“Construction Set” of Urban Transformation: Alternative Practice of Rybinsk, Russia

Abstract

Nowadays in Russia, construction of convenient urban spaces has become a prevalent practice, influenced by “The Comfortable City Environment” federal project and, specifically, the contest of projects in cities and historic settlements. Nevertheless, a request for uniqueness is present on the local scale. Ingenious projects of space and place transformation allow the cities to stand out among others, drawing the attention of tourists and the general public. The case study focuses on the city of Rybinsk, Yaroslavl region, Russia, famous for its exceptional experience of the city centre renovation. In this paper, a complex notion of space transformation was metaphorically presented as a «construction set». It contains a set of tools (facilities) and practices (dynamic actions). For better understanding of the arrangement of the «construction set» we interviewed the main сontributors to Rybinsk transformation and spatial development experts. Findings demonstrate that even with a relatively stable set of tools, practices as flexible categories are highly dependent upon local circumstances. That is why a single universal or best example of «construction set» does not exist and it is necessary to create a more extensive corpus of data on urban space transformation, based on in-depth qualitative research, for potential comparison.