printNavigating Between Hierarchy and Network:
the Structure of the Urban Preservation Movement in St. Petersburg
Judina D.I.
Cand. Sci. (Soc.), Junior Researcher, Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS, St. Petersburg, Russia dartisimus@gmail.com
Riazantseva A.V.
MA Student, Faculty of Sociology, St Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia a.riazantseva22@gmail.com
Judina D.I. , Riazantseva A.V. Navigating Between Hierarchy and Network: the Structure of the Urban Preservation Movement in St. Petersburg. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 9. P. 110-123
The authors examine the structure of the urban preservation movement in St. Petersburg through an analysis of activist communities represented on the social network “VKontakte”. The movement in St. Petersburg is one of the most prominent in Russia, making its transformation under the influence of digitalization and shifting state–society relations a valuable case for understanding broader trends in civic participation. Based on an analysis of 106 groups with data covering the period from February 17, 2024, to February 17, 2025, the study finds that the backbone of St. Petersburg’s preservation movement consists of protest-oriented communities that regularly organize events and tend toward acquiring formal status. The vast majority of online groups produce their own content for the purpose of expert knowledge exchange, while more than half actively seek to mobilize supporters among residents living near the heritage sites in question. The network of preservation communities exhibits strong connectivity, sustained by a core of groups with a high number of ties, which points to the presence of leaders within these associations. The leading groups are predominantly composed of protest-oriented, weakly institutionalized communities whose activities address citywide issues. The position of activist communities in the distribution of user attention and support from other groups depends only partly on their level of institutionalization. The case of St. Petersburg demonstrates activists’ strategic maneuvering as they leverage both the advantages of the movement’s historically established institutional infrastructure and the networked dynamics sustained by digitized civic participation.
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