This paper conceptualises post-socialist urban economic geographies through the notion of hybrid spatialities that emerge from the mutual embeddedness of neoliberalism and socialist legacies. While the dismantling of state socialism was a massive moment towards the exacerbation of uneven development, ironically it is the socialist-era spatial legacy that has become the single major differentiating factor for the economic status of cities. This superficial overdetermination, however, masks the root causes of uneven development that must be seen in the logic of capitalism and its attendant practices which subsume legacy, recode its meaning, and recast the formerly equalitarian spaces as an uneven spatial order. The authors argue that the socialist legacy, rather than being an independent carrier of history, has been alienated from its history to become an infrastructure of neoliberalisation, conducive to capitalist process. The paper draws specifically on the experiences of Russia, although its reflections should reverberate much more broadly.

The paper analyzes the development trends of Russia’s largest urban agglomerations following the last census, in the period 2010–2018. According to the methodology, based on the functional...

The paper estimates the scales and spatial structure of work commuting in the Moscow agglomeration using mobile operators data about network user locations and considers the attractiveness of the Moscow labor market and local centers, as well as seasonal fluctuations in commuting flows. The attempt of using mobile operator data on movements of mobile phone users has shown good applicability of this tool for labor commuting studies both as an independent source and in combination with other data. Regression analysis is used to delineate the zone of “efficient” work commuting (territory about 50 km from the Moscow Ring Road, which serves as bedroom suburbs of the capital) and the “zero efficiency” boundary (150 km or 170 min), which shows the limiting size of the area of Moscow employment gravitation. A seasonal dynamics study shows that work commuting flows from oblast municipalities that border Moscow increase along with return flows of dachniki and suburbanized Muscovites who prefer living in a comfortable natural, country or half-country environment in their country houses, which is especially noticeable in the summer season.

The paper attempts to analyze trends in development of the largest Russian urban agglomerations, which took place after the latest population census during 2010-2018. Research methodology is based on a functional approach engaging transport accessibility isochrones for delimitation of agglomeration cores. Core delimitation along with an analysis of population sizes and development index dynamics was carried out for 36 major agglomerations. The results of these calculations are presented for 4 alternatives: from “minimum” up to “maximum” indicators corresponding with the microzoning network developed by E.E. Leyzerovich. As no changes in number of agglomerations by development classes were unveiled the number of developed agglomerations still remains low. Tendencies of continued population concentration in major agglomerations and their cores are observed. Monocentric attribute of most of the largest agglomerations is shown based on a case study of the Moscow capital agglomeration. The study of the Central Russian megalopolis, which is a higher-level agglomerative structure under the process of formation, revealed its fragmentation and underdevelopment of lower-level agglomerations within.

The paper is focused on the development of the city of Moscow and its close and distant suburbs, as well as on the accompanying problems related to the specificity of Russia’s urbanization. A complex hierarchy of urban spatial structures formed around the nation’s capital was distinguished, mapped, and analyzed. Both the former and today’s urban policies are discussed in the paper in view of the latest dramatic extension of Moscow’s boundaries and its potential effects.