KNOWLEDGE OF CITY HISTORY AS A BASIS FOR THE INFORMAL EDUCATION OF THE INDUSTRIAL CITIES' YOUTH

Dr. Bystrova Tatiana¹, Dr. Pevnaya Maria², Mrs. Telepaeva Daria³*

¹Ural Federal University, RUSSIA, taby27@yandex.ru
²Ural Federal University, RUSSIA, m.v.pevnaya@urfu.ru
³Ural Federal University, RUSSIA, daria.telepaeva@gmail.com
*Corresponding author

Abstract

Cities, intensively developing within the industrial age, are now affected by crisis. Monocities' and small territories' crisis is connected with economic processes. City-forming plants and factories are not always able to change their production process and withstand market competition. Economic problems determine the ambiguous social context of urban development. The problems of citizens' employment become actual and there are not enough local budgets for the development of living and recreation environment. One of the global challenges is the migration of youth to major cities and urban agglomerations where the urban environment is developing more dynamically and where new technologies and universities are concentrated.
Within this problematic field, it is important to understand what can have a significant impact on the desire of young people to take initiatives in order to transform the territories of their residence? Thus, the hypothesis of our study is that the young citizens' knowledge of urban history influences their desire to develop and improve their city and participate in its social and economic transformations.

This report analyzes the data of an online survey that was conducted in 2018. The object of the research is the youth of one of the largest industrial Russian regions – the Sverdlovsk region. Among the respondents 35% are men, 65% are women. 2844 young men and women from 47 cities responded to the questionnaire initiatively. Residents of the 4 largest cities in the region accounted for 35% of the total number of respondents, 19% of respondents live in cities with a population of 100,000 to 50,000 people, young residents of small Ural cities (where less than 50,000 citizens live) accounted for 46% of the sample. The report compares two groups of respondents, those who answered positively and negatively to the question: “Do you know the history of your city?”.

The study suggests that the knowledge of history by young citizens is an effective managerial solution for the development of industrial cities. This solution can be implemented through the creation and promotion of informal education for children and adolescents, as well as through the support for social projects that are aimed at raising the awareness of young people about the culture and history of their cities. Taken together, such measures may well become a good management tool.

Keywords: cultural heritage, historical heritage, knowledge of urban history, informal education, sustainable development of territories, youth