How Moscow is becoming a capitalist mega‐city

The article focuses on the trends that are transforming Moscow into a new world city, manifested in its new role in global communication networks, economic restructuring, and in particular the rapid development of service economy and especially of banking and other business services. Like other world cities, the transformation of Moscow from a Soviet to a world city accelerates social polarisation and increases contrasts between the historical centre and most other parts of the urban space. The authors consider the contemporary strategies of urban management and the relationship between the interests of the state, municipal authorities, private capital, and the majority of Moscovites. Special attention is paid to an analysis of the location of new activities and to the patterns of their spatial combinations. They are explained by historical factors and the heritage of socialist urban planning in the capital.