Archive for April, 2008
Week-Trip with Kid!
Friday, April 25th, 2008 | Humour & Stuff, Journey | 6 Comments
Now I have to forget about my usual holiday trips without children! Now starts a new age of holidaymaking together with my little son Leon! He is cute But extremely active! It already starts at the airport, a naughty running little boy draws the passengers attention and lets mummy getting red and angry when he`s poohing in his Pampi but there is no place to change the nappy! The unruly urge to discover the new vicinity at the new place – the sand, the see, new people and playgrounds – lets mummy to remember the accustomed sweet idleness an to try to make the Kid to take a little nap. NO chance! From sunrise to the sunset at 10 p.m. the sweet little running doesn`t even think about it! No morning-coffee, no sitting-around-and-planning-day-trips, no naps, no lying on the beach, no romantic sunsets with a holiday-lover and no alcoholic dinks!!! Those sacrifices have a name – the overwhelming and boundless Mother Love!
Transition of Moscow and the Retail Sector (Part I)
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008 | University | 1 Comment
In 2007 Russia`s capital counts more then 14 Mio. inhabitants, the city ranks first in terms of expensiveness and offers the most dynamic investment activity in the country. This exceptional position of this Megapolis is due to Moscow`s history and the specific spacial structure of Russia. For Moscow is a very complex subject of study, this article picks out just one field to show some (partial) main difficulties of city. The urban management deals with typical changes (and problems) of cities in transition – formation of a real estate market, gentrification, residential-to commercial-conversions, growing of the Tertiary sector, growing traffic volume and the weakness of state authorities to name some of them. On the basis of retail the question of a possible implementation of western patterns will be exemplified.
The historical core forms the 
Kremlin (fortress), the old slawistic word for ring fence, which was build in the 15th century. The wooden basic fabric of the city (100 000 inhabitants) has been burned down first time by the Tartars in the 16th century and second time by the army of Napoleon in 1812. The reconstruction, which started in 1813, included modernization and expansion of Moscow. The revolutions in 1902 and 1917 entailed that St. Petersburg has been replaced by Moscow as Russia`s capital city in 1918. The socialistic centrally planned economy of the Soviet Union conducted Moscow an outstanding status in terms of political, economic and social role model.
The urban planning which played an important role of the socialistic ideology and was implemented to influence the co-habitance of people demonstrates a very interesting example in the Transition process from plan to market economy. Closely related to the estate market and retail industry, urban planning in Moscow has experienced the most impressive visible change during the past two decades. The privatization of government property contributed to the building of a real estate market where people now are able to buy and sell flats and Dacha’s without the usual counter trading. The privatization of real estate had also a very strong effect in the transitional society for it out marked and opened a gap between the winners and the losers of the transition. The new price level for flats in the city raised at a 1000-fold (gentrification) but also in the suburbs as well as the vicinity of Moscow rents grew exuberantly.
Gated communities for the rich high class (“New Russians”) are built near the central district or in the western part of Moscow e.g. Vorob’evy Gory or Kvartal 75. The poorer (and major) part of Moscow`s inhabitants lives in Komunalkas (flat sharing), small flats or just in the vicinity, oscillating between the city and home by Metro.
In line with the change in housing situation, the growing importance of commerce especially in the city (defined by the Garden Ring) is worth to be mentioned as it is actually a response to the changing demand situation. This theme will be explained in detail in Part II.