Citybildung in Moskau: Prozesse der funktionalen Differenzierung

Abstract

As a result of the current processes of transformation, Moscow is changing to become a services metropolis of market economy character with a lively city. The opening up of the economy and the development of the property market lead to a monetary (money) evaluation and dynamic process of city structures. A small, differentiated location pattern with very different quality features developed in the city of Moscow. The historic city structures and the "socialist city centre" appear in this context as persistent elements of the region with decisive influences on the process of city formation. On the basis of the mapping of a p art of the Moscow city centre, it was possible to depict the functional and regional structural change of the Moscow city centre using one example. The district in question is the North-Western sector of the city centre on both sides of the Tverskaya Road. The transformation of the city district could be determined on the basis of numerous indicators. Extensive activities were observed in the field of redevelopment and new construction, in the development of office and business centres and the settlement of exclusive (elitist) retail trade. In general, the district has a very complex structure which would allow for the assumption of a division of labour between the various location types. This is particularly true of the monumental axes and ring roads on the one hand and their "hinterlands" on the other hand. A retail trade structure, designed to suit the needs of mass purchasing, with a decisive differentiation of branches along the major axes, whereas exclusive, specialised retail trade outlets have settled in some areas of the "hinterlands" with principally pre-revolutionary building structures. The neighbourhood of the major axes and the more detailed differentiated "hinterlands" in central location promote the magnet effects of an attractive city. The structures and hierarchies of location quality in the city centre, which are typical of metropolis, are forming in the city centre.