Monotowns and Russia’s Post-Soviet Urban Geography

This chapter focuses on the unique economic and industrial geography that Russia inherited from the Soviet past. This includes the large number of Russian monotowns, which have become flash points for real and anticipated labor protest, and has led to elaborate government programs to prevent that unrest. Indeed, Russian authorities have demonstrated a palpable fear of social unrest stemming from these particularly vulnerable cities and towns. Such fear places a sizable barrier in front of any attempt to increase economic growth by shifting capital and state resources from declining regions to more dynamic urban centers. Yet government plans, announced in 2019, to shift investment toward a handful of major metropolitan centers could place Russia's monotowns in untenable conditions, with potentially dire consequences.