ABSTRACT
The chapter examines the role of green spaces in Moscow’s contemporary urban development, and interrogates underlying tensions and contradictions. The study finds that Moscow’s new flagship parks form a key arena and infrastructure of neoliberalization – they have developed into new frontiers for commercialization; they are places where neoliberal subjects are forged, ‘participatory’ urban development is celebrated and Moscow’s global competitiveness is negotiated. Yet, the current model is wrought with tensions. In particular, the superficial nature of urban reforms and changes in officially sanctioned aesthetics, as well as deteriorating economic conditions, provide context-specific limitations and increasingly challenge Moscow’s current configuration of neoliberal urbanism.
