Urban gender regimes through the lens of critical toponymy

The article presents findings from a study of the toponymic systems of regional capitals in Russia’s Central Federal District (16 cities, excluding Moscow). The aim was to identify characteristics of urban gender regimes in these cities from the perspective of critical toponymics and to conduct a comparative analysis with similar data from European cities. The theoretical and methodological foundation of the research is based on the concept of gender regimes and key principles of critical toponymics. Data collection for Russian cities was based on the analysis of official documents as well as information from geospatial platforms — Yandex.Maps and OpenStreetMap. For European cities, open data integrated by the projects Mapping diversity and Stnameslab were used. Processing of the collected material involved statistical and cartographic methods using Microsoft Excel and QGIS software. The analysis confirmed the presence of stable gender regimes within the toponymic systems of all studied cities. The main characteristic of these regimes is the clear dominance of male names in street naming, both in Russian and European contexts. However, differences were observed in the content: in Russian cities, names of figures of supra-regional significance prevail, while in European cities — despite a much higher number of “female” anthroponyms — a significant share refers to individuals directly connected to the city and its development. Spatial distribution patterns indicate that urban space is regulated by gender regimes: “female” anthrotoponyms are most often located on the periphery of central districts. The results provide a basis for outlining promising directions for further study of urban gender regimes through the lens of critical toponymics.

gender regimes, critical toponymy, anthropotoponyms, urban space, social inequality