Caught In The Waiting Game: Community, Creativity And Everyday Life In Šnipiškės

Abstract

By applying the metaphor of the communal apartment to the district of Snipiskės, I seek to analyze the complex forms of neighboring and community that developed, and how they have changed in the Post-Soviet context. Ambiguous city plans have left many residents feeling overlooked and suspended in a prolonged situation of uncertainty and anticipation. However, far from remaining passive, residents who feel forsaken by the state, discouraged by the financial crisis, or surrounded by negligent neighbors nevertheless assert their agency by acting creatively as the upkeepers of order and as “authors” of the everyday (Certeau 1998: 138) leading to new revaluations of place that privilege autonomy and ways of “making-do”.