Symbolic Spaces of a Modern Russian Northern City in the Context of Urban Anthropology
The authors of the article analyze the Russian European north cities’ urban spaces, the cities’ changing images and how these spaces and images are reflected in mental maps, which are formed in citizens’ minds, as well as the links between urban space and identity. The article analyzes the experience of domestic and foreign urban anthropology of the city and determines to what extent the theory and methodology of this subdiscipline has been developed and what research traditions prevail in it. It also analyzes how urban space becomes an important element of the city’s cultural landscape and what is the relationship between urban space and identity. The object of this study is the cities of the European north of Russia. The article notes that the arctic and subarctic urbanization has not yet become a subject of wide study, and therefore limited research experience has been accumulated and there is also very little material for comparisons. The primary authors’ attention in the article is paid to the cultural spaces analysis of the two cities of Komi Republic - Syktyvkar and Vorkuta. The choice of these cities is determined both by differences in their history, status and in the nature of the formation of the population and its socio-professional composition. The article shows that fragmented urban space does not interfere with the formation of a strong urban identity, but strengthens its strong social ties within the urban community. The official status, and especially the status of the capital, is not always reflected in urban images and especially in the perception of the cultural space of the city by the citizens themselves