La ville comme espace d’identités multiples dans Surtout ne te retourne pas de Maïssa Bey

This paper aims to analyze the extent to which Maïssa Bey in her novel Surtout ne te retourne pas features actual events relating to the earthquake that shook the city of Boumerdes in 2003. She describes its tragic implications for the protagonist of the story, who seeks to find her identity in a city reeling from a natural disaster. In this sense, the paper investigates the novel in terms of a quest for both a lost Boumerdes and the urban identity of the protagonist herself.

CRISIS OF URBAN IDENTITY: AMBIVALENCE OF VALUE GROUNDS AND SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES

The article discusses the problem of urban identity in the opposition between global and local processes in urban space. Urban identity is viewed as a type of individual’s social identity in relation to his/her affiliation to a certain urban community. The study of the causes and effects of the urban identity’s crisis is based on the notion of this identity as valuable and meaningful cohesion of individuals and urban community. The problem of urban identity is studied via the analysis of modern concepts of social change in urban space, related to mainstream of human resources, financial, material, information resources. The article indicates that the crisis of identity is represented in the potential loss of individual and personal links to the city, in the loss of affiliation to the place of living, in the vanishing demand for urban identity. The notions of retrospective and prospective urban identity are introduced to identify the ground to maintain urban identity. Retrospective urban identity is based on the existence of so-called “places of memory” in urban space that integrate physical space, fragments of collective memory and individual valuable attitude to this memory as the inclusion to the city history. Prospective urban identity rests on individual’s cohesion and affiliation to future states of urban community as a source of potential social options. Assessments of directions for social change are figured out in positive and negative prospective urban identity, which defines residents’ migration intentions and their active participation in the city life.

Small Homeland in the Context (Space) of Civil Identity

Introduction. The article analyzes the place, role and functions of the concept of a small homeland in the construction of civil identity. The starting point of the study is the understanding of a small homeland as a set of ideas and practices of the belonging of individuals and groups to the space of the place of birth, origin and primary socialization. A small homeland is what emotionally and practically unites citizens in their loyal affection to the place – physical and symbolic.Methodology and sources. Based on the general concept of the space of places (A. Lefebvre, M. Castells, T. Cresswell, M. Auger); P. Shtompka's theory of cultural trauma and A.O. Boronoev's ideas of structural schematization of a small homeland, it is originally presented a sociological analysis of the problem of the loss of a small homeland as a result of forced relocations (the case of flooded areas). As relevant sources the author use the documents and memoirs on the phenomenon of the loss of a small homeland; also on memories of eyewitnesses, and on artistic reflection of farewell to the place of birth. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of the loss of a small homeland in the functioning and reproduction of the civic identity of the place.Results and discussion. As a result of the study it has been shown that the loss of a small homeland determines: a) the rupture of social and cultural ties; b) the emergence of grassroots self-organization of Mologzhan activists who are re-constructing civic urban identity; c) production of commemorative practices of a regular type (cases of Mologa and Circassian auls); d) active formation of cultural discourse in which the small homeland of the place is positioned as a subjective value and one of the foundations of the life world.Conclusion. A small homeland as a representation and social practice in the space of civic identity ensures through its agents the reproduction of social interaction (real or imaginary) with a place and the maintenance of socio-cultural ties with it within the natural and cultural landscape of communities. It also promotes recognition, confirmation of the identity of the place. The loss of a small homeland (physical and symbolic) gives rise to various social practices of memory, rebirth and oblivion.

Research on the urban identity of inter-provincial mobile university students (The example of Wuhan university students)

With the booming development of higher education, increasingly inter-provincial mobile university students are emerging. As part of the migrant population, their psychological conditions as well as their living conditions need attention. Taking Wuhan, a city with 84 universities, as an example, this survey assesses students' sense of urban identity, examines the influencing factors and gives advice and suggestions for three universities.

IMAGES OF THE URBAN IDENTITY OF THE REPUBLIC’s CAPITAL CITY IN THE STRUCTURE OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION (THE CASE OF SARANSK)

The article based on the data of qualitative and quantitative res earch undertaken by the authors in the capital of the Republic of Mordovia - Saransk, identifies and analyzes the symbolic components of the social identity of the population of the administrative center of the repub lic in structure of the Russian Federation - the images of a capital city on the example of Saransk. There are such levels of metropolitan identity as the level of representations (ideas about the territoriality of the city as a "space of belonging" and its visual images) and the level of social practices, including a set of ideas, assessments and attitudes for the use (individual and shared with other citizens) of urban social sp ace in those spheres of activity and in those territories that are the residence of individuals and groups of the urban population (for example, in certain urban areas). The "representative" components of the identity of citi zens include integral visual images of the city, artistic and architectural sights that perform the fu nctions of "places of memory" and asso ciated performative rituals, traditional "folk" toponyms in the "mental maps" of citizens. The level of representations, as more superficial, is most likely a product of urban and regional symbolic identity politics, while the formation of metropolitan identity at the level of social practices depends on the results of urban development and the degree of participation in it of individuals and population groups that are subjects of urban identity. The soci al construction and transformation of the "practical" level of the capital's identity are mediated by the satisfaction of the population of the capital with the state of the urban environment as a means of meeting various needs, as well as the personal experience of citizen s, in particular, the experience of staying in larger cities, acting as a comparison criterion. Such experience creates limitations to the influence of republican symbolic politics, giving grounds for assessing the status of Saransk as a peripheral city and becomes the basis for a critical assessment of the authorities' activities in th e development of the capital city and the very concept of the capital's identity.

IMPACT OF SPATIAL CONFIGURATION TO SPATIAL QUALITY: VENICE AND ISTANBUL

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between spatial configuration and spatial quality, and how they affect each other. Spatial quality is a sophisticated concept and encompasses physical, social, economic, cultural and environmental components. Urban squares reflect these parameters and also play a decisive role in urban identity as areas of apparent urban culture and collective memory. Spatial configuration also determines the character of the squares as a result of morphological feature of cities. In the study, qualitative and quantitative methods are used together. Initially, the case study was conducted on two pier squares, San Marco Square (Venice) and Beşiktaş Square (Istanbul) according to fifty public space quality parameters. Secondly, morphological analysis was performed through space syntax method. It has been investigated whether there is a connection between spatial configuration and the factors determining the quality of space or not. As a result, it has been revealed that the spatial configuration is one of the determining factors being assessed the quality of the space, however, it does not provide sufficient data alone. The importance of this article is that it proposes an analytical approach that includes both quantitative and qualitative components of spatial quality.