ИСТИНА

Contemporary spatial development is deeply polarized (Harvey, 2006; Fischer-Tahir & Naumann, 2013; Hudson, 2015), leading to dramatic transformations of urban systems worldwide. Cities outside metropolitan regions often face out-migration, economic or infrastructural disconnection, political or economic dependency and stigmatization – the core features of peripheralization (Kuhn & Weck, 2012). At the same time, there is a shift from formally state-driven regulatory competences towards those driven by individual citizens and communities (Rose, 1996; Blokland et al., 2015; Kemp et al., 2015). The current research is dedicated to participative practices (formal participation and spontaneous do-it-yourself improvements - DIY urbanism) in urban planning and their potential to cope with peripheralization. Both latter are the reflection of a positive trend towards democratization of urban planning and may become a powerful resource for overcoming peripheralization. Though DIY urbanism is a direct contrast to the traditional capital-intensive, bureaucratic urban planning it is in fact an integral part of it, aimed at solving current tactical issues. Previous research of participative planning, and especially DIY urbanism, is mainly based on data from large cities, and it remains unclear whether there are specific practices in small cities, which are in fact most common urban settlements in the world (Jayne, 2004). The goal of the present study was to identify the key features of participative planning in small cities - who participates, what practices are most spread and are they integrated with official planning, based on Russian cases – Kasimov (Ryazan region), Kirov (Kaluga region), Nevel (Pskov region). The data for the research was gathered via questionnaires, expert and in-depth interviews with the local stakeholders. On the formal grounds of urban planning in Russia non-participation and tokenism (Arnstein, 1969) still prevail - residents may advise, but often are deprived of the final right to decide. However, the movement towards implementing DIY urban improvements gains power (“Sdelay sam”, 2016; “Pochemu gorodskim aktivistam…”, 2014), due both to severe deficiency of municipal budgets and democratization of local societies, making small Russian cities an illumines case study for the phenomenon.