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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Housing Memories in Riga: WWI and Its Aftermath—Representation of the Apartment in Soviet Cinema and Now

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Geography of film provides information on new historiographic perspectives in architecture, space and the imagination of urban environment. This chapter contributes to the field of human geography by conducting a content analysis of a vast number of films made between the early 1910s and present time focusing on development and spatial organization of living spaces in Riga. The research elucidates the construction of meaning of space and housing memory, where relations of dominance is defined and contested in visual representation of Riga’s apartments. A qualitative research methodology was used based on best practices of human geography data transcription and coding. The main findings show that living spaces are frequently portrayed in the Soviet cinema, and form an integral part of Soviet urban perception. However, state-imposed censorship throughout the Soviet period strictly regulated geographical disposition in representing living spaces through intensifying or neglecting particular areas of Riga.