In Search of Local Identity of Basmanny District in Moscow: From the Elusive Towards the Multiple

Abstract

This article considers the local identity of the Basmanny district of Moscow, understood through a set of unique but interrelated images of this urban area, which form the basis of the identification of local residents as “their” signified and meaningful place.

The central location of Basmanny and its historical environment paradoxically raise the question of the search for a unique identi ty of place, since the understand ing of centrality is ambiguous and blurs local specificity, and the meaning of heritage is originally interpreted by the image of the ‘historicity’ of the area. The di versification of meanings repre sented in the image of ‘a diverse district’ legitimizes the essence of centrality and gives birth to contradictory images of Basmanny as a place for going out, creative industries, and students. The cen trality of the district promotes the multiplicity of local sub-cen ters with their own diversified place images. Reminiscences of ‘Nemetskaya Sloboda’ (‘the German quarter’) create the idea of an alternative center. In general, the identity of Basmanny as an old historical area with a special at mosphere for locals is in conflict with the images oriented towards the newcomers and external audi ences like students / creatives / par ty goers.

The local civil position and the identity as an ‘activist district’ is manifested as a result. It is based on the diversity of place meanings, a few contested heritage places, and the multiplicity of local communities and their civil initiatives. The latter include those opposing important local sub-centers symbolically constructing images of a place for creativity and parties.

All these contradictory and/or interconnected meanings, with vivid local ties and spread across the entire area, form a unique palimpsest of the local identities of Basmanny district in Moscow.