributes both empirically and theoretically to the understanding of urban cultural geography in Russia, a field that has been largely inaccessible to Western researchers and is now becoming less open. The work will appeal to those interested in social, semiotic, and geographic theory, as well as students and researchers in cultural and urban studies, urban life, and Russian affairs. Additionally, it may benefit professionals focused on post-Soviet urban identity, spatial representations, and local politics. "Borén's engaging, invaluable study is groundbreaking and serves as a primer for geographers interested in phenomenological and hermeneutical approaches to urban observer-participant fieldwork." Dr. Charles Travis, Research Fellow, Trinity Colle