Urban Activity Spaces: The Case Of A Post-Soviet
Neighbourhood In Riga
Author(s)
M. Ušča
Abstract
Neighbourhood activity spaces have been the subject of a significant amount of
research and evaluation in Western Europe and the US. However, it is
predictable that the situation in the neighbourhoods of Eastern Europe is
different, especially in regard to those built during the Soviet era. Beginning
with the assumption that the city planning ideas and ideals of the communist
period are still present in urban space, the author explores daily activity spaces
and attitudes of inhabitants towards them in the neighbourhood of Mezciems,
which was planned and built during the Soviet era in the city of Riga, the capital
of Latvia. In order to find out the ways the inhabitants perceive and use the space
in a post-Soviet neighbourhood, as well as the ways in which they make the
neighbourhood more liveable for themselves, the author uses semi-structured indepth
interviews with, and maps drawn by long-standing residents of the
Mezciems neighbourhood. The results show that it is possible to mark out two
lifestyles of long-standing residents during the Soviet era neighbourhood,
characterized by different attitudes towards the functions available in the post-
Soviet neighbourhood. At the same time, the spaces used, as well as the ideas
about improvements that would make the post-Soviet neighbourhood space more
enjoyable for them are quite similar within these two groups of people,
characterized by different lifestyles.
Keywords: urban activities, urban space, post-Soviet neighbourhood, Riga.
1 Introduction
Neighbourhood activity spaces have been the subject of a significant amount of
research and evaluation in Western Europe and the US (e.g., [1–5]). However, it
is predictable, that the situation in the neighbourhoods of Eastern Europe,
Keywords
urban activities, urban space, post-Soviet neighbourhood, Riga
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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