Seleznev F.A., Kuprin R.A. Housing construction in Nizhny Novgorod in the context of the question of the Soviet version of urbanization (the first half of 1930s)

The authors analyze the controversial problems existing in the historiography of Soviet urbanization. The article concludes that the analysis of urban practices in the historical cities of the center of Russia is relevant. This approach, according to the authors, allows us to give a balanced assessment of the ratio of urbanization and industrialization in the USSR. In the context of the question of the Soviet version of urbanization, the authors consider the policy of the authorities in relation to housing construction, which was carried out in Nizhny Novgorod in the first half of the 1930s. Based on the use of archival documents
and press materials, the article shows that in the first half of the 1930s the growth rates of residential development in Nizhny Novgorod were very high. This was caused by the need to provide housing for employees of a number of large enterprises being commissioned almost simultaneously. This task was solved due to the mass construction of low-rise frame and panel houses made of cheap building materials. The authorities saved on housing construction, temporarily sacrificing its quality, to ensure quantitative indicators of the introduction of a new housing stock and the development of the city as a whole. It was a temporary way out of this extreme situation.

For citation:

Seleznev F.A., Kuprin R.A. Housing construction in Nizhny Novgorod in the context of the question of the Soviet version of urbanization (the first half of the 1930s), Ivanovo State University Bulletin, Series: Humanities, 2023, iss. 4, pp. 111— 120.