An Incomplete Merger. Rostov-on-Don and Nakhichevan as Peculiar Urbanization Projects in the Russian Empire’s South

Abstract

The paper analyses Rostov and Nakhichevan on Don as a peculiar case of Russian Imperial urban development between the late eighteenth and early twentieth century. Gradually merging into one urban metropolis, both cities remained separate political entities with their own systems of self-governance and bureaucracies due to economic conjunctures and distinct patterns of migration. By focusing on gravitational and centrifugal factors between the Russian and Armenian communities, the article provides a dynamic perspective on how local elites and communities negotiated the promises of economic prosperity and the emerging challenges of nationalism within a shared multiethnic urban space. The example opens the view for a variety of development paths of cities beyond the "Western European standard case", as urban growth and economic entanglement between the two adjacent cities was not followed by political and administrative unification.