TY - JOUR

T1 - Retail sprawl in post-Soviet urban residential communities

T2 - Case Studies of Saint-Petersburg and Vilnius

AU - Axenov, Konstantin

AU - Krupickaite, Dovile

AU - Morachevskaya, Kira

AU - Zinovyev, Andrey

N1 - AXENOV, K., KRUPICKAITĖ, D., MORACHEVSKAYA, K., ZINOVYEV, A. (2018): Retail sprawl in post-Soviet urban residential communities: Case studies of Saint-Petersburg and Vilnius. Moravian Geographical Reports, 26(3): 210–219. Doi: 10.2478/mgr-2018-0017.

PY - 2018/9/30

Y1 - 2018/9/30

N2 - Since the beginning of the 1990s, Soviet urban residential communities have experienced rapid inflows of new urban functions. In this research project, two post-Soviet urban areas – Vilnius and St. Petersburg – are examined to indicate contrasting development paths over the last 30 years. The term “retail sprawl” describes correctly one of the important processes which have reshaped the former socialist microdistricts. We used data from the years 1987–1989, the last years of the socialist economy, and 2016 for 36 comparable research areas. By 2016 the structure of these formerly monofunctional areas made them functionally very similar to that of the urban core, including them in the intra-urban circulation of goods and capital, redirecting flows and making the city centre’s service burden much lighter. The results of the study provide a controversial contribution to the virtual discussion on universalism vs. uniqueness in post-socialist urban development. On the one hand, irrespective of contrasting “path-dependent” impacts, the structural results of retaildevelopment turned out to be generally identical in the studied cities at present, as well as in a prototypical North-American city 25 years ago. On the other hand, we found very pronounced differences compared to international patterns in morphological outcomes.

AB - Since the beginning of the 1990s, Soviet urban residential communities have experienced rapid inflows of new urban functions. In this research project, two post-Soviet urban areas – Vilnius and St. Petersburg – are examined to indicate contrasting development paths over the last 30 years. The term “retail sprawl” describes correctly one of the important processes which have reshaped the former socialist microdistricts. We used data from the years 1987–1989, the last years of the socialist economy, and 2016 for 36 comparable research areas. By 2016 the structure of these formerly monofunctional areas made them functionally very similar to that of the urban core, including them in the intra-urban circulation of goods and capital, redirecting flows and making the city centre’s service burden much lighter. The results of the study provide a controversial contribution to the virtual discussion on universalism vs. uniqueness in post-socialist urban development. On the one hand, irrespective of contrasting “path-dependent” impacts, the structural results of retaildevelopment turned out to be generally identical in the studied cities at present, as well as in a prototypical North-American city 25 years ago. On the other hand, we found very pronounced differences compared to international patterns in morphological outcomes.

KW - Lithuania

KW - microrayons

KW - Post-Socialist cities

KW - retail sprawl

KW - Russia

KW - Saint-Petersburg

KW - street retail

KW - Vilnius

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055565747&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.2478/mgr-2018-0017

DO - 10.2478/mgr-2018-0017

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85055565747

VL - 26

SP - 210

EP - 219

JO - Moravian Geographical Reports

JF - Moravian Geographical Reports

SN - 1210-8812

IS - 3

ER -