History and the present time, material and spiritual, modern and postmodern: socio-philosophical analysis of contemporary urbanism by the Kazan example

Abstract

The article examines the issue of the staged status of contemporary society based on the materials of urban studies of Kazan. An overview of philosophical and sociological approaches to the issue of modernity, postmodernity and after-postmodernity is given. Non-classical museumification, megalopolisation, gentrification, architecture of reuse and third places, aestheticisation, digitalisation have been highlighted as postmodern trends in urbanism. The sharing economy, the introduction of elements of a smart city and a smart nation are returning the communal mentality of traditional society in the conditions of a contemporary city, which allows us to talk about theories of the new Middle Ages. The creative industry of ethnotourism gives rise to fakelorization (mispresentation of authentic cultural heritage), as a counterbalance to which the strategies of archaeoavant-garde (including traditional elements into the contemporary urban environment) are discussed. An analysis of the urban planning of Kazan showed the importance of spiritual, intangible aspects, which are characteristic of the postmodern “society of impressions”. A conclusion have been made about the preservation of the innovationist material basis, which characterises the economic structure of modern society. Postmodern trends are of cultural nature and are expressed in the branding and rebranding of cities, in the formation of creative industries, in the interest towards the issues of intangible cultural heritage and the corresponding concept of UNESCO.

Keywords

• modern
• postmodern
• creative industry
• ethnotourism
• fakelorisation
• archeoavant-garde
• philosophy of the city