New Institute Set Up in Vladivostok to Guide Spatial Development of Russian Far East

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Sept.15 – The Far Eastern Federal University and the Primorsky Kray government have established an Institute for the Territorial Development of the Far East, a body that its organizers say will serve as think tank for the cities, regions, and republics of the Russian Federation east of Lake Baikal.

            How much it will be able to achieve in that regard is still an open question, but the formation of such an institution in the region concerned rather than in Moscow almost certainly means that regional scholars will gain a seat at the table that they have long wanted but not in fact had (sibmix.com/?doc=18093).

            Among the new institute’s first projects, its organizers say, will be the launch of a master’s degree program in urban planning, something that if successful would mean that cities in that enormous region would more adequately reflect the characteristics and needs of that area rather than be the result of the application of some all-Russian template.