Public space in post-Soviet cities and the socialist legacy in them
Abstract
This essay attempts to serve as a state of the art of the impact of the socialist legacy on the spatial dynamics of post-Soviet cities, especially considering their public space. To this end, it addresses various academic works that have studied the spatial dynamics of the transition of cities from the Soviet sphere to the post-Soviet moment, passing through various elements identified by different authors, such as globalization, market dynamics, consumerism in the population of these cities, etc., as well as their relationship with those emerging from the socialist past, namely, the reaction to different symbols of that time, public spaces of memory, etc. These elements correspond to relational imaginaries with that recent past, re narrating it with sometimes negative and sometimes positive perspectives. The scope of these narratives translates into the dynamics of public spaces, which sometimes correspond to the abandonment of places, or on the contrary their care and improvement, their resounding change (such as that reflected in the change of place of monuments, among others), etc. It is concluded that this socialist legacy could be overcome at some point, however, it could also continue to nurture the construction of the social space of the post-socialist world in general, as it happened so far.
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