Problems of the History and Status of European Urban Micropolities (on the Example of the "Freetown Christiania" and the "Republic of Užupis")

Morozov E.

The article is devoted to the history of the two largest European urban micropolities – the «Freetown Christiania» in Copenhagen and the «Republic of Užupis» in Vilnius. In modern political conditions, the processes of decentralization and autonomization of regions are taking place more and more actively. This process is superimposed on the problems of the formation of artificially created micronations, ideological communities and ecological settlements. Among the self-proclaimed micronations, urban micropolities are rare due to the extreme complexity of their formation and development. Such processes affect the history, culture, legal status of these territories, as well as international law. In Europe, attempts have been repeatedly made to create urban ideological communities, however, only the «Freetown Christiania» in Denmark and the «Republic of Užupis» in Lithuania can be attributed to successful types of developed micropolities. These formations have existed for several decades and are the most successful in modern Europe. They went through various development paths, eventually becoming major urban projects in the fields of culture, art and tourism. The history of these formations concerns the problems of the evolution of the status of the self-proclaimed «statehood» and the search for its compromise with external authorities. This process is also of great importance in the analysis of branding methods for cities and their individual neighborhoods.

Keywords:micropolies, history, statehood, micronations, Freetown Christiania, Republic of Užupis, Denmark, Lithuania.