Phenomenon of Eurasian cities in a new research

A new research presented at the conference Comfortable City: New Challenges analyzes the development of Russian cities against the background of national history and gives recommendations on their preservation and further development.

“Cities follow their country’s destiny like tree rings. In the beginning of the research we set the goal to learn how the life of the country influences the life of some cities, what makes cities expand and what makes them ‘shrink’. In our research tried to trace the development of Russian cities and identify specific features of historical structure defined by landscape and history of development,” – said the Chief of Master Plan Development Department of RTDA Elena Popova during the presentation of the research at the conference Comfortable City: New Challenges on October 24.

The research Development of Eurasian Cities: Review of the Development Specifics was commissioned by Moskomarkhitektura; the authors are: M.N. Lepeshkina, D.B. Dridze, E.A. Popova, G.B. Omeljanenko, I.F. Dubrovin, K.N. Maslova, Yu.O. Kalitseva. With the participation of Philipp Meuser. You can read and download it from the “Books” page.

Goals of the research:

- to identify factors that provide basis for urban development/decay

- finding out history of formation of urban planning structure

- revealing the steadiest part of the urban planning structure

- identification of unique features of the cities that shall be preserved

- identification of common features incorporated into the structure of Russian cities during imperial and soviet periods.

- clarifying what should be preserved and what needs to be redesigned  

The first part of the research contains general information and comparative analysis of the statistics on Russian cities. As a result of the research, several patterns were identified: how the cities had spread around the country, how many people live in historical cities today, which cities have the highest population, where the population is growing and where it is decreasing, etc.

The research showed that in the cities with up to 250,000 people the population is shrinking, while in the cities with over 250,000 people it is growing. Unfortunately, 90% of small towns are losing their residents.

The second part of the research is dedicated to a historical research of emergence and growth of cities within the context of the Russian history. During the research, the following periods of formation of urban settlements were specified:

The first period: 862 – 1237

From when the Scandinavian prince Rurik was invited to be the first Russian king to the invasion by the Mongol khan Batu

The second period: 1238 – 1505

From the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar rule to the end of the reign of Ivan III who initiated the “union of the Russian lands” around Moscow

The third period: 1505 – 1605

From the beginning of the reign of Vasily III to the end of the reign of Boris Godunov

The fourth period: 1605 – 1695

From the end of the Time of Troubles to the beginning of the reign of Peter I

The fifth period: 1695 – 1801

From the beginning of the reign of Peter I to the death of Pavel I

The sixth period: 1801 -1917

From the reign of Alexander I to the abdication of Nicholas II

The seventh period: 1917 – 1991

The Soviet Russia – the USSR

The eighth period: 1991 – 2017

Contemporary history, from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the present time

According to the study, for a city to emerge the following key conditions need to be met: a community of residents, a city territory, internal supplies, external systems of influence (centralized authorities, commerce, mentality). According to the research, the fourth factor – the external influence – is the most important for the growth of a city.

According to Galina Omelyanenko, Chief of Internal Expert Review Department at RTDA, one of the most interesting periods of the development of the cities was the time of the first five-years and post-war reconstruction (they are combined in one period). The foundations of urban planning created at this time laid the ground for the contemporary urban development theory.

The unique development features of the Russian cities were analyzed in the study on the example of development of the following representatives: Veliky Novgorod, Gorokhovets, Nizhny Novgorod, Troitsk, Vladivostok, Magnitogorsk, Dubna, and Chernyakhovsk.

This selection of cities to be analyzed in detail was based on the following parameters: the period of emergence of the city and the length of its existence within Rus – Russia – USSR – Russian Federation; the current population; changes in the population; the administrative status of the city; similarity of the city with the development of other Russian cities (scientific city, socialistic city, commercial city); location on the map of Russia.

“The uniqueness of Russian history is that it can be told at the example of the development of the cities, – says Philipp Meuser, architect, founder of publishing house DOM Publishers. The situation in Europe is different, the cities there were developing under the influence of economic, public, and sometimes private interests. Instead in Russia, the urban development was influenced by political factors. This study is the most detailed complete research of Eurasian cities, it highlights the key parameters influencing the life of the cities of today and can serve as a scientific basis for future urban development projects.”

This study identified the historical roots of the problems most typical for the Russian cities. For example, the uniform industrial construction in the 50s – 80s, making up about 90% of housing stock, resulted in the lack of individuality of the urban housing development. “According to the study, a huge part of the territory of the modern Russian cities is taken up by industrial zones, in some cases the former industrial zones become obsolete and get excluded from the life of the city.”

As a result of the research, the features characteristic to Russian cities were identified, and a number of recommendations were given, including: to preserve the remaining fragments of ancient cities, to restore the lost dominants, to work out programs for engineering support of private housing in small towns, to develop public spaces associated with the city history. Moreover, the authors of the study brought attention to the importance of a complex analysis of how efficiently the urban area is used, to the gradual reconstruction of the buildings dating back to the industrial housing construction, and to new promising projects of urban development.

The research is supported by demonstration material, maps, city plans, photographs and historical reviews. “Development of Eurasian Cities” will be interesting not only to professionals, but also to a wider audience interested in the history of urban development.