2018 Issue №3

Amid a worsening geopolitical situation and Big Eurasia plunging into geoeconomic uncertainty, Russian regions are working towards new interregional collaborations and looking for partners in other markets. Russia’s outposts in the Baltic — St. Petersburg and the Kaliningrad region — play a central communicative role in relations with European countries. An exclave under transport and logistics blockade, the Kaliningrad region is increasingly seeking new areas and forms of cooperation with St. Petersburg. In this study, I consider the historical connections between the Kaliningrad region (once, part of East Prussia) and Saint Petersburg in terms of infrastructure, logistics, marketing, production, human resources, recreation, research, and education. I place emphasis on the dependence of the Kaliningrad region on Russia’s ‘hub’ in the Baltic. With a reference to the Framework for a Strategy for Russia’s Spatial Development until 2030, I stress the need for a closer collaboration between Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad in the new geoeconomic and geopolitical conditions. I explore the opportunities for and barriers to the joint geoeconomic positioning of St. Petersburg and the Kaliningrad region in the Baltic. This study has proved instrumental in inventorying all the factors, forms, and areas of cooperation between the two regions. In the article, I also pay attention to individual projects and initiatives.

Amid a worsening geopolitical situation and Big Eurasia plunging into geoeconomic uncertainty, Russian regions are working towards new interregional collaborations and looking for partners in other markets. Russia’s outposts in the Baltic — St. Petersburg and the Kaliningrad region — play a central communicative role in relations with European countries. An exclave under transport and logistics blockade, the Kaliningrad region is increasingly seeking new areas and forms of cooperation with St. Petersburg. In this study, I consider the historical connections between the Kaliningrad region (once, part of East Prussia) and Saint Petersburg in terms of infrastructure, logistics, marketing, production, human resources, recreation, research, and education. I place emphasis on the dependence of the Kaliningrad region on Russia’s ‘hub’ in the Baltic. With a reference to the Framework for a Strategy for Russia’s Spatial Development until 2030, I stress the need for a closer collaboration between Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad in the new geoeconomic and geopolitical conditions. I explore the opportunities for and barriers to the joint geoeconomic positioning of St. Petersburg and the Kaliningrad region in the Baltic. This study has proved instrumental in inventorying all the factors, forms, and areas of cooperation between the two regions. In the article, I also pay attention to individual projects and initiatives.

In this study, we analyse today’s urban development trends in the context of densely populated territories located in moderate seismic regions. We perform a brief engineering analysis of the consequences of the Kaliningrad earthquake of September 21, 2004. The earthquake was felt across the Sambia Peninsula, in the Baltics, Finland, some parts of Poland and Belarus, and even in Saint Petersburg. Earthquakes occurred on the territory of today’s Kaliningrad — in the city of Konigsberg — in 1803 and 1904. For many years, the Kaliningrad region’s seismic risks were underestimated. We stress the importance of not only the architectural and planning solutions but also that of their compatibility with the ground and geomorphology situations. All of this translates into a safer living environment.