Book chapter
Тенденции девелопмента в Москве: развитие новых центров, усиление существующих или точечная застройка?
The study, presented in the article is a part of the research project "Regional identity in terms of socio-economic changes (on the example of Nizhny Novgorod Region, 2002 - 2014 years)". It reveals the age aspects of participants’ subjective opinions towards problems of urban development. In this study, regional identity is presented as a social phenomenon with a complex structure that includes symbolic, political, economic, social, socio-psychological components. Social and socio-psychological components of regional identity are in the focus of the analysis. The sample of the study involved "provincial" cities residents – citizens of regional centers and small towns of the Nizhny Novgorod region. The first stage was based on a sample of 516 people (2002), the second stage - on a sample 366 people (2014). The study was made by the cross-section method. During the interview participants formulated their own vision of the majority opinion on the prospects of the city, expressed their individual views on urban development programs, and stated areas where they were willing to show personal participation, which allowed to determine the changes in the indices of activity, altruism and solidarity of citizens in the studied period. Data analysis clearly points to the "cohort effect" in assessing the status of citizens groups of different age over the study period and, accordingly, changes in the socio-psychological dimension of regional identity. The cohort effect is evident on the material of the overall priorities of citizens in the city and region development: all age groups have radically changed their views on the values of the majority over 12 years, particularly due socio-cultural and historical transformation. The cohort effect is also identified it the analysis of social integration indicators - solidarity and altruism. Market economy transitions, socio-political culture transformations have particularly affected social integration indicators in the group of citizens of middle and old age.
Modern urban performance depends not only on the city's endorsement of hard infrastructure (physical capital), but also on the availability and quality of knowledge communication and social infrastructure (intellectual capital and social capital). This is one of the clear reasons why the concept of Smart Cities recently attracted a great amount of attention, both from academia and city planners. One of the challenges of the Smart City concept is how to raise human capital among people, such as making them culturally sensitive, mobile and to improve other social characteristics. This challenge is especially valid for industrial cities that are facing economic turbulence and a demand for revitalizing their public spaces and economic specialties. The aim of this study is to examine the correlation between the amount of international students in Russian universities with the positive changes that occur in a Russian student’s human capital, and their neighbourhood areas, especially in public spaces. We aim to support the hypothesis that a network of “internationalized” universities serves as a revitalization measure for a city, facilitating the development of its surrounding areas, and reducing political and social risks within a society. Research methods for gathering data are: deductive trend search, which uses a literature review from leading academic journals and the empirical study based on the created questionnaire. This questionnaire forms a dataset which consists of a number of master courses held in English from one of the leading Russian universities based in Moscow. In this paper, we explain the research design and the results of a long-term project which we expect to complete in Russia in 2016.
Russia has faced truly momentous changes and tensions over the last twenty years as the country adjusts to becoming a market economy. The case studies presented address: the challenge of a changing population distribution across this enormous country; the continuing mismatch between the dense form of what is being built in today’s cities and the aspirations of many to live in a rural idyll; and the momentous 2012 international competition in respect of the planned massive expansion of Moscow.
Urban spatial structure is considered to be one of the determining factors of the transport demand volume and structure. Russian cities are traditionally characterized by high levels of public transport ridership, compared to the Western cities. Thus, it can be assumed that the spatial structure of Russian cities is a perfect illustration of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD). However, the spatial structure of the majority of the Russian cities, which has been developing during the rapid urbanization in the 20th century, currently preserves and reproduces the specific extensive models peculiar to the cities in the socialist countries. The authors analyze the spatial development patterns of 13 Russian cities in order to assess the current situation and the prospects for transit oriented development in the Russian Federation. А brief history of urban spatial development during the Soviet period is provided. Fundamental differences between TOD and Soviet Style Development (SSD) and their impact on transport demand are discussed.
The main research objective of this chapter is to examine sustainable development strategies (SDSs) of urban centers of the Arctic Zone of Russia (AZRF). There are three specific purposes for this analysis: first, to evaluate the scope and focus of such strategies; second, to find out whether these strategies are efficient or not and whether they improve the situation in the particular city or not; third, to understand whether these policies are of short-term/single-issue character or they represent forward-looking/comprehensive strategies. The Arctic municipalities view building SDSs as an important policy priority for themselves. They have tried to create proper legal and institutional settings for the development and implementation of such strategies. They have made great strides in implementing some sustainabilityrelated projects over the last 10 to 15 years. There was a clear shift from survival/reactive to capacity-building/proactive SDSs. Despite some residual problems and shortcomings, AZRF cities’ SDSs evolve in a rather dynamic and positive way.