The Phenomenon of Company Towns: Specific Features of Their Genesis and Development

The article analyzes the social phenomenon of single-industry towns (company towns), their role in the modern market economy, their genesis in Russia and other countries. The author observes historical stages of development of single-industry towns in Russia, as well as the features of their occurrence in the Soviet Union in connection with city-forming enterprises, which in addition to economic activities performed social functions. The characteristics of the development of single-industry towns in Europe, North America and are being compared. Distinctive features of the industrial enterprises of the cities formed in the Soviet Union are allocated. The article analyzes the problems of functioning and development of single-industry towns, examines foreign and domestic strategies for the rehabilitation of single-industry municipalities, including current measures to support such towns in the Russian Federation.

Educação e mundo do trabalho

Neste artigo enfocamos as diretrizes e ações educativas da Indústria e Comércio de Minérios S. A. (Icomi), a empresa mineradora que por mais de quatro décadas extraiu e vendeu o manganês de Serra do Navio, no centro do atual Estado do Amapá, no extremo-norte do Brasil. A principal fonte de pesquisa foi a revista mensal da empresa denominada Icomi-Notícias, que durou de 1964 a 1967. Ao relacionar os textos (artigos) e o contexto (abertura de novas frentes de exploração dos recursos naturais amazônicos), foi possível compreender que a educação era pensada e realizada nas company towns da Icomi como uma estratégia de formação de um novo tipo de homem e de sociedade local. A centralidade do trabalho e a especialização profissional eram percebidas como pilares de um novo modo de vida a ser forjado. Para atingir esse objetivo a Icomi construiu duas escolas, dois centros de treinamento, promoveu cursos profissionalizantes, concedeu bolsas de estudos, entre outras ações. Ela também estimulava, por meio de textos publicados na sua revista, o engajamento dos trabalhadores nessa démarche.

The mobility of Ural region company town residents: social practices and peculiarities of city spaces

The authors of this article base their reasoning on the fact that company towns are a special type of city space. In order to successfully implement programs for supporting and developing company towns, one must take into account the specific features inherent to the social-territorial community in question. Drawing attention to individual movement practices, them being activities in space, allows for identifying specifics and patterns in that particular social space where they are practiced, and the production of which they are contributing to. The study of the moving practices of industrial company town residents, which in scientific literature is represented by a very limited amount of studies, bears considerable potential for research, since it allows for tracing the entire process of space reproduction. Mobility has a systemic and routine character, being based on specific activity stereotypes and implicit “background expectations”. As a result they are rather difficult to register using classic survey methods. The authors of this article base their reasoning on the assumption that studying social movement practices requires the examination of those situations which violate the established social order. The article takes into consideration publications from the “VK” social network as a description for such “situations”. As such, the empirical base for the study consists of messages from open-access virtual territorial communities. The authors analyze communities that publish local news from three company towns in Sverdlovsky region (Pervouralsk, Krasnoturyinsk and Revda). The main distinction of the chosen data source is that publications appear upon user initiative, which rules out any influence the researcher might have on the meaning of the message. Content-analysis results allow for drawing a conclusion on the leading role of the automobile for company town residents, as well as on their dissatisfaction with public transport services. Also, the study allows for identifying the city space peculiarities inherent to Ural region company towns, which are defined by the locals’ mobility practices and also reproduced by said practices. According to the authors, these peculiarities are as follows: regarding a company town as a closed social-territorial community, perceiving such a city in the vein of outdated, unsafe space and obsolete infrastructure, as well as a certain tension existing between the population and local authorities within the city’s social space.

Retrofitting of Company Towns’ residential buildings: from international best practices to local implementations in Friuli Venezia Giulia region (NE Italy)

<p>The paper illustrates the retrofit of company towns’ heritage, focusing on energy efficiency strategies for residential buildings with the aim to highlight the best practices, the solutions and methodologies to be implemented for the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region in NE Italy. The starting point is a comprehensive analysis of company town’s retrofit strategies featuring a comparison among relevant examples from Europe and Italy. Unesco industrial sites, sites by the Modern Movement, and Italian well-known workers’ villages are included in the analysis. The evaluation of the retrofit solutions takes into consideration aspects of protection and valorisation, functional renovation, and environmental sustainability upgrade. As a result, common strategies for the energy retrofit of company towns’ residential heritage are identified and summarised as the first step for their application at local level. In this sense, the study highlights that industrial villages are still inhabited and they require an upgrade according to the guidelines for architectural restoration, which meet the current standards of comfort. Moreover, the strategies drawn from the case-studies reveal an excellent potential of applicability for the local area and its company towns: Panzano shipyard village, Cave del Predil mining site, and Torviscosa factory town.</p>