Социалистический урбанизм в глобальном контексте

Бакалавриат 2026/2027

Статус: Курс по выбору (История)

Кто читает: Департамент истории

Где читается: Санкт-Петербургская школа гуманитарных наук и искусств

Когда читается: 4-й курс, 1, 2 модуль

Охват аудитории: для всех кампусов НИУ ВШЭ

Преподаватели: Калеменева Екатерина Алексеевна

Язык: английский

Кредиты: 4

Контактные часы: 56

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Abstract

The course “Socialist Urbanism in Global Context” examines the theoretical, conceptual, and historical foundations of Soviet urbanization policy and urban culture throughout the twentieth century, with particular attention to their broader social, economic, political, and cultural consequences. The course situates Soviet urban development within wider debates on urban history and socialist modernity, enabling students to critically assess how urban space was conceptualized, planned, and transformed under socialism. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with major theoretical approaches and analytical concepts used in the study of urban history, Soviet culture, and socialist urbanism. They will also develop an understanding of the evolution of social and architectural theories of urban planning in the USSR, the relationship between ideological objectives and urban policy, and the ways in which these ideas were translated into concrete urban experiments and planning practices. In this way, the course encourages students to approach Soviet urbanism not only as a history of architectural and planning practices, but also as a broader process of social, political and cultural transformation.

Learning Objectives

To acquaint students with the basic theoretical and conceptual approaches to the study of the phenomenon of a socialist city, Soviet urbanization projects and policy during the 20th century and its social, economic and cultural consequences.
To develop students' ability to analyze special historical literature and works of popular culture of the 20th century, to conduct a scientific discussion and publicly present the results of the study.

Expected Learning Outcomes

To learn major theoretical and historiographical approaches toward the phenomenon of a socialist city and socialist urbanism.

Course Contents

Introduction. Phenomenon of Socialist Urbanism. What Makes a City “Socialist”?
Imperial cities in the Revolution
Early Soviet planning and social experiments in the 1920s
Industrialisation and New Social Towns (Sotsgoroda) in the 1930s
Socialist Urban Technologies and Infrastructures
Everyday Stalinism. Social Hierarchies in Stalinist Cities
Post-War Urban Reconstructions and the Sovietisation of New Territories
“The Thaw” in Soviet Society and Architecture: Mass Housing Campaign and Standardisation of Socialist Cities
Private and public in Soviet standardised apartments
(Un)proper behaviour in public urban spaces: Soviet sub-cultures
Socialist urbanism on the margins of socialism
Soviet legacy in   Post-Soviet Environment

Assessment Elements

Participation in the filed seminars
Field seminar is a combination of field excursion prepared and led by a group of students according to a chosen topic and group discussion of visited places. The aim of field seminars is to get acquainted with different angles of urban transformations during Soviet period in the case of Leningrad and to analyze their ideological and pragmatic meanings, social dimension of various architectural experiments or projects and their perception in contemporary urban context.
Final Essay
A written essay should be 15.000 characters length in English. In this essay a student should analyse and compare at least two movies on socialist cities/Soviet urban life through the perspective of topics and questions discussed during the course. In this essay a student should: 1) describe the context of a chosen topic / phenomenon based on research literature, 2) demonstrate the dynamic of its representation in chosen movies / cartoon movies and explain reasons for its changes, 3) analyse and explain which elements of urban life / urban planning were at the forefront of representation and which were hidden, and demonstrate different sides of representation of a chosen topic in different time periods.
In-class participation
On seminars, students are expected to take active part in the discussion and demonstrate knowledge of the content of lectures and readings. Seminar discussions are based on the previously given readings, and fragments of sources introduced by the teacher and analyzed collectively by the class.

Interim Assessment

2026/2027 2nd module
0.4 * In-class participation + 0.4 * Final Essay + 0.2 * Participation in the filed seminars

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Babiracki, P., Zimmer, K., & David-Fox, M. (2014). Cold War Crossings : International Travel and Exchange Across the Soviet Bloc, 1940s-1960s: Vol. First edition. Texas A&M University Press.
Barenberg, A. (2014). Gulag Town, Company Town : Forced Labor and Its Legacy in Vorkuta. New Haven: Yale University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=818471
Boym, S. (2008). The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=499418
Ganguly, L. (2007). Alexei Yurchak: Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More: The Last Soviet Generation. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.951C3C60
Hellbeck, J., Bonfiglio, D., & Tauchen, C. (2015). Stalingrad : The City That Defeated the Third Reich: Vol. First edition. PublicAffairs.
Karl Loewenstein. (2006). Re-emergence of public opinion in the Soviet Union: Khrushchev and responses to the secret speech. Europe-Asia Studies, (8), 1329. https://doi.org/10.1080/09668130600996572
Kotkin, S. (1997). Magnetic Mountain : Stalinism As a Civilization (Vol. [Pbk. ed., 1997]). Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=21251
Stalinism : new directions / ed. by Sheila Fitzpatrick. (2000). London [u.a.]: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.080753531
Zachmann, K., & Oldenziel, R. (2009). Cold War Kitchen : Americanization, Technology, and European Users. MIT Press.

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Brake, M. (2013). The Sociology of Youth Culture and Youth Subcultures (Routledge Revivals) : Sex and Drugs and Rock “n” Roll? [S.l.]: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=649607
Fitzpatrick, S. (1999). Everyday Stalinism : Ordinary Life in Extraordinary Times: Soviet Russia in the 1930s. New York: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=169117
Fitzpatrick, S. (DE-588)132798344, (DE-576)160958431. (1999). Everyday Stalinism : ordinary life in extraordinary times; Soviet Russia in the 1930s / Sheila Fitzpatrick. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edswao&AN=edswao.075108488
Kirschenbaum, L. A. (2006). The Legacy of the Siege of Leningrad, 1941–1995 : Myth, Memories, and Monuments. New York: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=174478
Koenker, D., & Gorsuch, A. E. (2013). The Socialist Sixties : Crossing Borders in the Second World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=597267
Koposov, N. (2011). “The Armored Train of Memory”: The Politics of History in Post-Soviet Russia. Perspectives on History, 49(1), 23–26.
Rittersporn, G. T. (1996). Stephen Kotkin. Magnetic Mountain: Stalinism as Civilization. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1995. Pp. xxv, 639. $55.00. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.18E2D6D6
Smolkin, V. (2018). A Sacred Space Is Never Empty : A History of Soviet Atheism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1679019

Authors

Kalemeneva Ekaterina Alekseevna

Course Syllabus