Private Life, Public Action How Housing Politics Mobilized Citizens in Moscow
Seminário | 09 março 2026

Integrado no Ciclo Mensal de Seminários de Movimentos Sociais e Ação Política, o próximo seminário com o título "Private Life, Public Action How Housing Politics Mobilized Citizens in Moscow", decorrerá no dia 09 de março de 2026, às 18h00 no Iscte - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa e em formato hibrído. 

LOCAL
Auditório A302, Ed.4

ORADORA
Anna Zhelnina, Utrecht University

LINK ZOOM
http://bit.ly/4r8kWEP 

Esta sessão decorerrá em parceria com o Doutoramento em Ciência Política.

 

ABSTRACT
Renovation, an urban renewal plan in Moscow that was announced in the spring of 2017, proposed to demolish thousands of socialist-era apartment buildings. In a country where it is rare under an authoritarian government, residents supported or opposed the redevelopment by mobilizing and organizing into local alliances. They were often shocked by their neighbors who were excited about the new housing or those suspicious of being displaced.
Private Life, Public Action traces how residents impacted by the relocation plan became activists despite having little to no experience organizing or even forming political affiliations and opinions. Author Anna Zhelnina details the ways in which neighbors engaged in collective action, as well as the individual and structural changes these interactions caused.
Zhelnina develops the concept of “housing strategies” to explain how residents’ debates with their neighbors about housing were shaped by their private life strategies. She applies her findings about housing in Moscow to ongoing questions about political mobilization, demonstrating how public engagement is shaped by historical and social contexts.