COLLISION OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC SPACES IN A POST-SOVIET CITY: METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS PROSPECT

Abstract

Aim of the study. The aim of this study is to provide an aesthetic analysis of the experience of the collision between private and public in the urban space of a post-Soviet city, specifically Kyiv, through the lens of embodied sensory (synesthetic) perception of the urban landscape. The main focus is on vernacular practices and everyday interventions that manifest in the aesthetic fabric of the city as a consequence of historical, social, and cultural stratification rooted in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Methodology. The research is based on an interdisciplinary approach that combines philosophical-aesthetic analysis, ecological aesthetics, somaesthetics, phenomenology, and urban studies. The primary method employed is qualitative aesthetic observation – urban walking – during which visual and spatial tensions between the private and the public are documented. The analysis is enriched by engaging with key theoretical perspectives (A. Carlson, P. von Bonsdorff, R. Shusterman, A. Berleant, M. Foucault, M. Heidegger, A. Madanipour), which allow the urban space to be interpreted as an aesthetic environment with ethical and political dimensions. Scientific novelty. The novelty of the research lies in the proposed combination of ecological aesthetics with the phenomenological interpretation of the urban landscape in the context of post-Soviet transformation. For the first time, the specificity of the synesthetic experience of a Ukrainian city dweller is analyzed as a method for identifying aesthetic conflicts between private and public spheres. The author introduces a classification of such conflicts, including: appropriation, fragmentation, layering, and the intrusion of private narratives into public art.Conclusions. Urban space in the post-Soviet context is a complex, multilayered environment where the clash between private and public is expressed not only functionally but also in deeply aesthetic forms. The aesthetics of urban walking, synesthetic perception, and analysis of vernacular practices provide tools for capturing and critically reflecting on these processes. In this context, aesthetics is not a neutral category – it is inherently linked to the social, political, and cultural dimensions of contemporary urban life.