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This paper seeks to explore the local identities of the industrial towns dominated by a single industry or factory (monogorods) in the Ural region by examining the social, economic, and historical experiences of the towns during the Soviet and Post-Soviet years. Although many Russian scholars believe that regional identity did not develop in Russia due to its strong tradition of centralism,this study shows that “imagined communities” developed among the urban residents of the monogorods in the Ural region. Analysis of rhetoric during the postwar Stalin years demonstrates that the locals developed a strong sense of pride in their hometowns by internalizing official propaganda portraying those towns as hero cities contributing to the victory of World War II. Some of the most noticeable changes occurring in those towns during the post-Soviet era include local residents'increasing sense of integration into a globalized world and growing efforts of both regional governments and elites to create “new” regional symbols. Many local residents whose hometowns remained closed to the outside world until the end of the Soviet era now realize that their towns inevitably became a part of the globalized world as their towns came under the direct impact of global finance, economics, and culture. In addition, local governments began to change cities’coats-of-arms in order to redefine the identities of their cities after the fall of the Soviet Union. They invented new symbols by adopting historical and traditional elements of the local towns, both in those cities’ coats-of-arms and in the public spaces.
