Yekaterinburg, capital of Sverdlovsk Oblast and Russia’s fourth-largest city, has recently enjoyed a renaissance. Situated only 30 kilometres from the Europe-Asia border, it—along with Chelyabinsk and Perm—comprises the Ural Industrial Hub. These three ‘industrial grey cities,’ dominated by heavy industry, once produced ‘everything from needles to spaceships’ during Soviet times.^[1] In 1992, the mayor introduced a radical plan to transform Yekaterinburg into a world-class city.^[2] Today, it hosts various industries, including warehousing, transport, logistics, telecommunications, finance, and commerce.^[3] The city is also the Urals’ leading cultural centre, accommodating opera, ballet, concerts, and 140,000 university students.^[4] During Soviet times, Yekaterinburg housed Uralmashzavod, the machine and factory building complex. Once the ‘Father of Factories,’ it ‘could kit out a developing country without breaking a sweat.’^[5] Uralmashzavod still produces heavy machinery for the mining and metallurgy sectors. However, having employed 50,000 people during its Soviet heyday,^[6] it now retains around 3,000.^[7]

[1] Belousov, A. and Ornat, V. (2015) ‘Yekaterinburg is a Global City,’ Megapolisonline, 13 October.
Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20160827174558/http://www.megapolis-online.com/articles/ekaterinburg-globalniy-gorod.html
Accessed: 13 May 2021.

[2] Belousov and Ornat.

[3] Belousov and Ornat.

[4] Russian Plus (2018) ‘Yekaterinburg Russia. Modern City in Russia,’ 22 February.
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIdsOxNkR3I&ab_channel=RussianPlus
Accessed: 13 May 2021.

[5] The Economist (1997) ‘Father Knows,’ 15 May.
Available at: https://www.economist.com/business/1997/05/15/father-knows
Accessed: 14 May 2021.

[6] Bush, J. (2014) ‘Soviet industrial giant’s struggle symbolizes Russia’s economic dilemma,’ Reuters, 25 June.
Available at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-uralmash-insight-idUSKBN0F00JM20140625
Accessed: 14 May 2021.

[7] Premiyak, L. (2017) ‘Uralmash: inside the Soviet-era industrial powerhouse surviving on community spirit,’ The Calvert Journal, 27 January.
Available at: https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/7528/uralmash-yekaterinburg-factory-town-fyodor-telkov-photography
Accessed: 13 May 2021.