“On the way to the “green agenda”?”: discourse of regional authorities on the improvement of Yaroslavl in the historical context of interaction with the centre (the 1960s–1980s)

Abstract

The article examines the factors and trends in the development of urban improvement in the historical context of the post-war Soviet era (1960-1980). The focus is on Yaroslavl as one of the key cities in the system of the Upper Volga regions. The article raises the question of the formation of environmental trends in the discourse of the regional authorities on the improvement of Yaroslavl. The policy of urban improvement is analysed on the basis of archival documents, memoirs, journalism, oral history data. The archival database of the study is represented by unpublished documents of the Centre for Documentation of Contemporary History of Yaroslavl Region. The theoretical basis of the study is connected with the paradigm of urban studies, social and environmental history. The main attention is focused on the analysis of the development of public transport and gardening of Yaroslavl in the 1960s-1980s. The conflict of interests of two levels of government (municipal and regional) on the problem of the development of tram lines in Yaroslavl is analysed. The article concludes that, on the one hand, the central government was the determining factor in the development of the urban improvement strategy. On the other hand, in tactical terms, the policy of urban improvement depended on the personality of the regional leader.