Fight for Landscape Formation: Discourse Analysis of Urban Activism in the 2018 Protest during Reconstruction of Reformatai Park in Vilnius (Lithuania)

The reconstruction of urban public spaces involves conflicting interests of various actors, including municipalities and business enterprises, while the preferences and needs of local communities are frequently ignored. It is especially evident in countries like Lithuania, where there is no strong tradition of urban collective action due to the suppression of civil society initiatives during the previous socialist regime. However, one case of reconstruction of Reformatai Park in Vilnius gained massive protests against the initial reconstruction plan, especially in social media. Thus, the aim of the presentation is to reveal the impact of social media in mobilization efforts that resulted in changes of reconstruction plan.

The presentation is based on insights from landscape sociology and particularly on a social constructionist perspective that defines “landscape” as created by a human act of conferring meaning on nature and the environment within a particular cultural context (Greider & Garkovich 1994). In this perspective, the cultural heritage and memory of historical places (Bender 2002) along with transformations of ideologies (Duncan & Duncan 1988) are crucial factors related to the construction of landscapes. Besides, the presentation is also based on insights from urban environmental activism studies, that reveal the structural and social-psychological factors of motivation of this activism (Bastidas at all 2023).

The presentation is based on discourse analysis of social media conducted in 2024 in the framework of project „(Post)Authoritarian landscapes“, financed by the Lithuanian Council of Science. Through a post-structural discourse analysis (Laclau & Mouffe, 1987), this study analyzes how selected groups articulate contrasting perspectives on public space. It investigates the resources these groups mobilize to advocate for their respective values and beliefs, which often lead to antagonistic relationships representing different ideological perspectives.