Russian Cities Already have Slums and May Eventually have Ghettos, Manayenkov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 5 – Rapid urbanization and the breakdown of the residence permit system means Russian cities now have slums where those with lower incomes are concentrated and may eventually have ghettos where members of particular ethnic groups life together, according to Kirill Manayenkov, founder of the online housing service, квартирабезрисков.рф/.

            “In Moscow there are still no ghettos as such,” he says; but concentrations of relatively poor people in some sections of the city recall ghettoes because many new arrivals are not ethnic Russians. The places where they are concentrating are “no Chinatown or Little Italy and popular with tourists” (snob.ru/entry/185953/).

            Before 1917, Moscow has numerous “clearly defined ethnic districts,” Manayenkov continues. But the equalization of incomes under the Soviets combined with the controls resident permits allowed effectively eliminated them, although people did concentrate in areas close to where they worked and this sometimes took on an ethnic dimension.

            Since the collapse of communism, that has become ever more the case, he says.  Members of ethnic groups live near where they work, where housing is cheaper, and where their co-ethnics do. Thus, Armenians often live in the Solntseva district, Georgians in Marina Roshcha and Azerbaijanis in Golyanovo. In most places, this trend has been neither fast nor complete.

            There is a widespread stereotype that “it is dangerous to live in a ghetto,” Manayenkov says; but in fact, the level of crime depends on the kind of property rather than on the ethnicity of those who live in it.  In slums, there may be more crime; but it is driven by economics not ethnicity.

            Moving poor people into wealthier areas doesn’t always work, he argues.  A better tactic to prevent ghettoization is to create infrastructure such as parks and libraries in areas where ethnic groups seem to be concentrating or already have that will attract others to come.  

            But there are other problems that must be addressed separately, Manayenko says. One is the concentration of orphans released from group homes and put in apartments in the same blocks. Often, these do become centers of crime and lead to the flight of other residents. They aren’t an ethnic group, but they can create a ghetto.

            Another and more widespread one is the nature of communities in clusters of high-rise buildings. Often, they don’t know their neighbors or have any infrastructure that could bring them together or attract outsiders. That leads to alienation and isolation. Again, these do not necessarily become slums or ghettos but they are creating serious problems.

            But an even better way to prevent slums and ghettoization, the housing specialist says, is poly-centrism, the establishment in each district of multiple destinations for outsiders and local control which invites involvement. A clear example of how this works is in present-day Berlin where such arrangements have blocked both forms of social blight.