Позитивные изменения. Города будущего. Тематический выпуск, 2022 / Positive changes. The cities of the future. Special issue, 2022

Despite the fact that the concepts of "community," "social cohesion" and "social capital" have been developed actively since the 1980s by scholars in various fields, from psychology to economics, no unified approach to them has been established to date. Moreover, since the early 2000s, Western scholars (Claude Fischer, Michael Woolcock) have generally criticized these concepts as having acquired too broad a meaning and thus losing their value and specificity. There aren’t too many works by Russian scientists devoted to the topic of communities and related concepts, and they are mainly based on studies of urban environments and neighborhood communities (F. G. Karasev, E. S. Shomina, T. A. Guzhavina). One way or another, one thing most researchers agree on is that both social capital as a set of strong and weak ties, and the association of people into a cohesive group by a number of properties, do not happen by themselves, but for the sake of achieving some kind of common benefits in the future.

According to a study commissioned by the Timchenko Foundation in 2020–2021 and implemented by Strelka KB in conjunction with guest experts, three main interpretations of the term "community" run the golden thread in the history of its use: connection to a place, common interests and social solidarity, and social activism. In our work, we try to combine these interpretations.

By combining these approaches, we arrive at the following definitions:

A local community is a community that brings together people living together in the same area. The smaller the settlement, the tighter the social ties that unite the residents of the community (the classic model of a local community is a rural settlement). In large cities, local communities start to be fragmented into blocks and houses, and begin to play a smaller role in the life of the society.

Engagement is the involvement of all stakeholders affected by the change — residents of the nearby area, local communities, activists, representatives of administrative authorities, local businesses, experts and other stakeholders in the project — in the decision-making process to define the goals and objectives of a territory, to identify real problems and needs of the people, to make joint decisions, resolve conflicts and increase the effectiveness of common actions.

Solidarity is the recognition of the people’s common interests and the solution of common problems based on mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual assistance, and the sharing of responsibilities.

Reflexive solidarity (this concept will come in handy towards the end) is the conscious overcoming of the boundary between representatives of different groups, aimed at improving the quality of life of all residents of the territory, including representatives of vulnerable groups.

Each of these concepts has extensive justification and detailed wording in the Timchenko Foundation’s internal strategy.

ABOUT SMALL TERRITORIES

About 40 % of the Russian population lives in remote rural areas, also known as "small territories." For various reasons, the small territories experience a shortage of resources: lack of funding, remoteness from regional centers, lack of access to modern knowledge and technology, poorly developed infrastructure. In the experience of the Foundation, short-term projects originally run by activists in the interests of themselves and their immediate circle, can eventually into long-term systematic work that affects the interests of all residents. Since 2015, the Foundation conducts the Cultural Mosaic of Small Towns and Villages contest, which serves as an example that sociocultural initiatives can become the driver of small area development by bringing the community together, creating an innovative creative environment, and adding relevance to history, heritage, and traditions.

The Cultural Mosaic is a three-year cycle during which teams gain experience from implementing their first project to creating a network of partners in their territory and building a center for sociocultural development. As the sociocultural environment improves, local residents develop a positive attitude toward their small motherland, and through their engagement in the process of change they begin to feel ownership and responsibility for the development of the place where they live. Over the eight years of the competition, the Foundation has developed important principles for achieving sustainable, long-term results.

This includes, on the one hand, a dense support of project leaders, and on the other hand — a step-by-step program for the development of winning teams.

459 projects from 65 regions received support during the period of the competition. Thanks to these projects:

• new jobs were created and the number of self-employed people increased: 705 new jobs;

• volunteer activity has grown: more than 7,100 volunteers a year;