Davabirzhaot! Conflicting claims on public space in Tbilisi between transparency and opaqueness

Costanza Curro

11 citations0/0 files storedInternational Journal of Sociology and Social Policy

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Urban and sociocultural dynamics Urban Planning and Governance Public Spaces through Art

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the form of young male socialisation referred to as birzha, in its relation to public space in Georgia. Birzha defines a group of young men who meet regularly in urban open spaces in Tbilisi’s neighbourhoods. Partly considered as the initial step of a criminal career, belonging to birzha is a mark of identification with one’s local group. The contested nature of public space is illustrated by the conflicting relation between birzha’s bottom-up use of public space and top-down projects of urban renovation sought by Saakashvili’s government. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing upon literary and media sources, and analysing fieldwork data collected in 2008-2009 and 2014, this study explores how the announced (re)construction of public space under Saakashvili resulted in institutional interventions from above which curtailed public space’s accessibility. Findings – The present analysis points out contradictions in Saakashvili’s government’s political narrative on public space. In the institutional focus on a future of order, transparency, and democracy, birzha is an insistent reminder of an informal and corrupted past. Banned from futuristic projections of the public space, in the present birzha is annihilated by state repression, enforced in opaque zones out of public sight. Originality/value – Focusing on a largely overlooked phenomenon in social science research, the paper highlights the ways in which conflicting approaches to public space affect the relation between political institutions and citizens. Delving into ambivalent public/private divides in post-socialist societies, the study of Georgian birzha offers an original angle for investigating the contestation of urban public space in relation to political legitimacy and transparency.

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References

2001Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City 1946Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum 1999Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange 1977The Fall of Public Man 2005The Politics of Public Space 2010Assessing the Publicness of Public Space:The Star Model of Publicness 2009Common Ground?: Readings and Reflections on Public Space 2009The Epoch of Magna: Capitalist Brands and Postsocialist Revolutions in Georgia

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