Here at IQ.hse.ru, we've summarised five facts about cities revealed by HSE researchers.

In many countries, including but not limited to Russia, frontier regions, populated more recently than the country's core territory, tend to lag behind in terms of socio-economic development. This phenomenon can be explained by legacies such as state formation in remote regions and the autonomy traditionally enjoyed by new settlers, according to Roberto Foa (Harvard University) and Anna Nemirovskaya, Senior Research Fellow of the HSE Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR).

The opportunity to find an interesting and well-paid job, a comfortable socio-cultural environment, and friendly and professional contacts in the new location are all essential factors for graduates of universities from Russian regions who are planning to move to another city. Saida Ziganurova, Research Assistant at the HSE Center for Institutional Studies, studied the migration potential among young professionals.

Russia’s urban residents can be split into four groups, depending on their relationship with the city, what they expect from it, values, and lifestyle. Three groups prefer to lead a settled or sedentary lifestyle, as they are either content with their place of residence, or passive. The fourth category is mobile, and always ready to move. By taking each group’s values into account, cities can be made more comfortable for all residents, research by a study group at the HSE’s Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning says

Fifteen Russian cities, including major university cities, capitals of Russia's constituent national republics, and regional centres, rival Moscow and St. Petersburg in terms of human development. In fact, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar, Chelyabinsk, Kazan, and Novosibirsk are actually ahead of Russia's two capitals in terms of this parameter, according to a study conducted by the HSE's Graduate School of Urban Studies and Planning. The study was led by the late Dean of the School Alexander Vysokovsky. The study’s findings were presented at the Fourth Moscow Urban Forum.

Muscovites who live between the capital’s Ring Road and the Third Ring Road are rooted in their region and, contrary to popular myths, do not try to move into the city centre. In their view, ‘Old Moscow’ is more a territory for rest than a business and residential area. This stereotype is also supported by Moscow’s radial ring structure, which is designed to regulate the influx of people into the city centre, Alexey Levinson said in HSE’s ‘Demoscope Weekly’ journal

Naukograds, meaning ‘science cities,’ focused largely on science in the Soviet period, but have since become aimed more at small business and business services in the post-soviet era, Denis Ivanov, a Research Fellow with HSE’s International Center for the Study of Institutions and Development, said in the paper, ‘Transition and Path-dependence in Knowledge-intensive Industry Location: Case of Russian Professional Services,’ which was presented at a joint seminar of HSE’s Laboratory for Labour Market Studies and the Centre for Labour Market Studies

Moscow has to attract more residents to the centre, to improve social infrastructure, to turn the  monotonous multi-storied suburbs into nice-looking  low-rise areas , and to develop creative clusters with a high concentration of workplaces in former industrial areas. This way the Russian capital will become more comfortable for living, and transport flows will be more varied, Tatiana Polidi concluded at a roundtable discussion on urban studies, as part of the Fifth Annual Conference ‘Saburov Readings’

More traffic jams and better public transport may force Moscow's motorists to leave their cars at home, suggest the findings of a recent study 'Dealing with Traffic Jams in Moscow: Factors Influencing the Choice of Private vs. Public Transport'

The only way to expand road networks in Russian cities is to make use of railroad corridors, declared Konstantin Trofimenko, Director of the HSE Centre for Urban Transportation Studies, addressing the first in the Infrastructure of the Future series of seminars