UCLA Library

Kazakhstan has spent much of its newfound independence searching for an identity destroyed and warped by decadesof Russian influence.This tension is represented in the physical form via the Almaty Metro. The Metro in the former capital and largest cityin Kazakhstanserves as a powerful symbol and microcosm for how Russian cultural influences still manifest themselves in post-Soviet Kazakhstan.Opened twenty years after the collapse of the USSR, the Almaty Metro maintains striking visual and operational similarity to its Soviet counterparts.Previous scholarssuch as Beissinger, Stefany, and Jenks1have discussed both the relationship between Kazakhstan and Russia in the Soviet period as well as the symbolic importance of the Moscow Metro, but none have examined the continuity of such relationships and symbols through the lens of post-Soviet infrastructure in Kazakhstan. Metros hold a particular importance in the post-Soviet worldfor both what they are and what they represent. Seeing asthe Almaty Metrowas the second metro opened since the fall of the USSR, and the first outside of Russia, the product and the processof the Metroprovides valuable insight to Kazakhstan’s political motivations and continued path of independence. This thesisexamines Soviet urban planning, the history of Kazakhstan, an analysis of the construction and design of the Almaty Metro and uses each of these elements tobetter understand each other.