FROM OIL BOOM TO GLOBAL ASPIRATIONS: URBAN PLANNING AND PUBLIC REALM DEVELOPMENT IN CONTEMPORARY BAKU
Keywords:
While Baku has undergone tremendous transformation since the collapse of the Soviet Union, becoming one of the fastest-growing cities in the Caucasus and Central Asia, scholarly understanding of its urban planning features remains fragmented. Existing literature has examined Baku either through historical lenses or through critiques of its post-Soviet development, but few studies have systematically analyzed the city's human-scale qualities, pedestrian infrastructure, and public realm from an integrated urban planning perspective.Abstract
planning as the "original oil city," where oil extraction and urban development have been thoroughly intertwined economically, politically, and physically in the city's fabric (Blau, 2018). Located on the Absheron Peninsula along the Caspian Sea, Baku covers over 2,130 square kilometers and is divided into 11 administrative districts (Presidential Library of Azerbaijan, n.d.). The city proper is officially home to 2.4 million people, though unofficial estimates suggest the metropolitan population ranges from 3.8 to 4.2 million, representing approximately 35-40 percent of Azerbaijan's total population (Valiyev, 2013).
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