Visibility in Authoritarian Urban Space

The (De)politicizing City and Grassroots Mobilizations in Russia

Bibliographic Data

ID19219670
AuthorsValeria Rumiantseva (0009-0005-8025-4899, corresponding author), Liubov Chernysheva (0000-0002-9107-8211)
Year2026
Publication date2026-06-08
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Urban and Regional Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0309-1317 • E-ISSN: 1468-2427
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-2427.70105
OpenAlexW7163935694
LanguageEN
References cited40

This article reconsiders the relationship between visibility and politicization. Drawing on empirical evidence from urban mobilization campaigns across Russia, we counter the existing literature on theories of the post‐political and liminality by identifying four dimensions of visibility—publicity in urban space, objects of urban contestation, interaction with external audiences, and alliances with supporters—which activists fine‐tune in their collective actions. Instead of treating visibility as either constitutive of, or entirely separated from, the political, this framework reveals its complex interplay with political engagement strategies in non‐Western contexts. By doing so, it contributes to a more nuanced understanding of dissent in authoritarian and high‐risk environments

Authoritarianism · Dissent · Grassroots · Liminality · Mobilization · Politics · Urban politics · Visibility · Public Spaces through Art · Urban Planning and Governance · Urbanization and City Planning

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access