Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)

The article is devoted to the issue of the impact of socio-cultural initiatives on the urban environment in terms of urban planning and architectural solutions. The purpose of the article is to describe the historical case of social design in architecture and to identify cause-and-effect relationshi...

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Main Author: Liudmila E. Starostova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ekaterinburg Academy of Contemporary Art 2022-12-01
Series:Управление культурой
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Online Access:https://managing-culture.eaca.ru/archive/2022/4/2
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author Liudmila E. Starostova
author_facet Liudmila E. Starostova
author_sort Liudmila E. Starostova
collection DOAJ
description The article is devoted to the issue of the impact of socio-cultural initiatives on the urban environment in terms of urban planning and architectural solutions. The purpose of the article is to describe the historical case of social design in architecture and to identify cause-and-effect relationships between the social program of a residential complex and its architectural and urban heritage. Based on the concept of social design, presented in the works of representatives of the modernist paradigm in architecture, the author analyzes the experience of the movement of youth residential complexes - YRC - in Sverdlovsk in the 1980s.The essence of the YRC was to combine the idea of attracting future tenants for housing construction on a competitive basis with the financing of construction by employers with the social program of the residential complex. Thanks to the factor of socialist competition, young people with an active life position were selected into the community of builders and residents of the YRC. The social program of the YRC included the concept of self-government and developing leisure for adults and children. The author describes two cases of YRC movement in Sverdlovsk / Yekaterinburg and, using their example, shows how the social program of the youth residential complex predetermined the architectural project, and what infrastructural changes arose during the construction and subsequent life of residential complexes. The study of historical materials (the concept of the SRC, regulatory and reporting documents, interviews with participants in the movement) allowed the author to demonstrate, due to which characteristics of the movement the architectural heritage of the SRC proved to be extraordinary urban planning solutions, and also under the influence of what factors the urban heritage of the SRC is poorly manifested in the modern urban environment . The peak of the YRC movement occurred during the years of perestroika (1985-1991), when the government's course towards democratization and glasnost turned out to be in tune with the ideas of territorial self-government and self-organization of communities at the place of residence, characteristic of the YRC.However, the reforms of the 1990s nullified the economic foundations for the construction of youth residential complexes that were in force in the USSR and stimulated individualistic survival strategies in the new market conditions. These factors made it impossible to continue the construction of the YRC and contradicted the idea of compatibility in organizing the life of residential complexes. The experience of the YRC movement shows that social initiatives with a consistent program can constructively influence the urban environment, however, a change in economic conditions in the historical perspective after a generational change can lead to the almost complete disappearance of the emerging architectural heritage in the urban environment and memory.
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spelling doaj-art-59131fe70fdf4a0db9c6fc9692b8a6cb2025-08-20T01:52:41ZengEkaterinburg Academy of Contemporary ArtУправление культурой2949-074X2022-12-014112125Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)Liudmila E. Starostova0The Boris Yeltsin Presidential CenterThe article is devoted to the issue of the impact of socio-cultural initiatives on the urban environment in terms of urban planning and architectural solutions. The purpose of the article is to describe the historical case of social design in architecture and to identify cause-and-effect relationships between the social program of a residential complex and its architectural and urban heritage. Based on the concept of social design, presented in the works of representatives of the modernist paradigm in architecture, the author analyzes the experience of the movement of youth residential complexes - YRC - in Sverdlovsk in the 1980s.The essence of the YRC was to combine the idea of attracting future tenants for housing construction on a competitive basis with the financing of construction by employers with the social program of the residential complex. Thanks to the factor of socialist competition, young people with an active life position were selected into the community of builders and residents of the YRC. The social program of the YRC included the concept of self-government and developing leisure for adults and children. The author describes two cases of YRC movement in Sverdlovsk / Yekaterinburg and, using their example, shows how the social program of the youth residential complex predetermined the architectural project, and what infrastructural changes arose during the construction and subsequent life of residential complexes. The study of historical materials (the concept of the SRC, regulatory and reporting documents, interviews with participants in the movement) allowed the author to demonstrate, due to which characteristics of the movement the architectural heritage of the SRC proved to be extraordinary urban planning solutions, and also under the influence of what factors the urban heritage of the SRC is poorly manifested in the modern urban environment . The peak of the YRC movement occurred during the years of perestroika (1985-1991), when the government's course towards democratization and glasnost turned out to be in tune with the ideas of territorial self-government and self-organization of communities at the place of residence, characteristic of the YRC.However, the reforms of the 1990s nullified the economic foundations for the construction of youth residential complexes that were in force in the USSR and stimulated individualistic survival strategies in the new market conditions. These factors made it impossible to continue the construction of the YRC and contradicted the idea of compatibility in organizing the life of residential complexes. The experience of the YRC movement shows that social initiatives with a consistent program can constructively influence the urban environment, however, a change in economic conditions in the historical perspective after a generational change can lead to the almost complete disappearance of the emerging architectural heritage in the urban environment and memory.https://managing-culture.eaca.ru/archive/2022/4/2youth residential complexyrcsocial experimenturban environmentarchitecture
spellingShingle Liudmila E. Starostova
Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)
Управление культурой
youth residential complex
yrc
social experiment
urban environment
architecture
title Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)
title_full Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)
title_fullStr Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)
title_full_unstemmed Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)
title_short Youth residential complex: The embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of Sverdlovsk-Yekaterinburg (1980s – 2020s)
title_sort youth residential complex the embodiment of social ideas in the urban environment of sverdlovsk yekaterinburg 1980s 2020s
topic youth residential complex
yrc
social experiment
urban environment
architecture
url https://managing-culture.eaca.ru/archive/2022/4/2
work_keys_str_mv AT liudmilaestarostova youthresidentialcomplextheembodimentofsocialideasintheurbanenvironmentofsverdlovskyekaterinburg1980s2020s