The Analysis of Activities for the Management of the Urban Development Process in Moscow at the Beginning of the XVIII - late XX century

Abstract

Urban development throughout the world, including Russia, occurs in stages, eras of active development alternating with stages of slowdown or even stagnation. Historians of architecture have had a longstanding interest in the periodization, factors, and events that influence these stages. Conscious attempts to manage urban and architectural development has been, historically, one of the most important influences on the course of urban construction and growth. This has been especially true in the case of Moscow, given its unique position within the hierarchy of Russian cities and its changing status as an administrative capital.

Systematic attempts to develop the structures and mechanisms of urban management go back at least 300 years in Moscow and have had a strong influence on the city's urban and cultural history. This article offers a timeline and a retrospective analysis of the stages of urban planning in Moscow over the longue duree, from the moment the capital was transferred to St. Petersburg in 1713-1714 until it regained its capital status in 1918, and then until it was transformed from the capital of the Union of the Socialist Republics into the capital of the Russian Federation (1991).