Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie (Sep 2014)
Development of Urban Planning Culture in the Kazan Khanate (2)
Abstract
Relevance of this research lies in the fact that the urban culture of the Khanate of Kazan was not seen as a holistic phenomenon, which ceased to exist, according to the previous research, with its inclusion in the Russian State. On the other hand, researchers have identified in this holistic phenomenon traditional links and continuity with early stages of the Volga-Kama region development, i.e., with the Bulgarian and Golden Horde periods. In fact, the urban culture of the Khanate of Kazan represented the final stage of the Muslim period in the cultural development of the region. The purpose of this work was to identify the characteristics of the process of urban planning culture in the Kazan Khanate as a complex system formed on the basis of the achievements of the region as part of the Golden Horde. Author of the study had the following objectives: 1. To trace the development of urban planning culture of the Kazan Khanate at all interconnected and interdependent levels of the system, namely, the spatial organization of the territory of the khanate, the city, and its architecture. 2. To identify the changes taking place at each of these levels under the influence of various factors and conditions, which in one form or another, were reflected on the system as a whole. 3. To identify the features of the development of urban planning culture of the Kazan Khanate in comparison with the Bulgarian and Golden Horde periods. The research novelty of this work lies in the fact that its author used in the study of urban planning culture of the Kazan Khanate complex methodology both combining classical, cultural, and synergetic approach to the objects of research and allowing to consider it as a holistic and complex phenomenon in the development process, taking into account many factors and conditions. The author has been first both to define nature and characteristics of the capital city of the Kazan Khanate with the Muslim population and to establish its distinctive features from medieval towns in other regions of the Muslim world. For the first time, Kazan as well as urban culture of the Kazan Khanate in general, have been studied in the dynamics of development.
