Leningrad: Shaping a Soviet City

This book explores how local and regional political, economic, and cultural leaders in Leningrad shape their city's physical and socioeconomic contours within a centralized economic and political environment. It examines four major policy initiatives since the 1950s and the bureaucratic and political strategies employed to achieve economic objectives.

Format: Hardback
Length: 356 pages
Publication date: 25 March 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

Throughout the course of this century, cities across the globe have endeavored to assert authority over their urban futures through coordinated governmental initiatives. In no place has this process of state intervention reached greater depths than in the Soviet Union. This volume delves into the intricate mechanisms through which local and regional political, economic, and cultural figures in Leningrad shape the physical and socioeconomic landscape of their city and region within the confines of a highly centralized economic and political system.

The author conducts a comprehensive examination of four pivotal policy initiatives that have emerged in Leningrad since the 1950s. These initiatives include physical planning innovations, integrated scientific-production associations, vocational education reform, and socioeconomic planning. Each of these initiatives serves as a lens through which we can observe the bureaucratic and political strategies employed to attain economic objectives, as well as the distinctive bureaucratic patterns that distinguish market and non-market experiences. Through this inquiry, the boundaries for autonomous action by local Soviet politicians, planners, and managers begin to take shape.

This title proudly stands as a part of UC Press' Voices Revived program, a testament to the publisher's unwavering commitment to seeking out and nurturing the most brilliant minds, providing them with a platform to express their ideas, reach a wider audience, and exert significant impact. Drawing upon a rich backlist dating back to 1893, Voices Revived employs print-on-demand technology to resurrect high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship, making it accessible once more to scholars and enthusiasts alike. Originally published in 1990, this title continues to resonate with readers, shedding light on the complex dynamics of urban governance and offering valuable insights into the Soviet Union's urban development.

Weight: 680g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520357211