“Empty space” or a place of memory? Skolkovo Innovation Center in oral narratives

Abstract

This study examines the competing and coexisting narratives about the past of the territory where the Skolkovo Innovation Centre is located. The authors analyze the intersections and contradictions between the public image of Skolkovo as a project built “from scratch” and a locally preserved alternative narrative maintained by residents and employees of the Research Institute of Agriculture. The research is based on interviews, archival materials, and digital ethnography conducted within the framework of the HSE project workshop “Urban Historical Memory” and the “People's History of Russia” project (2023-2025).The key focus of the study is how various actors - media, state institutions, research institute employees, and local residents - construct the memory of the place. The public narrative, promoted in the media, portrays Skolkovo as an innovation cluster emerging from a “blank slate”, distancing it from its Soviet heritage and emphasizing a future-oriented agenda. In contrast, the alternative narrative, maintained by the Research Institute, stresses the historical continuity of the territory, linked to agricultural research, experimental fields, and the institute's foundational role in local urban development during the Soviet era. Alongside this narrative, the study also explores urban folklore addressing the earlier history of the Skolkovo area.Special attention is given to the materiality that sustains these narratives. The buildings of the research institute, archival photographs, and ongoing scientific activities reinforce the alternative version of the past, while media resources and Skolkovo's infrastructure amplify the dominant narrative. Urban folklore - though untethered from material objects - persists due to its flexibility and dispersion, shaping multiple perceptions of the place.