Possible Modes of Suburbanization in Russia

Abstract

Anatoly Breslavsky — Research Fellow, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science. Address: 6, Sakhyanovoi St., Ulan-Ude, 670047, Russian Federation. E-mail: anabres05@mail.ru

This paper reviews the field of suburban studies in Russia and abroad. It shows that the geographical expansion of these studies beyond developed countries has emphasized the limited applicability of Anglo-American approaches and Western suburbanization theories. Following this argument the paper further assesses the state of suburbanization research in Russia. In particular, it shows that this research remains underdeveloped in spite of offering rich analytical prospectives.
The first part of the article discusses the diversity of suburbanization processes in the modern world, including the countries of the Global North (USA, UK and others), where suburbanization has had a long history, and developing countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia, where the processes of suburbanization started to expand massively only in 1980–1990. Particular attention is paid to the processes of suburbanization in modern Russia, characterized by the rapid and massive development of suburban areas around major cities. By reviewing the studies conducted by Russian and international scholars, several basic models and directions of suburbanization in Russia and other post-Soviet countries, are outlined and compared with the processes of suburbanization in other regions of the world.
The second part of the article presents findings from research conducted in the suburbs Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryat Republic (Eastern Siberia). This case study shows that the formation of the suburban zone near Ulan-Ude was largely driven by rural migrants. Since most of them have low economic resources, this has emphasized the problems of poverty in the suburbs and the formation of squatter settlements. This bears certain resemblance with how suburbanization proceeds in many other developing countries of the modern world.