European Par Excellence. Several Remarks on Interpreting Soviet Urbanization in Siberia
Abstract
The paper explores the Soviet urbanization as a European trend, developing between the extreme poles of uncompromising rationalism and the human element. At all these levels – a reasonable theory, its clash with reality and the inevitable utopia trap – the characteristics of a modernity project and its relation to tradition and cultural and social changes are revealed. One of the major issues discussed in the article is the attitude of the Soviet urban project to the past (tradition) and to the future (its ideological drive). Its history is characterized by sharp turning points: abrupt shifts leaving no room for compromise, reasonably planned and imposed from above. While not avoiding questions concerning local specifics, colonialism and the possibility to identify different ”modernities”, it is suggested to analyze the Soviet city as a part of the European project, from the cultural (modernity), aesthetic (modernism) and economic (modernization) perspectives.
Keywords: modernity, modernization, modernism, Avant-garde, Soviet urbanisation, Siberian city, utopia
References
[1] David-Fox, M. 2016. “Modernost’ v Rossii i SSSR: otsutstvuyushchaya, obshchaya, al’ternativnaya ili perepletennaya?” [Russian—Soviet Modernity: None, Shared, Alternative, or Entangled?]. Novoe literaturnoye obozreniye Vol. 140. Retrieved from: http://www.nlobooks.ru/node/7551
[2] Habermas, J. 1983. “Modernity-An Incomplete Project”. In The Anti-aesthetic Essays on Postmodern Culture, edited by Hal Foster, 3-15. Port Townsend, Washington.
[3] “Iz postanovleniya Sovnarkoma RSFSR o stroitel’stve Magnitogorskogo kombinata i g. Magnitogorska”. 1965. [From the decree of the Council of People’s Commissars. of the RSFSR on the construction of the Magnitogorsk Combine and Magnitogorsk]. Iz istorii Manitogorskogo metallurgicheskogo kombinata i goroda Magnitogorska (1929–1941 gg.). Sbornik dokumentovi materialov, Yuzhno-Ural’skoye knizhnoye izdatel’stvo (red. V. Yeliseyeva), Chelyabinsk.
[4] Kazarinova, V. and V. Pavlichenkov. 1961. Magnitogorsk [Magnitogorsk]. Moscow.
[5] Khan-Magomedov, S. 2001. Arkhitektura sovetskogo avangarda. Kniga 2: Social’nye problemy [Architecture of the Soviet Avant-garde. Vol. 2. Social Problems]. Moscow.
[6] Khazanova, V. 1980. Sovetskaya arkhitektura pervoy pyatiletki. Problemy goroda budushchego [Soviet architecture of the first five-year plan. Problems of the city of the future]. Moscow.
[7] Kolakowski, L. 1978. Main Currents of Marxism. Vol. 3. W.W. Norton.
[8] Konysheva, Ye. and M. Meyerovich. 2012. Ernst May i proyektirovaniye sotsialisticheskikh gorodov v gody pervykh pyatiletok (na primere Magnitogorska) [Ernst May and the design of socialist cities during the first five-year plans (on the example of Magnitogorsk)]. Moscow.
[9] Literaturnoye Obozreniye. No. 140. Retrieved from: http://www.nlobooks.ru/node/ 7551
[10] Lotman, Yu. 1978. “Simvolika Peterburga i problemy semiotiki goroda” [The Symbolism of Petersburg and the Problems of Semiotics of the City]. Trudy po znakovym sistemam, 18: 30-45.
[11] Lyotard, J.-F. 1986. The Postmodern Explained to Children: Correspondence, 1982-1985. Sydney.
[12] Mostakov, A. 1937. “Bezobraznoye ‘nasledstvo’ arkhitektora E. Maya” [The ugly ”legacy” of the architect E. May]. Arkhitektura SSSR. No. 9.
[13] Okladnikov, A. and V. Shunkov. 1968. Istoriya Sibiri s drevneyshikh vremon do nashikh dney [History of Siberia from ancient times to the present day]. Vol. 4. Leningrad.
[14] Ob ustranenii izlishestv v proyektirovanii i stroitel’stve. 1955. [On Eeimination of excesses in design and construction]. Postanovleniye TSK KPSS i SM SSSR.
[15] Ogly, B. 1980. Stroitel’stvo gorodov Sibiri [Construction of the cities of Siberia]. Leningrad.
[16] O rabote po perestroyke byta.1930. [On the work on the restructuring of life]. Postanovleniye TSK VKP (b).
[17] Oud, P. [recte J.]. 1926. ”Anketa o ploskoy kryshe” [Questionnaire on the flat roof]. Sovremennaya arkhitektura. No. 4.
[18] Trotskiy, L. 1923. “K Pervomu vser. s’yezdu nauchnykh rabotnikov” [To the First Congress of Scientific Workers]. Pravda. 24.11. p. 1.