What will Become of Russia’s Megalopolises When Provinces Empty of People? Sadudayev Asks

Paul Goble

            Staunton, November 9 – Excavations of a neolithic city that subsequently disappeared and suggestions that the world is about to become one of “600 cities rather than 218 countries” (https://vc.ru/future/20347-kjell-nordstom-future) have prompted German Sadulayev to ask what will become of Russia’s metropolises when the provinces empty of people?

            In a commentary for Vzglyad, the publicist points out that cities do disappear, often when their hinterlands empty, and that the growth of Russia’s largest cities like Moscow has been powered more by the influx of people from the provinces than by any natural increase among those living in the city (vz.ru/opinions/2019/11/7/1006788.html).

            That pattern has several consequences, Sadulayev suggests. In the short term, “at the same time with the urbanization of countries will occur the reverse process of the de-urbanization of the cities themselves” because such a high percentage of their populations will consist of recent arrivals from villages.

            This can and does have some good consequences if the right choices are made. “In large cities there will be ever more parks, green zones, open spaces, pedestrian-only districts” and “’green homes’ with trees included in them will be build allowing for agricultural production by “urban farms.”   

            But it can also have negative results, more often over a longer period of time, including flight from urban areas and their subsequent collapse, with the loss for a particular territory of all the cultural advantages that cities can provide.