A Divided City: General Plans and Reality in the Development of Novy Urengoy in the 1970s–1980s

Abstract

This article reveals the evolution of the general plans of the city of Novy Urengoy in the 1970s and 1980s. The work outlines the main perspectives on urban planning under socialism and the problem of the incomplete construction of Soviet cities. Relying primarily on the interpretation of urban planning in the USSR as an act of performance, the author shows the frequent adjustments to the master plans of Novy Urengoy. From the point of view of Soviet designers, the development of new master plans was conditioned by recalculations of the city’s population. However, the author emphasizes that the constant incompleteness, pushing for the adjustment of general plans, was a manifestation of the practice and lifestyle in urban construction and planning, a phenomenon of constant improvisation. The article also shows the evolution of urban planning discourse in the design of Novy Urengoy, where the turn towards people and ecology increased over time. However, the contradiction between the city’s projects, which implied multistorey capital buildings and landscaping, and the real natural environment of a city of gas workers was not overcome.