“When we found out that our building would be demolished, we were shocked. Nobody asked for our permission,” Vlad Zamanov, a resident of House No. 45 in Tashkent, tells me.
For Zamanov and his neighbours, the decision in early 2018 to pull down their apartment block was nothing more than an outrage. Not only was House No. 45 a community unto itself, it is located near the remains of an ancient walled city, Ming Urik. In response, House No.45 transformed into an informal organisation, with residents turning their homes into its various campaign departments.
The block’s “legal department” attended three court cases and submitted over 15 appeals to various state institutions. The “human resources office” compiled lists of which residents wanted to stay and which wanted to leave. The “press office” gave interviews to local and international media, while the “research department”, in cooperation with foreign colleagues, collected information on the cultural and architectural importance of their home, and the “events management” office organised cultural gatherings.
