Urban transport systems are major contributors to air pollution in rapidly growing post-Soviet metropolitan areas. Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, has experienced a sharp rise in private vehicle ownership, accompanied by persistent exceedance of guideline values, particularly for particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5). In response, successive municipal administrations have introduced transport and mobility reforms aimed at mitigating traffic-related emissions and improving urban environmental sustainability. This study applies a descriptive longitudinal policy analysis to review and systematize major transport policy interventions implemented in Almaty between 2005 and 2019, including metro expansion, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridors, pedestrianization programs, cycling infrastructure development, and public transport fleet modernization. A brief comparative reference to Bishkek (Kyrgyz Republic) is included as a contextual benchmark rather than as a full comparative case, situating Almaty’s experience within the Central Asian urban context. Using aggregated time-series air-quality data from RSE Kazhydromet, transport infrastructure statistics, and demographic indicators, the study examines how successive reform phases align with long-term particulate matter dynamics. The analysis suggests that people-oriented mobility restructuring and investments in high-capacity public transport tend to coincide with downward trends in particulate matter concentrations, whereas road-expansion-oriented measures demonstrate limited long-term environmental benefits. The study applies a descriptive longitudinal policy framework, focusing on system-level patterns and indicative alignment between transport policy phases and air-quality dynamics rather than causal attribution. The findings provide policy-relevant insights into other rapidly motorizing post-Soviet cities, subject to data and methodological limitations.

At the beginning of the new millennium, a term appeared in literary sources explaining the desire to strengthen urban sustainability. Currently, this new phenomenon - an eco-city - has reached its height. The significant role of the eco-city is in solving such environmental problems as global warming, climate change and accelerated urbanization of the cities. That is, he began to become the focus of the mayors in their policies. The purpose of this article is to reveal the essence of the concept of “eco-city”. The article is devoted to the review of the most famous eco-cities around the world, as well as the definition of the same significant terms of the process of urban sustainability as “sustainable city”, “smart city”. This article uses the method of reviewing literary sources, a comprehensive analysis of the statistical data of scientists who dealt with this issue. As a result, it turned out: the phases of development of the concept of “eco-city”, and the types of ecocities themselves, which are also the types of their implementation. According to these parameters, this article presents descriptions of 79 eco-cities. The significance of this work lies in determining the similarities and differences between the projects of eco-cities in the world and the eco-model of a city in Japan.