ABSTRACT
In The City, Max Weber (1958) argued that there are sharp differences in the functions and structures of cities, based on the way in which they have been formed by particular cultures in specific environmental, historical and economic circumstances. This chapter seeks to clarify the character of the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude (Buryat Republic) in the context of the historically formed ‘ways of life’ of the Russian and Buryat peoples. I argue that migratory processes central to these cultures are key to understanding this post-socialist Siberian city after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
