Le développement de la nouvelle capitale du Kazakhstan, Astana / Nur-Sultan (1998-2018) : croissance, capitalisation et normalisation

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the development of the new capital of Kazakhstan, Astana / Nur-Sultan, twenty years after the relocation of (political?) power in this city. It argues that Astana / Nur-Sultan is undergoing a phase of normalization, at local, national and international levels, while it has been analyzed as an unusual urban object, as a "heterotopy". This article assumes that this normalization dynamic results from the “capitalization” of the new capital, i.e. a process resulting from acquisition of real or supposed attributes of a national capital, as they are thought in the post-soviet Kazakh context. It identifies several factors - demographic, urbanistic, geographical, symbolic, etc. -, which contribute to this evolution (similarly to other new capitals, such as Ankara, Brasilia, Yerevan, etc.). This article studies Astana / Nur-Sultan’s growth and the making of the city, as well as the articulation between ethnic and politic dimensions in the shaping of the Kazakh nation’s and the Kazakhstani state’s showcase.

Keywords

• migration
• urban development
• urban planning
• capital