Urban Conflicts in Russia: Between the “Right to the City” and NIMBY in Irkutsk and Novosibirsk

Abstract

This article explores the NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) phenomenon in urban planning conflicts in Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. It focuses on residents’ resistance to construction or other changes to infrastructure near their homes. In Western science, NIMBYism is typically viewed as a negative phenomenon that hinders territorial development or leads to adverse social outcomes, such as obstacles to building affordable housing, roads, social infrastructure, and green energy projects. The NIMBY phenomenon has been scarcely studied in Russia. The prevalent approach views urban activists as opposing stronger coalitions of city authorities and developers. Under this approach, the interests of local residents are seen as systematically compromised or outright ignored in urban planning. However, using data from expert interviews (N=40) and qualitative and quantitative event analysis of media sources reconstructing the history of urban conflicts in the cities over the last 18 years, it has been shown that civic activists are not always the “weakest link”. They may be supported by representatives of the city administration and other influential agents including governors, prosecutors, the Investigative Committee, and the Presidential Administration. In such circumstances, small groups of activists can halt not only commercial developments but also socially significant non-commercial projects. The article concludes that the interests of a wide range of stakeholders must be considered, as NIMBYism significantly complicates the reaching of a compromise in conflict resolution.