Zavokzalny (Eastern) District of Kursk: Historical Context and Urban Development

This paper presents a comprehensive study of the urban development process and transformation of the Zavokzalny (Eastern) district of the city of Kursk, examined in the context of the interaction between urban planning changes and historical factors. The chronological framework of the study covers the period from the last third of the 19th century, when the Kursk-Yamskaya railway station was built, becoming a key element in the formation of the urban planning structure of the studied territory, to the present day. The author conducts a detailed analysis of the planning structure, functional zoning, architectural appearance, and building density of the railway station district. Special attention is paid to the study of socio-economic (industrialization, urbanization, deindustrialization) and historical-cultural (revolution, wars, expansion of the city limits, shifts in urban planning paradigms) factors that influenced the spatial development of the Eastern district of Kursk in different historical eras. The study is based on a comprehensive interdisciplinary methodology, incorporating approaches from historical urbanism, source studies, and social history. The systems analysis was used in order to consider the district as a dynamic subsystem within the city's structure, whose evolution is determined by a combination of external factors, such as nationwide processes, and internal factors, including decisions by local authorities and developers. For the first time, based on a comprehensive analysis of archival, bibliographic, and field sources, the article reconstructs the stages of urban development of the Zavokzalny district of Kursk, identifying the main cores of its urban system: the railway station part of the Yamskaya Sloboda, Murynovka, the Vladimir settlement, the consolidated workers' settlement of the eastern industrial site, and residential microdistricts No. 1, 193, 194, 196 – which have shaped the contemporary appearance of the territory. It is particularly noteworthy that the territory is investigated as an integral and dynamic urban phenomenon throughout its entire period of existence, rather than merely as a backdrop for studying its individual urban cores. As a result of the research, key patterns and factors, including transport, economic, and historical ones, have been identified. These factors influenced the spatial organization and socio-cultural landscape, ultimately leading to the gradual loss of the Eastern district's image as a purely industrial area and its transformation into a large, developing residential district with its own developed infrastructure.