1 Introduction
This concise essay is focused on the spatial pattern of Moscow. It is meant to convey an impression of this old city, which today is rapidly transformed.
Picture 1: The Kremlin, a huge complex situated at the northern bank of the Moskva in Moscow downtown (photographed in June 2007)
2 City Status
Moscow is the capital city of the Russian Federation. It is, like Saint Petersburg, a federal city. (1)
Moscow represents Russia's leading economic, financial and manufacturing center. Moreover, Moscow is regarded as being a World City. And, there is a potential to become one of the prime locations amongst those globally relevant metropolises. The prospects are good given Moscow's role as the capital of a country which is rich in natural resources like gas, oil, ore only to mention a few. Furthermore, Moscow's favorable geostrategic location between western Europe's economically most important centers - London and Paris - and China's metropolitan areas along the east coast has to be taken into account.
3 Population
Moscow's population has grown rapidly over the last decades. In 1960 slightly over five million people lived in Russia's capital, in 1970 it were nearly seven million, ten years later the figure stood at about eight million inhabitants. Today, the city of Moscow is home to more than 10.4 million people. Including the so called Oblast - the metropolitan area beyond the city limits - the population amounts to approximately 17 million. Thus, Moscow's conurbation represents Europe's biggest metropolitan area in terms of population. Though recent projections indicate that Russia's population will decline significantly during the years to come, Moscow will continually grow.
As measured by European standards, Moscow features an extremely high population density of 9,500 inhabitants per square kilometer - More than twice the number of London (4,700) or Munich (4,300).
Picture 2: Saint Basil's Cathedral at Kremlin, Red Square, and the Upper Trade Rows (GUM) in downtown Moscow (photographed in January 2006)
Footnote
(1) Federal city means that Moscow is subject to direct jurisdiction of the federation.