Rural Moscow

In the past, settlements have been built in areas with access to water, transportation, and trade. The Russian plain was an important trade route because of the network of rivers connecting the surrounding regions. The cities that formed along these rivers were originally formed in fortresses called Kremlins because of constant terrorism by nearby Tatars. Today,  the Golden Ring of settlements outside of Moscow still have standing kremlins and continue to thrive as centers for Russian culture.

Moscow originated when a prince, Yury Dolgoruky, stopped at a trading post outside of Vladamir. When the local prince was not hospitable to him, Dolgoruky killed the other prince and took control of the region that would become Moscow. This is where he ordered the construction of the first Kremlin, made of wood. 

 

Nomadic tribesmen continued to terrorize Eastern Europe and in 1236, they burned Moscow down and killed the new governor. In the 14th century Moscow Prince Ivan I Kalita was appointed chief “tax-collector”; this gave Moscow supremacy over its neighbors. Moscow was advantageously situated in the centre of many trade routes, which allowed the city to flourish. 50 years later the centralization of Russian lands around Moscow began.

It wasn’t until Ivan the Great was ruling that the Eastern Slav principalities would be united and consolidated into a single territorial entity. To celebrate, the Kremlin was renovated, this time built with walls and watch towers made of brick. Soon after the fortress was constructed, the kitay gorod was created nearby, which was a center for trade and artisans. By the end of the 14^th century, the fortress housed churches, monasteries, and manors for the local nobility. A stone wall was then built around the entire city for protection from future intruders. The city developed from this center in concentric rings.

In 1547, two fires destroyed much of Moscow, and in 1571, Crimean Tatars captured was left of the city, burning down everything that remained, except for the Kremlin. Only 30,000 of Moscow’s 200,000 inhabitants survived. When the Tatars returned to seize the Kremlin, they were held back by the defensive wall that had been constructed.

 

Moscow became a political capital and religious center in Russia, and in the mid-15^th century, the Russian Orthodox Church was organized. In the 1450s, after the fall of Constantinople, Moscow claimed itself to be the “third Rome.”

By the early 1700s, cobblestone roads had begun to be laid throughout Moscow, and in 1741, a 25-mile long stone barricade had been constructed around the city. Sixteen gates were located along this wall, and tolls were collected from those who entered.

With the growth of trade, culture, and religion in Moscow, the city quickly grew. By the early 15^th century, it had already surpassed a population of 50,000. Because of the stone wall surrounding the city, it was protected from fire and attacks by terrorists, and by the 17^th century, the population grew to over 200,000, making it the largest city in the world at the time.  In 1813, a Commission for the Construction of the City of Moscow was established, which launched the reconstruction of city, and the planning of a new city center, which would include a new Kremlin Palace, Moscow University, and the Bolshoi Theatre.

 

Sources:

Brunn, Hays-Mitchell, and Zeigler.  (2008)  Cities of the World, 4^th Edition.  Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

http://www.moscow-taxi.com/sightseeing/kremlin/kremlin.html

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/moscow

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/russia/moscow/history #142472

http://expat.ru/wiki/Moscow_History

Urban Industrial Moscow

Urban Industrial development started to flourish around 1696 under the reign of Peter the Great.  Moscow became one of two major centers of metal production in Russia.  Not only was it the center of metal production, but Moscow also produced linen and woolen textile mills.  Other small factories were used for manufacturing glass, paper, and leather goods.  Once Peter the Great died in 1725, the industrial development of Moscow began to slow down greatly, falling behind Western Europe and North America.

The American Civil war was a catalyst which enabled industrial development to take off once again.  Moscow was growing because of its many deposits of minerals and valuable metals and because the world was in desperate need for an assortment of foods.  All of Moscow’s industries were rising incredibly, some even 100 fold including coal, pig iron, steel, and oil production.  Moscow had become one of the largest textile centers internationally.

 (Jens Olaf factory in Moscow)

Moscow, which became the most important “old center of market-oriented, labor-intensive industries”, was producing thirty percent of Russia’s industrial goods.  Although the city had few natural resources, Moscow developed industrially before the 1917 revolution because of its central location and because it is the capital of the Soviet Union.  By 1991, Moscow accounted for nearly twenty percent of the Soviet’s industrial output.  The capital had become an engineering, textile, manufacturing, and commercial center. A decade later, Moscow was producing thirty-five percent of Russia’s total industrial output. 

The city had become so rich and politically powerful partly because of river trade.  River trade opened way to the Middle East, central Asia, and China.  Most traffic at the beginning of urban industrial growth moved by rivers.  Other forms of transportation included railroads.  In 1851, a railroad was built that connected Moscow to St. Petersburg.  Later on plenty more railroads had developed connecting Moscow to many other cities including Saratov, Warsaw, and Crimea.  In 1892, the construction the railway that connects Moscow to Siberia began.  This railroad known as the Trans-Siberian Railway became imperative for urban industrial growth.

During the Soviet rule, the common people of Moscow lived in microrayons. Microrayons were constructed near industry and other places of work to minimize journeys to work. They housed 8,000-12,000 people in living areas designed as integrated units of high-rise apartment buildings, stores, and schools to provide consumers with cultural and educational services required by Soviet norms.

Sources: 

Russia by William A. Dando

Rent Gradients in Moscow and Houston by Plina Veksler, Volume 3, Issue 10, June 2002

http://afterthesoviets.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/look-for-the-differences-gldani-vs-mvrdv/

http://www.waytorussia.net/WhatIsRussia/20thCentury-History.html

Cities of the World Textbook

Moscow’s Post Industrial Society

A transition from an Urban Industrial Society to a Post Industrial Society occurs when a city’s economy becomes based in the services sector rather than manufacturing. Jobs move to the tertiary sectors (where jobs are focused around cities that are corporate headquarters or headquarters for relations between governments) or quaternary sectors (where jobs focus on health and medicine, research and development, and tourism and recreation) and become mainly focused on services for the people.

The change in Moscow began with the resignation of Russia’s final Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow experienced an economic explosion accompanied by new signs of capitalism. A new economy developed and avenues filled with cars, streets became heavily populated with vendors, and a retail sector emerged.

 The business services sector in Moscow has grown drastically in the last twenty or so years. Moscow’s employment in the business services sector has risen from practically zero in 1990 to 8.5-10% in 2000. The rate then rose to 15-16% by 2007. These are incredibly high jumps for a period of only 17 years. The most popular servicing occupations were in banking, insurance, advertising, real estate, corporate legal services, management consultancies, and accounting. 

  

The great increase in service industry goes along with a sharp decrease in employment in the industrial sector. In Moscow many formerly leading industries have either collapsed or have been sold to foreign investors. For example, major corporations, OTIS and British American Tobacco were both sold off to foreign investors. With the changing focus of the economy, room must be made for new buildings to be constructed. Surprisingly enough, rather than knock down or convert old industrial buildings, the preferred route has been to destroy and rebuild historical buildings to make room for new ones. There have been over 1,000 historical buildings knocked down in the last decade to accommodate this. The currently are no incentives to convert old industrial buildings and rather are drawbacks to convert old industrial buildings rather than making new ones. These include a regulation that only new buildings can qualify for class A office status. Until these regulations are changed, much of Moscow’s history will be destroyed.

 

However, there are a lot of future constructions in Moscow. The "Moscow International Business Center" (Moscow-City) is a projected new part of central Moscow. The Moscow-City area is under intense development. The goal of MIBC "Moscow-City" is to create a zone, the first in Russia, and in all of Eastern Europe, that will combine business activity, living space and entertainment. It will be a city within a city. The project was conceived by the Moscow government in 1992. Also, The Federation Tower, now being built is to be completed in 2016, will become the tallest building in Europe when completed. However n March 2009 the Russian business newspaper "Kommersant" reported that because of the Worldwide Economic Crisis, which started in 2008 and spread globally, many of the construction projects in Moscow are frozen and may be cancelled altogether.

Due to the expanding economic situations, the price of real estate continues to rise in Moscow. Moscow is ranked as one of the most expensive cities to live in the world. In Moscow today, you could expect to pay around $4,000 per square meter (around 11 square feet) in the outskirts of the city, $6,000-7,000 per square meter in the city, and prices may exceed $40,000 per square meter in the wealthiest of housing. The increase in living cost is due to the free spending trends of “New Russians”. In post-Soviet Moscow, many spend money in extravagant ways and shop, dine, live, and buy whatever they want. This makes it very hard on those residents of Moscow without the ability to spend as they are fighting to keep their heads above water in the increasingly opulent city.

 

Sources:

Brunn, Hays-Mitchell, and Zeigler.  (2008)  Cities of the World, 4^th Edition.  Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/aug/10/moscow-architecture-strelka

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Moscow#Growth_of_Moscow