Urban Identity and Postmodern Urbanism

Abstract

The article deals with the consideration of concepts of postmodern urbanism from the point of view of their application to the conceptualization and analysis of urban identity. Works of J. Harvey F. Jameson, M. Davis, E. Soja and others are analyzed. Concepts of postmodern urbanism insist that the city should be considered in the context of its inclusion in the global economy, taking into account the level of new information technologies development. Cultural component that allows us to interpret the city as both real and imagined plays an essential role in its functioning and development. Accordingly, urban identity is not territorial (spatial) only, but is mainly cultural, the object of a symbolic struggle. This situation requires a revision of the classical approach to identity (as a belonging to the group) and calls for its interpretation in terms of belonging to the «imagined community».