The History of High-Rise Construction in Moscow: Interdisciplinary Understanding and Geoinformational Analysis

The article contains the results of a historical and geographical study using geographic information methods, focused on the spatial dynamics of high-rise construction in Moscow in the 20th and 21st centuries. The aim of the research is to identify the spatial patterns of high-rise construction development in Moscow and to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of this phenomenon by applying geoinformation technologies. The subject of the research is high-rise construction in Moscow in its historical transformation in the context of the formation of a visual urbanized environment. In this work, high-rise buildings are understood as residential and public structures with a minimum height of 100 meters. High-rise constructions for cult and technical purposes were not considered. The research is based on open databases on building construction in Moscow over different years, urban planning documents, literary sources, and statistical materials. The main research methods selected in this work are historical-geographical, historical-statistical, and geoinformation, specifically the method of computer cartography using the QGIS geographic information system. As a result of the research, spatial-temporal patterns of the concentration of high-rise construction in different parts of Moscow have been identified. These patterns are visualized through a series of authorial maps for the periods of high-rise construction. A ranking of districts and administrative areas of Moscow has been compiled based on the number of high-rise buildings. The role of high-rise construction in shaping the visual environment of Moscow, which has changed under the influence of socio-economic conditions, advancements in engineering and technical solutions, changes in urban planning policy, and the increasing prestige of Moscow as one of the largest megacities in the world, has been interpreted on an interdisciplinary level. The novelty of the research lies in demonstrating the effectiveness of the geoinformation mapping method using the QGIS geographic information system for visualizing and conducting interdisciplinary analysis of the spatial dynamics of high-rise construction in Moscow. This has made it possible to compare various stages of high-rise construction, identify areas of the most intense high-rise development, and determine the most significant factors that influenced changes in the urban landscape and visual environment of the Moscow metropolis. The practical significance consists in improving the methodology of applied historical-geographical research carried out using computer cartography technologies.