Internet practices of citizens' participation in creating comfortable urban area (case study of the Northwestern federal district)

The article presents the results of a social research of online forms of civic participation in the region using the case study of practices for creating a comfortable urban area. Living of the majority of the population in cities presupposes the existence of a social demand for appropriate living standards. The response to the demand is the active formation of an institutional environment for involving citizens in the urban area development, creating platforms for interaction between stakeholders. Russian researchers have repeatedly studied the practices of local network civic participation noting the differentiation of Russian regions in terms of the interaction quality between society and government. The relevance of the work is caused by the trends toward the emergence of new forms of civic activism, the citizens' participation in territorial planning issues, and cohesion growth of activists and population through inclusion in the network space. The purpose of the research is to analyze the Internet practices of citizens' participation in creating a comfortable urban area using the case study of the Northwestern Federal District. The authors consider the civic participation a voluntary interaction of citizens or public associations in order to solve socially significant tasks. We have chosen the sphere of creating a comfortable living environment, as it provides great opportunities for the active population's participation in its change and also affects citizens' satisfaction with living standards and the municipal authorities' activities. The paper uses the method of comparative analysis. The authors conclude that, with the growing number of Internet users, the format of civic participation practices is also changing, and a number of platforms for solving social problems is increasing. The article summarizes data on Internet practices initiated by public figures as a tool for influencing the authorities. The paper identifies the authorities' initiatives in the Internet space aimed at creating a comfortable urban area, increasing the level of loyalty, and social optimism of citizens. The work demonstrates that the subjects of creation of online services compete with each other for audience. We have highlighted the negative features of online practices: the predominance of reactive practices, the slaktivism development. The research defines the territorial differences of civil activism. The authors have concluded that alienation from civic participation is manifested in activity imitation. The article makes suggestions to increase civic activism.