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Moscow was designed as a “model communist city”, homogeneous and “liberated” from problems like segregation, ethnic living quarters, concentrations of poverty and wealth. This strategy was only partly successful with the development in the 1950’s of the urban micro-raiyon (administrative district).

Micro-raiyons were nested hierarchically within larger administrative districts, and larger urban zones. The planning of the micro-raiyon included a self-contained neighborhood of about 15,000 people, with educational, cultural, health, and retail services. Within raiyons, per capita norms were devised for services and staff, such as square meters of shopping space, educational, health facilities, and numbers of teachers and medical personnel. During the transition from a centrally planned state to a market economy, the inner contrasts of lifestyles within Moscow raiyons were amplified.