Micro Districts, the Soviet Union and Modern City Planning

Written by Ben Ross - Talking Auckland

How a Soviet Concept can be translated into the 15 Minute City

After my Vision Week podcasts (Going Back to the Beginning – Spatial Planning #visionweekNZ #bounceforward Podcasts) I had chanced onto a YouTube video about how the Soviet Union engaged in City Planning using standardised Micro-Districts.

Micro Districts are near self contained communities that are walkable while connecting to other Micro Districts to form Districts, Sub Regions then the City Region itself. The City Beautiful Video on how the Soviets planned their cities can be seen here.

Can Micro Districts work in the West?

As a follow on from City Beautiful and using Cities Skylines I delved into how Micro Districts could work and be easily translated into both existing and new cities.

The key is near self containment or rather Complete Neighbourhoods, proper transport hierarchy, and standardisation with Spatial Planning. Could it be the Soviets and later Russians initially achieved the 15 minute City before the West did (or even think about it)?

Complete package family area Source: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/6/29/the-next-baby-boom-affordable-urban-lifestyles-for-millennials-with-children