Identity politics in urban agglomerations: A review of modern scientific literature

Abstract

This article is the first review of scientific literature in the field of studying the identity politics in agglomerations. The main achievements, trends, topics, problems and prospects for the development of research field are identified. The review covers scientific publications in Russian and foreign science, starting from the first works in this field of study at the turn of the 20th– 21st centuries. The consequences of the use of many terms to designate agglomerations in English-speaking science are characterized. The features of the formation and development of the research agenda in the field of studying the identity policy of agglomerations are revealed. Attempts to reveal the identity of residents with agglomerations in empirical studies of European scientists are characterized. The opinions of leading scientists on the influence on the degree of identity with agglomerations of such factors as the size of the agglomeration and the degree of centralization of the agglomeration are presented. The methodological influence of the “city-region” approach on the peculiarities of considering conflicts between the identity of agglomerations and both urban and regional identities is characterized. The main results of research by European scientists on differences in the degree of identity with the agglomeration between the inhabitants of certain territorial zones, primarily the metropolitan core and periphery, are presented. The results of studies of the role of government and business actors in the constructing the identity of agglomerations are systematized. Since almost all major scientific publications in this field are produced by specialists in the field of regional studies and urban studies, but not by specialists in the study of identity issues, the emerging theoretical problems of identity politics are left without due attention.