DEVELOPMENT TRAJECTORIES OF SUBURBAN SPACES

Abstract

The article presents a comparative description of the development trajectories of the suburban spaces of Kyiv and Vinnytsia with reference to social differentiation of residents and spatial configurations of their stable and changing everyday practices. We focused on the everyday practices of mobility, living, consumption, work, leisure and recreation, education, and public activities, in particular self-organization of suburban community. The key research instruments included observation of the activity of local residents in certain locations, as well as questioning and interviewing locals representing social groups that tend to have different everyday practices, in particular, in the following dichotomies: “long-term residents – newcomers”, “residents of the old (historical) buildings – residents of the new buildings”, “residents of private housing – residents of multi-storey housing”. In the conditions of hypertrophied development of the real estate market, the suburban space undergoes fast transformation in terms of growing construction density, concentration of inhabitants, diversification and concentration of catering and trade facilities, diversification of educational and medical services. The configurations of everyday practices in suburbia are related to the social status of residents, and their spectrum and spatial configuration differ between residents of the old (historical) and new housing. The configuration of everyday practices is also influenced by the type and height of housing, age and family status of residents, their previous place of residence (specific region, urban or rural settlement), as well as motivation to move to the suburbia. The three most common identified spatial configurations of everyday practices are the following: 1) concentration mainly in the city and to a lesser extent in the suburbia, 2) equal concentration in the suburbia and in the city, and 3) concentration mainly in the suburbia and partly in the city. A way of life in studied suburban spaces shows a combination of modern urban and traditional rural components, as well as erosion of the traditional local identity. It was confirmed that the everyday practices of suburban residents are gradually transformed, intertwined, and hybridized. In such a way suburban spaces enhance their internal diversity and patchiness, and show uneven development rates of their individual spatial and functional components.