Moscow as a Hub of Global Networks

The city of Moscow is capital city of Russia, the biggest megalopolis in Europe and biggest attractor for migrants from the Post-Soviet countries. As the business centre in Eastern Europe, Moscow has headquarters of major public and private Russian corporations and banks and is the largest community of billionaires in the world according to Forbes. It is one of the world scientific, cultural and spiritual centre. So, Moscow as a hub of different global networks needs to adopt a totally new kind model of its development. Formerly being the biggest industrial city in the Soviet Union, Moscow has lost a substantial share of its manufacturing during last twenty years. The city's economy has radically changed during the post-Soviet period. Different service industries, including real estate and finances, have increased rapidly and Moscow stands among other leading global post-industrial megalopolises now. The most of city's economy is therefore due to the service industries involved in the global networks. But the concentration of services has not solved many current problems in the city's development of Moscow. These strategic problems include low quality of life of citizens, lack of many public goods and social services, transport collapse and other negative elements of city's spatial structure. The latter is really a key limiting factor in the Moscow's development. These problems are major hindrances to the development of Moscow as an international finance centre, a global city specialized in high-tech industry, knowledge production and one of the educational and cultural capital in Eurasia. Although the role of manufacturing is still very high in the city's economy (it accounts about 20 per cent of gross regional product), Moscow itself stands among other leading global post-industrial megalopolises now. Meanwhile, most of satellites within Moscow Agglomeration have been developed as industrial towns. In this case, future of Moscow Agglomeration is associated with development of some different clusters. They are not only services but also manufacturing ones, e.g. aerospace, biotechnology, printing and media. Besides, there was an expansion of the city's boundaries in July 2012, which are unreasonable for both citizens and urban planners. So, there is a hard choice in front of Moscow City Government to develop the city as a hub of global networks.