Historical contexts for the emergence of various types of city plans in the major regional centers of Russia

Abstract

This paper examines the plans of the major Russian cities with a population over one million and their evolution over time. Special emphasis is placed on the Soviet period of urbanization, which had a significant impact on the direction of their territorial growth. The study retraces the evolution of the cities’ spatial organization from the foundation to the present day and identifies common characteristics of their urban development since the 1920s. The specific contexts that determined the planning structure of each of these cities are considered according to one of three types: compact, discrete, or extended.

Keywords

• city planning structure
• million-plus cities
• major russian cities
• compact cities
• discrete cities