SPECIAL ASPECTS OF METROPOLITAN AREA (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF THE HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF THE CITY OF NUR-SULTAN)

Abstract

The strategic aim lies in coming to a decision on the specific and particular characteristics of the historical and cultural development of Nur-Sultan city. A range of traditional general scientific research methods has been used. They are analytical, synthetic, and comparative. Among other things, the author refers to statistical data that reflects socially significant development processes of the city, which is currently called Nur-Sultan. The article’s observation can be summarized in the following context. Sociocultural dynamics in the context of the transformation (renaming) of cities in Akmolinsk – Tselinograd – Akmola – Astana – Nur-Sultan system is taken into consideration. The statement is substantiated that the very dynamics of the city’s growth in question were evolutionary, consistent, systemic in nature. The remarkable thing is that in the spring of 1961 a new city appeared on the map of the USSR: Akmolinsk was renamed Tselinograd. In reality, a relatively small city has become the center of the region of the virgin land, the heart of the project for the all-Union development of virgin lands (North Kazakhstan and South Siberia). There is a description of the period, relatively short, but certainly significant in the context of the outlined thematic field, when the analyzed city was called Akmola. It has been stated that there is a task-oriented successive vector of public support, which has been provided to the city over the course of decades. The emphasis is put on the importance of political will and perseverance in giving Akmola, Astana, and then Nur-Sultan not only the nominal status of capital but also the actual position of the city, which is of fundamental importance for the socio-political, cultural, economic growth of the whole Kazakhstan. Succession and consistency are two basic factors that made a small settlement of the nineteenth century Akmolinsk a capital city of Nur-Sultan at the end of the first twenty years of the 21st century.