Magnitogorsk

Magnitogorsk (Russian:?????????????) is a mining and industrial city by the Ural River in Russia, with one of the largest iron and steel works in the country. Geographically it lies at {{coor dm|53|25|N|58|58|E|}}, on the eastern (Siberian) side of the southern part of the Ural Mountains. In 2002 the all-Russia population census reported 419,100 inhabitants.

Related Topics:
Russian - Ural River - Russia - Iron - Steel - Siberia - Ural Mountains - 2002

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The rapid development of Magnitogorsk stood at the forefront of Joseph Stalin's Five-Year Plans in the 1930s. Huge reserves of iron ore in the area made it a prime location to build a steel plant capable of challenging its Western rivals. However, a large proportion of the workforce, as ex-peasants, typically had few industrial skills and little industrial experience. To solve these issues, several hundred foreign specialists arrived to direct the work, including a team of architects headed by the German Ernst May.

Related Topics:
Joseph Stalin - Five-Year Plan - 1930s - Iron ore - Peasant - Ernst May

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Magnitogorsk, according to plans, would have followed the linear city design, with rows of similar superblock neighborhoods running parallel to the factory, and with a strip of greenery - or greenbelt - to separate them. Planners would align living and production spheres so as to minimize necessary travel time: workers would generally live in a sector of the residential band closest to the sector of the industrial band in which they worked.

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By the time that May completed his plans for Magnitogorsk, however, construction of both factory and housing had already started. The sprawling factory and enormous cleansing lakes had left little room available for development, and May, therefore, had to redesign his settlement to fit the modified site. This modification resulted in a city more ?rope-like? than linear, and which subjected the inhabitants to noxious fumes and factory smoke.

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With the depletion of the substantial local iron-ore reserves, Magnitogorsk must now import raw materials from elsewhere.

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