Futuristic Skyscrapers of Moscow-City
The controversial legacy of money power
As a former Russian citizen I have been working for 6 years for a Russian private company located near Moscow-City, one of the most recognizable and iconic places in the Russian capital.
Moscow-City is a modern business area in central Moscow, covering an area of 60 hectares. It is a cluster of huge glass skyscrapers built over the past two decades to show Russia’s growing integration into the world’s financial markets.
The futuristic design of the glass and steel towers, located just four kilometers west of the Kremlin, was intended to replicate the most famous architectural forms of downtown London or New York. The architects had the ambitious task of creating some of the tallest buildings in Europe. The future of the skyscrapers seemed bright and prosperous.
When Moscow-City skyscrapers began to be erected more than 20 years ago (attracting foreign investment), Putin’s regime was seen in the West as a relatively safe liberal economic model with elements of classic Russian imperialism. This assessment turned out to be a strategic mistake.
