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St Petersburg - known for its horizontal skyline, with buildings of low and corresponding height, punctuated with the gold domes and spires that, along with its rivers and canals, have become iconic features of the city. Drawing on original, on-the-ground research, On Top of the City shines a unique spotlight on the hidden youth communities of St Petersburg, Russia, where space and power collide and co-exist. Focusing on urban exploration, Abigail Karas demonstrates how the city''s panoramas - especially its rooftops - contribute to the city''s fascinating underground culture and the formation of a local St Petersburg identity where young people turn the rooftops into safe spaces, where they can resist the encroaching political repression of Putin''s Russia. Arguing that young Petersburgers'' skyline trespassing is a way for them to reclaim their rights - over themselves and the city - On Top of the City invites readers to look upwards, at what these young communities create, as well as downwards, to the social and political control they are trying to escape.
List of contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Notes on the Text
Map of St Petersburg
Exploring the Rooftops
Chapter 1. St Petersburg's Panorama: from Pushkin to
PantsirChapter 2. Rooftop Exploration: From the Aristocracy to
AristokratChapter 3. Roofing as Spatial Critique: Reclaiming Space, Resisting Control
Chapter 4: Russia's Risk Society: From the Sublime to
AzartChapter 5: The Roofer-Explorer: Masculinity and Mastery over the Built Environment
On Top of the City
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Abigail Karas is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of St Andrews, UK. An anthropologist and historian of the built environment, with a particular interest in (post-)Soviet cityscapes, she holds a DPhil in Russian from the University of Oxford. She previously taught at the University of Nottingham, at Liverpool John Moores University and at University College London, UK.
