Social Construction of Moscow Urban Space through Motorcyclist's Optics

Objective: To determine the specificity of the Moscow urban space by the vision of motorcyclists and the process of construction urban space during networking interaction between motorcyclists and the urban environment. For this study, as a theoretical language of describing urban space I chose actor-network theory (ANT), in terms of which the material objects were attributed equal status with people in the production of action. Moreover, the meaning of social action depends on a distributed network of interactions of various elements (animate and inanimate nature). Basic terminology of ANT and methodological principles borrowed from the work of B.Latour, M.Callon and D.Lo. In the genre of urban studies ANT applies within the "Assemblage urbanism" of K.McFarlane and I.Farias, according to which a city is the effect of combination (assemblage) of various urban networks. Thus, in the practical "use" of the urban space motorcyclist is constantly "reassemblaging" transport network. This explains the high degree of uncertainty in each driving situation. The term "optics" is used as a metaphor for the social construction of urban space and is interpreted as a bidirectional process of "reassemblaging the city by motorcyclist" (the elements of the image of a motorcyclist in terms of its representation in the Moscow media) and "reassemblaging the city rider" (how the space of residence and the subject-object relationship between users of motorcycle transport and the urban environment). The result of analysis is the transport network (presented in Appendix 5), it allows you to discover the elements that ensure the safety of motorcyclists on the road, including those that remain hidden from the average city dweller. Description of interaction of elements within the network and the entire process of "reassemblaging" helps clarify the logic of movement of motorcyclists in the city.