A COMPREHENSIVE VIEW ON THE EVOLUTION OF URBAN SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF THE LARGEST POST-SOVIET CITIES IN RUSSIA

Abstract

The article describes the development trends of urban spatial structure of the largest Russian cities since the 1990s to the present. The author considers the urban density as a key concept in the description of a city’s urban spatial structure. Other three key characteristics of cities are population size, the total area of the city and urban morphology. This paper discusses the analytical opportunities that recent data offer in regard to an objective and transparent measurement of urban density patterns of largest cities in Russia. The author applies this approach to 10 cities to demonstrate the analytical capacity of spatially-refined density indicators for the purposes of comparative urban research. In so doing, the article examines the features of the change in the morphology of post-Soviet cities. Transformation of urban morphology is the performance parameters of the spatial organization of buildings, vertical functional zoning, changing the ratio of built-up and open spaces in the existing planning units of the urban fabric, and new configurations of inter planning. The author has identified the factors influencing the change in the morphology of cities. Detailed study of urban development at the level of morphological units allowed us to formulate the following conclusions. First, the return to the use of historical traditional morphotypes in the projects of new residential development; secondly, the transformation of traditional historical morphotypes; thirdly, the invasion of new morphotypes, urban blocks that were previously not peculiar to Soviet cities. The study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of urban density in the analysis of urban spatial structure and urban morphology of post-soviet cities. The results of the morphological analysis of the development of contemporary Russian cities can be used for the prediction of the urban structure future development.