Whose master plan? Kisho Kurokawa and ‘capital planning’ in post-Soviet Astana, 1995–2000

Astana, Kazakhstan’s new capital city, was established in 1998 and became the only seat of government to be relocated within the former Soviet Union. In 1998, the government of Kazakhstan held an open international competition for a new master plan of Astana, for which 27 projects from 14 countries were received. This article focuses on the activities of the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, who, despite having been awarded third place by the competition’s jury, was nevertheless declared its winner. I propose to re-examine the circumstances behind the choice of Kurokawa’s proposal (not to mention its financing by the Japan International Cooperation Agency) that eventually led to its implementation as the Master Plan for the new capital of Kazakhstan. A close look at this process will shed light on the way Astana has been perceived and planned since 1998 and also reveal the ways in which planning strategies and (international) politics influenced and co-constructed one another in post-Soviet Kazakhstan.