Bolshevik era, the extreme case of urban planning

The key premise of the Russian revolutionary movement was the overthrow of the old government and establishment of the new political order under the one party leadership of the Bolsheviks. The political platform of the new government extended well beyond the promise of simple reforms. Its foundation was a vision of an entirely new society governed by a set of new economic mechanisms and social relations. The foundation of the new system rested on the complete socialization of all economic resources and means of production and the creation of the centralized planning system independent of the volatile dynamics of the free market. In this thesis I argue that in their role as the new government of Russia, Bolsheviks simultaneously acted as town planners and as social planners, envisioning the new society and its institutions in every detail and creating a new urban form-the socialist city, and the new citizen-the socialist man. To create this city the Bolsheviks designed a unique tool-they merged their legal right to make policy with their ability to use rhetoric in the form of widespread persuasion, propaganda, indoctrination and force. I define the socialist city as an urban settlement in which the primary from of human existence is the collective life.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Nilina, Nadya

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Alexander D'Hooghe.

• Architecture.
• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37268

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37268