“Controlled shrinkage”: an impossible to replicate local experiment within the Russian federal agenda for shrinking cities

Keywords: urban shrinkage, urban decline, urban governance, emptiness, Arctic
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 05:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 06:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 21

Abstract

The collapse of state socialism in Russia has led to a reduction in state-provided welfare, the introduction of austerity policies and new (geo)political priorities. This caused structural crisis and intensive out-migration in many Russian Arctic cities that lost a privileged position allocated to them in the Soviet redistributive economy.
Since the 2000s, out-migration from the Russian Arctic has been actively encouraged through various large scale regional, national, and international resettlement programs. However, these programs were not accompanied by a “planning toolkit” and funds enabling management of increasingly emptying and decaying built environments. Instead, the local administrations were left to deal with complex and costly issues on their own. The objective of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, to discuss local policy experiments drawing empirical data from one of Russia’s decaying Arctic cities – Vorkuta (Komi Republic). The case in point is Vorkuta’s so-called “controlled shrinkage” policy that addresses issues related to vacancies and underused infrastructures. Secondly, to highlight how this policy experiment that turned out impossible to replicate in any other Russian settlement, was nonetheless upscaled to the federal agenda. Empirical data for the research has been drawn from planning and policy documents, as well as interviews and (non)participant observations carried out in January 2019, January 2020, and April 2021.
A critical reflection, in conclusion, will draw attention to how upscaling of a specific local urban policy and turning it into a “best practice” in a highly centralized and authoritarian political context endangers welfare provision within a wide geographical realm.