We also pay attention to new technologies and their impact on the routines and content of interpersonal communication between neighbors and the culture of neighboring in general. We seek to reveal 'best practices' of neighboring, reasons for, and examples of, neighbor conflicts, neighbor solidarities and civic activism on the neighborhood ground. We also look at the most mundane and routinized neighbor interactions and communications, such as small talks, greetings, neighbor assistance and exchanges, neighbor friendships and other types of bonding and whatever else pops up in the course of the study, with the goal to shed light on the meanings and functions of neighbor communications in a contemporary Russia's metropolis.
The study uses anthropological and sociological methods, such as interviewing and observation, diary method and analysis of media content. Thematically and conceptually, we rely on the studies of home, community, infrastructure, networks and refer to the concepts of convivality, proximity regimes, solidarity and conflict. Elena Bogdanova, Olga Brednikova, Olga Tkach, Elena Nikiforova, Irina Shirobokova (all CISR), Olga Gromasheva, Elvira Gizatullina, and Lyubov Chernysheva take part in the study.