Reconstruction in Moscow's historic centre: conservation, planning and finance strategies – the example of the Ostozhenka district

Abstract

Reconstruction of the historic centre of Moscow and the construction of apartment blocks on the city's outskirts are the city's two main programmes within what must be regarded as its urban policy. With these priorities, the strategy of relying on a mixture of city and private investments, the city government's policies contribute to an increasing exclusiveness of the city centre. This process, which includes a process of gentrification, reflects the impact of the transition to a free-market economy. City planning and reconstruction projects are subject to the new, still chaotic, market opportunities and constraints while the soviet planning principles and organizations have not yet been replaced by efficient new ones. There is a lack of control and regulation, as well as a concentration of power in the mayoral cabinet on the one hand, but on the other hand, the finance strategies make large-scale regeneration possible. With entering the global economy, post-soviet Moscow is acquiring more traits of western, capitalist cities. These include marketing the centre's historic character, subsidising private investment, and a new residential segregation based on capital.