Abstract: Based on the materials of sociological surveys, the article reveals the routes and semantic points of urban movements of preschoolers. The subject of the study is the city as a socio-territorial education and a space of socialization, with the main focus on the mobility of preschool children. The city, being a factor in the socialization of children, promotes the development of cognitive interest and communication skills, ensures integration into communities and the accumulation of social capital. Moving around the city forms identity, develops skills and promotes social integration, emphasizing the role of the city in the reproduction of connections and relationships. The study was conducted using the principles of the concept of Sociology of mobility of J. Urry and M. Scheller. The article presents the results of two studies conducted in 2021 and 2023. The object of the first study is the parent community of Yekaterinburg, which has preschool children (n=163), the objects of the second are teachers of preschool educational institutions (n=412). The research includes online surveys and interviews with parents, identifying travel routes and their social contexts in an urban environment. Four routes of urban movement are identified: educational, leisure and gaming, household, educational and recreational. Parents with preschool children do not limit themselves to the proposed trajectories, also visiting relatives, friends, shopping malls, cafes/restaurants. The study of mobility routes contributes to the study of children's space, which depends on factors of different order and level (type of territory, material wealth and type of family, etc.). The work argues that the socialization capabilities of the city for the development of children, on the one hand, are limited by the local infrastructure of the family's residential neighborhood, on the other hand, the choice of parental community routes urban mobility and a semantic map of movements.

Keywords: the semantic map of mobility, semantic points, travel route, preschoolers, urban mobility routes, socializing space, socialization, city, pre-school educational institutions, additional education

Abstract: The subject of this research is the structural-spatial perceptions of the city dwellers. Within the framework of this article, the author presents the results of sociological survey conducted in the city of Novosibirsk focused on the examination of specificity of spatial perception of the city residents of central and suburban territories of their city. As a result, the author determined the spaces attributable to the center or suburbs; factors that influence the perception of certain spaces as central or of increased value; specifies the conceptual parameters of the center in perception of the residents of large city. The main research method is the questionnaire, using the principle of quota sample based on consideration of demographic characteristics of parent population. The results of research allow assessing the specificity of the structural-spatial perception of city dwellers of the place of their residence; can be used in city-planning solutions; and development of the conceptual bases for the regional cultural policy. The majority of answers is defined by the objective characteristics of life in the large cities, such as considerable size, accelerated pace of life, environmental problems, high level of visual monotony of the environment mostly presented by the objects of prefabricated housing, etc.

Keywords: significant spaces, the perception, outskirts, the image of the city, streets, areas, the center, the structure of urban space, boundaries, functions of the city center

Abstract: The subject of this research is the results of sociological survey of the Toponymy of Irkutsk in perception of its residents. The article discusses the key problems related to renaming of the streets of historical city and associated with it socio-cultural and routine transformation of the conditions and peculiarities of life of the Irkutsk residents. The author generalizes the existing inconsistencies and suggests the alternatives for alleviating the social tension and discontent. The solution methods of toponymic inconsistencies through the binomial names of streets and squares of the city. Methodology contains the standardized interview of the city residents, conducted with the help of quota sampling: based on the gender and age. The scientific novelty in indication of the major problems in streets renaming, determination of the moral-ethnical and routine difficulties that are faced by the residents of renamed streets in Irkutsk. The author demonstrates the options of the sociopolitical modelling and pressure that can be understood vaguely by the city population, and thus have ambiguous consequences.  

Keywords: historical memory, social development, social reproduction, social memory, social identity, social attitudes, streets and squares, city, toponymy, collective memory

Abstract: The subject of this research is the civic initiatives realized in the cities of Irkutsk Region. The author examines the expert evaluation of civic initiatives by the participants of such events, as well as provides the data of the public opinion poll regarding the inclusion into the activity of civic initiatives and assessment of its efficiency. Particular attention is given to the essential characteristics of civic initiatives that testify to the uneven development of civil society in the cities of Irkutsk Region. The author specifically reviews the assessment and forms of perception of successfulness and unsuccessfulness of the realized initiatives, when in accordance to the author’s opinion along with the experts and population, the result can be evaluated based on the positive result (when the participants have achieved their goal), as well as negative (when the goal has not been achieved, but caused public response or other reactions. Methodology implies expert survey and questionnaire. The latter involved 900 females and 300 males in the age of 18-75, with different level of education and professional status, as well as financial income or social status. The expert survey involved 12 people, selected based on the criterion of participation in the regional civic initiatives (of minimum 10 per year). The scientific novelty consists in analysis of the assessment of the performance of civic activists, participants of civic initiatives by themselves and the society. Civic initiatives in the cities of Irkutsk Region help solving the issues that the municipal and regional authorities do not deal with. Participation in civil initiatives develops the skills of self-organization, cooperation, and socially responsible behavior.

Keywords: social development, social dynamics, social reproduction, social activity, social networks, social interaction, civil society, civic initiatives, social statics, consolidation

Abstract: The subject of this research is the mentality of the residents of small cities of Siberia. The author meticulously examines the residents of small cities of Irkutsk, Kemerovo, and Krasnoyarsk Regions, indicates the key features of the Siberian mentality justified by the historical and cultural traditions of the regions, as well as social and political processes that create the modern framework for the development of Siberian territories. The article refers to the basic part of the establishment of mentality, constant in time and space, and temporary local circumstances that emphasize certain peculiarities of Siberian mentality. The research involved 2,400 respondents in the age of 18-75, who have been residing in the small cities of Siberia (Zima, Shelekhov, Sayansk, Baykalsk, Yeniseysk, Zheleznogorsk, Sosnovoborsk, Uyar, Guryevsk, Kaltan, Myski, and Tayga) for five or more years. As the main conclusion, the author listed the following distinct features of mentality inherent to the residents of small cities of Siberia: values of territorial identity form the foundation of the mentality of Siberians; limited vertical mobility; manifestation of the traditional features of Russian culture (collectivism and paternalism); special attitude to the social institutions – government, religion, and family.

Keywords: social development, region, Siberia, territorial identity, regional identity, representation, mentality, social dynamics, Siberian mentality, Siberians

Abstract: The object of this article is the theoretical formulations of the Russian scholars dedicated to the study of image of a city within the national discourse, marking the main spheres, forms, and methods of examination of the cities. The work provides the results of the authorial empirical study of the image of Irkutsk, structured upon the perception of the city dwellers of high, medium, and low level of satisfaction with the city, urban semiotics, and space. The author traces the emotional state of each of the highlighted groups, as well as analyzes the trans-symbolic peculiarities of perception of the image of Irkutsk through the affective, cognitive, and activity essences, which the residents put in the image itself. The research applies the method of survey, which involved 1800 residents of Irkutsk, 55% of women and 45% of men, from 18 to 75 years of age. The level of education varied: secondary education – 10%; vocational education – 15%; higher education – 55%; post-graduate degree – 20%. The conclusion is made on the establishment of the city image of Irkutsk for the government authorities and its residents. The main vectors of the positive image of Irkutsk are based on harmonious development policy of the city's infrastructure, sociocultural and ecological traditions, combined with the advancement of innovation forms of production. The final thesis is reduced to the fact that the future of Irkutsk is being formed in the present.

Keywords: present of city, development of city, city signs, City symbols, Social ideas, perception, development prospects, identity, city image, future of city

Abstract: This article presents the results of sociological research aimed at identifying the characteristics of the urban environment perception of the inhabitants of a large provincial city (on Omsk data). As a result, the author formulates a list of parameters covered in this study. The main parameters are the following : firstly, the assessment of the subjective perception of citizens of the visual characteristics of urban environment (including aesthetic, formal (size, structure, composition); secondly, the assessment of the level of emotional perception (based on a list of basic and secondary emotional state); and thirdly, the additional features aimed primarily at identifying the parameters inherent to urban lifestyle author characterizes the dynamics of the research interest in urban space perception problems. The author develops an original version of semantic differential consisting of twenty polar scales defined by the pairs of antonymous adjectives. Within the framework of this research, the pairs of antonymous adjectives are deliberately mixed between the blocks, but in the preparation of the questionnaire, the author takes into account the existence of such conceptual blocks as the visual characteristics of space, emotional perception, and additional characteristics. The results of the research allow estimating the current state of perception of the inhabitants of the city environment of their stay, and can be applied in the development of urban solutions alongside the conceptual foundations of regional cultural policy. Most of the responses are determined by the objective characteristics of lifestyle in the large cities, such as substantial size, rapid pace of life, environmental problems, a high level of protection provided by the visual monotony largely objects panel construction and others.

Keywords: urban environment, visual characteristics, city, methodology, historiography, emotional perception of space, semantic differential, perception of space, urban lifestyle, perception of space structures