Capital Cities of Central Asian States Rise Higher, Yet Get Less Comfortable For People
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Populations of capital cities of Central Asian states grow bigger every year, as well as the number of multi-storey buildings. Cities rise higher, often ignoring the needs of residents.  In the last decade, the population has grown the most in Astana by 46 per cent, and in Dushanbe by 40 per cent. The number of […]
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Populations of capital cities of Central Asian states grow bigger every year, as well as the number of multi-storey buildings. Cities rise higher, often ignoring the needs of residents.

In the last decade, the population has grown the most in Astana by 46 per cent, and in Dushanbe by 40 per cent. The number of residents of Bishkek and Tashkent has grown approximately by 20 per cent over the same period.

Despite the fact that Bishkek has the smallest area among other Central Asian capitals, only 160 square kilometers, the residential density is the highest here in 2023. Tashkent and Dushanbe are a little behind.

The charts below show housing development taking place in capital cities in the region – the darker the cell is, the higher multi-storey building is there. The highest residential density with buildings over 10 storeys is mainly in central parts of cities.

The prevailing number of buildings in all capital cities of the region is one-storey buildings. The number of other buildings among them is unclear. Therefore, two charts are available for every city: the first chart contains all the buildings in the city, the second one contains all the buildings but one-storey ones.

The second chart of Bishkek does not include one- and two-storey buildings.

Given that almost all major cities of Central Asia are located in the high seismic hazard zone, construction of multi-storey buildings causes concerns. According to Kanat Abdrakhmatov, director of Seismology Institute of Kyrgyzstan, in this context, it all depends on how much existing construction methods comply with up-to-date requirements.

The scientist mentioned Japan, which has practised construction of high-rise buildings for many years.

“Japan is more seismically active country than our region. Nevertheless, they erect such buildings and they do not collapse. Why? Because they use very good technology. So, if our capital cities erect buildings with the same technology and in strict compliance with all the safety rules, no problems would arise,” the scientist said.

According to Abdrakhmatov, to avoid tragedies and other bad consequences, it is necessary to stop chaotic development, like in Bishkek.

Unfortunately, residential housing has turned into a lucrative business lately. And often businessmen erect buildings wherever they get an unoccupied land plot,” the seismologist said. “And it is bad. Authorities should not permit such construction. They should show their political will actively and take control of the progress at sites.

Cities are not for people

Cities rise higher, populations grow bigger, yet often their infrastructure does not meet the needs of residents. Samar Syrgabaev, sociologist based in Kyrgyzstan, said that the ill-conceived urban environment and multi-storey buildings have a massive impact on people’s lives, particularly, on their mental condition.

In the early 2000s, architect and urban planner Christopher Charles Benninger introduced the concept of intelligent urbanism. It is the concept of urban development based on the principles of cost effectiveness, social justice and ecological resilience.

According to the theory of intelligent urbanism, the urban environment must prompt people to communicate with each other and establish communication. It means planning spaces for walking, meeting with friends and neighbours, for communities, where people could gather and discuss anything, etc.

Moreover, a city must consist of places easily perceived by a person like small streets, low-rise buildings. This type of planning is more comfortable for living. According to urban planners, if a person lives in a low-rise building, he/she is more likely to communicate with neighbours and take care of the residential space.

Astana, Kazakhstan

Astana was built on the site of old town of Akmolinsk, which was founded in the Soviet period. According to architect-urban planner Alina Beisenova, at the end of the 90s, when the capital city was just relocated, people doubted so much the success of the idea. However, the city began to grow and develop rapidly later.

“Over time, Astana has become a city of opportunities, where people moved to for success. New buildings, houses have been built here, and many people relocated here from the regions,” Beisenova said. “However, the city started to have planning issues, traffic jams, electricity, water, heating and drainage issues, like in many other cities of Kazakhstan.”

According to Alina, it was caused by poor quality of construction and often corrupt practices in the construction field. She said that now Astana is mainly about major highways, six-lane highways, 700-800 metres long neighbourhoods, as well as multi-storey buildings reaching 20 floors.

According to architect and urban planner based in Kazakhstan, Vladislav Filatov, Astana is a city of long distances that can be travelled by car only. And this is not the best option of the city development, he said.

It is usually difficult to find a school, kindergarten and work in one’s community in such cities,” the expert said. “Therefore, many people have to have a car and solve basic issues using a car.

Therefore, according to Filatov, the Soviet-time housing development has a range of advantages in terms of the building height and the environment. According to him, the places where buildings were built back in the Soviet time, have all the necessary infrastructure meant for the residents living there. Modern neighbourhoods have many waste grounds and backstreets.

“Moreover, location of most buildings in mega-neighbourhoods without inner streets shows the insufficient vehicle access inside. Therefore, all the burden is on the roads along the perimeter, and vehicles cannot drive in smaller roads,” he said.

According to the expert, to make neighbourhoods a place with full-scale urban life experience, mixed rise buildings should be built. Construction of large buildings of one type without division into streets should not be allowed.

Alina Beisenova also agrees with this statement. According to her, Astana has big wind issues, while wide roads and multi-storey buildings on both sides create additional wind corridors.

“To reduce wind load, we need to create smaller neighbourhoods and narrow roads. Large neighbourhoods should be divided by smaller roads all the way through. It will help control traffic jams, i.e. major highways will unclog,” she said.

According to Beisenova, it is quite unreal to reconstruct the existing multi-storey buildings and residential neighbourhoods. However, it should be taken into account when constructing new projects.

I believe Astana needs a new general layout for a comfortable living. The way the city keeps on developing today contributes to the problem of communications and movement,” she said. “I guess, major infrastructure projects should be worked on first in order to solve issues of water, heating, energy supply.

In turn, Filatov believes that officials, urban planners and architects should stay committed to the goal of saving, developing and enriching the urban lifestyle. According to him, it can be done by creating “a city of short distances”.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Infill and dense construction has been the problem of Bishkek for many years. According to architect Meder Akhmetov, there is no model of construction of buildings and structures in the capital. According to him, back in the Soviet time, there was a mono-model of construction, i.e. one integral model. But since independence, uncontrolled capitalism has absorbed it gradually.

“And the paradox is that the image of Bishkek consists of numerous different mini images. On the one hand, it is a good trend of democratisation of the model, but on the other hand, the next step should follow, which will have certain strengthened trends. But we do not have it now,” the expert said.

According to him, no specific elements indicating the national identity of the people have been created in Bishkek so far.

We have not come up with the idea yet, and it is demonstrated only in decoration. We do not have the national architectural style so far,” the architect said. “I think such issues should be solved at the urban planning level, not at the level of separate buildings.

According to Akhmetov, buildings were build according to Soviet norms and systemic approaches. Now, residential neighbourhoods that were built back in the Soviet period look more elaborated compared to new buildings.

However, in Soviet house-building industry, the emphasis was placed on public spaces and areas, while apartments were small, which does not meet current lifestyle. At the same time, modern building industry has other space planning issues like elongated rooms or too large premises.

“In other words, this is a kind of a transition period. Bishkek is like a teenager now. On the one hand, it is a positive energy, on the other hand, excessive energy causes many accidents that should be solved,” the expert said.

According to sociologist Samar Syrgabaev, hasty growth of multi-storey residential buildings, residential neighbourhoods and commercial facilities in Bishkek is not a solution to the housing problem, except for representatives of the middle and upper class of people. Apartments in new houses remain unaffordable because of their high prices, while the construction process shrinks the space for human life every year.

In other words, Bishkek becomes a city for vehicles and multi-storey buildings rather than for humans,” Syrgabaev said. “It has very few parks and public gardens. In my opinion, the risk of infrastructure collapse will increase amid further dense construction of multi-storey buildings. And it would be very uncomfortable to live in such concrete jungle.

According to the sociologist, unaffordability of housing among large-scale residential development, as well as the lack of places to walk and relax, can pose a threat to the emotional condition of people.

Activists and ecologists have repeatedly warned that the chaotic and overall construction of multi-storey buildings would do no good. Moreover, such development will ultimately disrupt the wind patterns and Bishkek will suffocate from heat in summer and smog in winter.

According to Meder Akhmetov, systemic and elaborated solutions are needed to make the city comfortable for residents, and multi-storey buildings should not prevent the capital from normal functioning.

So far, only emergency situations lead to elaborated solutions, while general solutions are rather populist and politicised,” Akhmetov said. “I believe, we need to learn from our own experience, and apply technologies that suit our city.

Dushanbe, Tajikistan

According to experts, the image of Dushanbe is changing fundamentally. It is quite a different city, compared to 10 years ago. The city changes by full and radical replacement of the urban fabric.

Oyat Shukurov, an architect based in Tajikistan, said that the architecture of the capital city is undergoing the change of identity replacing the Soviet one.

I’d rather say that it is based on the Arabian approach to construction of cities and buildings, i.e. ‘many towers in the desert’ and ‘Islamic’ decorations,” Shukurov said. “These are mainly contemporary approaches taken from the construction practices of the Arabian Peninsula. Unfortunately, I see little self-identity of Tajiks.

According to the architect, the difficulty of this ‘Arabic’ identity is that it does not have the historical depth in terms of architecture. Meanwhile, every part of Tajikistan has its own set of construction practices and deep history of their use, be it earth, brick, rock or art of painting, or gypsum work.

“It is obvious that a customer plays an important role in architecture as he/she sets an aesthetic goal and chooses the architect. What I see is that Dushanbe-based customers generally want to imitate Türkiye and Arabia, not the valleys of Khatlon or mountains of Pamir. In this case, it is difficult to tell what national identity would emerge as a result,” the expert said.

Ecologist Natalia Idrisova also indicated that Dushanbe has been undergoing changes lately, and the most negative factor is the housing density. According to her, there is no single cultural code, no stylistic patterns, choice of colours and zonal distribution in the scattered diversity of residential multi-storey buildings. This image is obvious if one moves away from the centre.

“Architecture is also the art, and buildings must be not only functional and comfortable for living, studying and working, but also please the eye, ornament the city, attract tourists. Unfortunately, the sphere of modern construction does not exercise these functions. There are no strict standards, and developers often rely on their fantasies and funds,” she said.

According to the ecologist, every city had its own history in the form of festive low-rise Soviet architecture in the city centre, but it was deprived of it without being provided with a good alternative instead. Moreover, dense housing development has decreased the level of comfortable environment for residents, air quality leaves much to be desired, and in summer people’s health is at high risk because of increasing extreme temperatures.

The previous urban planning that was elaborated by architects provided for the ventilation of the city, seismic resistance, water runoff, and optimal amount of vehicles,” Idrisova said. “Today, comfortable urban living is not the purpose. Many new houses have emerged on land plots without a full-fledged amenity courtyard, parking space, or green zone.

Also, according to Idrisova, massive extraction of perennial trees takes place not only along the roads, but also inside courtyards. It is unknown how many hedgerows, trees and shrubs have been destroyed within residential neighbourhoods. A scorching concrete of roads and structures only adds to hot waves, which makes residents suffer in hot weather. Dense development deprives the city of the opportunity to blow the hazardous smog away, while plant destruction makes it impossible to make the air cleaner and microclimate cooler.

Experts share the opinion that Dushanbe still has a great potential to become a city attractive for living. To do this, decision-makers have to pay attention to developers, experience of other countries, where construction industry applies up-to-date technologies to save water, electricity, gas, and to invent energy-efficient materials and systems.

“Inclusion issues must be considered when constructing new buildings and planning residential neighbourhoods and new roads. We need to continue to develop comfortable and accessible urban transport, to provide necessary conditions to people who have limited mobility. At this stage, it is necessary to protect the remaining perennial trees and create safe conditions for pedestrians and cyclists,” Natalia Idrisova said.