Abstract
The Soviet city has passed through several stages of development-theoretical argument, heavy and rapid industrialization, and frenelic housing construction. In each stage, theoretical planning ideals have taken second place to pragmatic recognition of urgent needs. Nowadays, with the housing shortage largely overcome and living standards rising, various trends are occurring that suggest some convergence of Soviet cities with Western cities-social segregation, growing car ownership, changing shopping patterns, and increasing commuting. These convergent trends are still weak compared with Western towns, and there are sufficient fundamental differences in the role of planning, in planning concepts, and in social attitudes for the Soviet city to be seen as an urban form unquestionably distinct from the Western town.

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