<i>Blagoustroistvo</i>: Infrastructure, Determinism, (Re-)coloniality, and Social Engineering in Moscow, 1917–2022
Journal: Comparative Studies in Society and History
Year: 2023

Abstract Blagoustroistvo is an archaic Russian word used today primarily to refer to urban public works. This article, a collaboration between an anthropologist and a historian, focuses on aesthetics, rhetorics, and concrete practices of blagoustroistvo in Moscow during two temporal junctures: the first decade following the October Revolution (ca. 1917–1930), and the decade of Sergey Sobyanin’s Moscow Mayoralty (2010–). Our juxtaposition reveals striking continuities and contrasts. Both in the 1