ABC-Centres and Identities of Mustamäe Mikrorayons
ABC-Centres and Identities of Mustamäe Mikrorayons

Summary/Abstract: This article studies the imagery of local commercial centres (the ABCcentres) in Mustamäe – the first post-war prefabricated housing area in Estonia. We argue that the ABC-centres functioned not just locations for shopping and services, but also 'identity spots': many residents identified their neighbourhood by their local ABC-centre. Today, the status and the identities of former ABC-centres have been considerably transformed. The framing idea of the article is to find common features between architectural history and cultural geography: ABC-centres are seen as urban landscape with specific historical context and tangible architectural qualities, at the same time being culturally meaningful on the level of social representations.

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