Social effects of neoliberal policy in post-Soviet Saint Petersburg: Urban space contestation revisited

Neoliberal city policy has become central for urban planning and (re)development in postsoviet St. Petersburg. Competing views on how space should be organized make citizens consolidate buck the decisions of strong advocacy groups. This paper considers contestation by dwellers elites early times establishment spread neoliberal rhetoric policy. It focuses four cases local communities struggling against spot construction, demolition, renovation historical areas (2005–2012). Empirically, relies a series semi-structured interviews with residents activists as well materials semi-formalized observations at gatherings rallies. We use theories political regimes to analyze futures made administrations developers, Lefebvre, Scott, de Certeau providing insights into everyday grassroots resistance structural pressures, domination exploitation — describe responses urbanites. Our data shows that these need adapted context, where struggles over unfolded under conditions total uncertainty including multiple property regimes, unstable legal frameworks, non-transparent decision-making authorities investors, rising tradition civic participation. As result, we question scholarly convention about paternalistic relations between urbanites powerholders, problematize boundaries core concepts theory: particular, demonstrate relative nonbinary character opposition spatial strategies vs. tactics.