Urban Heritage and Governmentality in St. Petersburg: Between Local and Global

Abstract

Using the example of an architectural competition for the reconstruction of Bolshaya Morskaya Street in St. Petersburg, this article focuses on the issue of the control of heritage. The 2016 architectural competition is examined to reveal the conflicting logic, discourse, and forms of rationalities in heritage management, mobilized by different participants of the planning process: professional architectural studios, civic groups, and government authorities. The article reveals what kind of discourses, technologies, and rationalities are used by those involved in creating the street’s architectural projects. The work contributes to the discussion of how control is disseminated between the center and the periphery. Using participant observation, discourse analysis of architectural concepts, analysis of normative documents, and interviews with civic groups the article reveals two types of rationality inscribed in the planning process in St. Petersburg. The projects of Bolshaya Morskaya Street show the coexistence of two planning paradigms which differ in in epistemic (forms of rationality) and discursive practices. One is based on State logic, when the State is considered as a key factor in the planning process. The second paradigm is built around market and civic logics, and citizen participation in urban planning. Representatives of the second paradigm attract market and international discourses, and build new civic identities.