Industrialization and Urban Landscape of the Industrial South of the Russian Empire

Volodymyr Kulikov, the Center for Urban History’s current resident scholar, presented his research project "Industrialization and Urban Landscape of the Industrial South of the Russian Empire," which studied how industrialization changed the image of the cities in the Industrial South of the Russian Empire and how these changes affected the visual representation of the urban landscape.

The project explored the following questions:

• The issue of industrialization appeared in literature, theater and cinema, journalism, visual arts, and sources of the private sphere. What role did the industrial landscape play in the communication process, as a current and up-to-date "hot" topic?
• To what extent was the perception of industrial urban landscape characterized by stereotypical images? Can we talk about some sort of collective perceptions shared by different social groups (entrepreneurs, workers, artists, writers, etc.) and in different regions?
• The public perception of the industrialization process was extremely ambiguous: it was seen as progress, but also as depersonalizing humans, reducing them to machines, and changing the familiar landscape and traditional values. What were the negative and the utilitarian or aesthetic aspects seen by the contemporaries?

Credits

Сover Image: View of the Kramatorsk Steel Works, 1920-1930. Museum of the History of Kramatorsk / Urban media archive