Neighborhood in the Russian big city: the time and place of neighborhood communications
Abstract
Neighboring is understood as a social phenomenon where spatial proximity is of fundamental importance, while space and time are most often ignored in the studies. The article focuses on contemporary Russian neighboring in the spatial and temporal perspective. The research is focused on the analysis of the micro-level of the phenomenon — on the neighboring practices and routine interactions, and for this purpose the notion of “neighborness” was introduced. The main research questions are: where and when do neighborhood interactions take place in contemporary Russian megacities and how do space and time manifest themselves in neighborness? This entry point allows to see multilayered and procedural phenomenon as well as to fix significant characteristics of modern neighboring, among which there are distance, short-term, situationality, controllability, etc. The space of neighborness is considered in terms of places of interaction of neighbors with each other, borders and scales. Time in the neighborness is analyzed through the multiplicity of neighborhood temporalities and rhythms, time of residency, as well as fluctuations of neighboring relations. The study allowed to identify the spaces of neighboring communications, to record the multiplicity and meaning of boundaries in the neighborhood. The article introduces notions of distant and close neighborness which are related not so much to distance and scale as to the quality of neighboring relations. Long-distance neighboring is based on local identity and class proximity, while near-neighboring is based on common/shared materiality and cohabitation. The most important social differentiation in the neighborhood is determined by the time of residence and the division into “oldies” and “newcomers”. The intensity of neighborness and changes in neighboring scenarios change over time. This article is based on a study that was conducted in 2018–2019 in St. Petersburg. The main data of the research are leitmotif interviews with city residents about their experiences of being neighbors (17 interviews in total), diaries of communication with neighbors(12 diaries) and autoethnographies.
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