Urban renewal in Moscow and the new life of housing activism

• In Event: 3451 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 7. Mobilization and Motivations

Abstract

This paper is based on a qualitative study of an urban renewal controversy in Moscow and its effects on the civil society and urban activism in the city. Moscow’s urban renewal, the so-called “Renovation,” was announced in early 2017 and promised to demolish about 5000 Soviet-era residential buildings and relocate their residents to new high-rises. The announcement produced an emotional turmoil among the residents of the condemned buildings and the biggest housing-related mobilization in Moscow history. I explore the outcomes of the interactions and mobilization, and more specifically, the effect these processes had on the relations between neighbors, the formation of new activist networks, and tools of civic participation at different levels: building, neighborhood, and city.
I argue that mobilizations, even the ones that did not achive their desired results can result in many other gains: such as new networks of cooperation, new skills, and new subjectivities. Such episodes may transform the civic “tool kit” and shape the ground for future mobilizations. Existing research on collective efficacy has interpreted community cohesion, trust and solidarity as prerequisites for people’s capacity to act together for the common good. However, the distinction of means and ends, factors and outcomes is not as clear-cut: where does community cohesion and trust emerge from, in the first place? In this paper, I look at collective efficacy as an outcome, not a prerequisite, of neighbors’ activities.

Author

• Anna Zhelnina, CUNY Graduate Center