Extended Essay
Title: The Interconnectedness of Yerevan’s Urban Design and Political
Context
Research Question: How does Yerevan's urban design reflect the cultural,
and political context of Armenia?
Subject: Geography
Wordcount: 3,847
, 1
Table of content
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 3
Brief Overview Of Yerevan’s History of Urbanism.......................................................................................4
Cultural Motifs and Details in Yerevan’s Urban Design................................................................................7
Urban Design in Armenia during the Soviet period.....................................................................................10
Khrushchevkas............................................................................................................................................. 11
Khrushchevkas Everywhere And Why Is It Bad? A Perspective from the New Political Context............. 13
Yerevan’s urban design after the collapse of the Soviet Union....................................................................15
Seismic isolation system.............................................................................................................................. 19
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................20
Works Cited..................................................................................................................................................22
, 2
“…Please look closely at real cities. While you are looking, you might as well also listen, linger
and think about what you see.”
Jane Jacobs
Introduction
When walking through the streets of my hometown Yerevan, I cannot help but start
contemplating the urban landscapes that open before me. They push me to reflect on different periods of
my country’s history and make me eager to unfold the historical narratives behind those cultural spaces.
So many traditions, people’s lifestyles, or political motives are embodied through those urban areas and
still have a profound impact on people’s lives. I always considered Yerevan to be a window to the past.
Maybe it’s because Yerevan is not a city of economic miracles and skyscrapers, its buildings are not
diminished and rebuilt overnight. However, from my grandfather’s stories, I can say that every building
has an ideology behind it. Every street and every building has a story to tell, be it echoes of the socialist
lifestyle or whispers of political and cultural freedom.
With this work, I’ll try to investigate and show that Yerevan’s urban design has been widely
influenced by the political and cultural context of Armenia for the past century. The aim of my
investigation is to look back on the history of Yerevan’s urbanism while trying to identify the social and
political motives behind the urban spaces. For the start of my investigation, I adopted Birgitte Svarre’s
approach of direct observation for gathering primary data. I started going out on long walks around
Yerevan and taking pictures of cultural symbolic patterns, soviet architecture or any prominent urban
phenomena that could be explained by political or cultural context. After that, I started looking for
secondary sources such as research papers on the material that I observed, and diving deeper into the
historical context of the city’s urban fabric. This allowed me to identify the cultural and political motives
of the time and analyze the reasons for the architectural and design decisions. To better understand the
Extended Essay
Title: The Interconnectedness of Yerevan’s Urban Design and Political
Context
Research Question: How does Yerevan's urban design reflect the cultural,
and political context of Armenia?
Subject: Geography
Wordcount: 3,847
, 1
Table of content
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................... 3
Brief Overview Of Yerevan’s History of Urbanism.......................................................................................4
Cultural Motifs and Details in Yerevan’s Urban Design................................................................................7
Urban Design in Armenia during the Soviet period.....................................................................................10
Khrushchevkas............................................................................................................................................. 11
Khrushchevkas Everywhere And Why Is It Bad? A Perspective from the New Political Context............. 13
Yerevan’s urban design after the collapse of the Soviet Union....................................................................15
Seismic isolation system.............................................................................................................................. 19
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................................20
Works Cited..................................................................................................................................................22
, 2
“…Please look closely at real cities. While you are looking, you might as well also listen, linger
and think about what you see.”
Jane Jacobs
Introduction
When walking through the streets of my hometown Yerevan, I cannot help but start
contemplating the urban landscapes that open before me. They push me to reflect on different periods of
my country’s history and make me eager to unfold the historical narratives behind those cultural spaces.
So many traditions, people’s lifestyles, or political motives are embodied through those urban areas and
still have a profound impact on people’s lives. I always considered Yerevan to be a window to the past.
Maybe it’s because Yerevan is not a city of economic miracles and skyscrapers, its buildings are not
diminished and rebuilt overnight. However, from my grandfather’s stories, I can say that every building
has an ideology behind it. Every street and every building has a story to tell, be it echoes of the socialist
lifestyle or whispers of political and cultural freedom.
With this work, I’ll try to investigate and show that Yerevan’s urban design has been widely
influenced by the political and cultural context of Armenia for the past century. The aim of my
investigation is to look back on the history of Yerevan’s urbanism while trying to identify the social and
political motives behind the urban spaces. For the start of my investigation, I adopted Birgitte Svarre’s
approach of direct observation for gathering primary data. I started going out on long walks around
Yerevan and taking pictures of cultural symbolic patterns, soviet architecture or any prominent urban
phenomena that could be explained by political or cultural context. After that, I started looking for
secondary sources such as research papers on the material that I observed, and diving deeper into the
historical context of the city’s urban fabric. This allowed me to identify the cultural and political motives
of the time and analyze the reasons for the architectural and design decisions. To better understand the
