Russian Manhattan, also known as Manhattan-on-the-Volga — a nickname given by the press to the Globe Town project: a satellite city of skyscrapers that in 2008 was planned for construction in the Bor Floodplain, on the left bank of the Volga opposite the Strelka. The role of the Hudson in this comparison was assigned to the Volga. The nickname proved more durable than the project itself: eighteen years later, construction in the floodplain has yet to begin, while "Russian Manhattan" remains the name attached to this unfulfilled vision.[1]

The 2008 Concept

The design competition was won by the Italian firm Benini and Partners. The planned development area exceeded three thousand hectares, with a total floor area of over 20 million square meters of residential and commercial space, and investment estimated at roughly one trillion rubles through 2030. The start of construction was announced as 2008, with completion set for 2025–2030.[2]

At the center of the composition stood the "Globe" sphere — 120 meters in diameter, enclosing 200,000 square meters of interior space — housing an opera house, a library, cinemas, and shops. Alongside it rose an international trade center consisting of three 600-meter towers, while the general development was to reach around 250 meters. The projected population of the future city was half a million people, with engineering preparation and infrastructure costs estimated at 20 billion dollars.[3]

Governor Valery Shantsev described the concept as "a purely investment project" that would require "not a single kopek from the budget," explaining it thus: "The third part of Nizhny Novgorod must become a city of the third millennium," adding that "we have no other resource for mass construction."[3] Investors, according to the Governor, were prepared to build a bridge across the Volga at their own expense in exchange for the right to develop the floodplain.[2]

How the Project Was Buried

Three years later, the concept was abandoned. On June 20, 2011, the Chief Architect of Nizhny Novgorod Region, Sergey Popov, stated at a press conference that the original version of the Bor Floodplain development project had been laid to rest and that no design work on the site was being carried out.[4]

Money was not the only issue. The floodplain floods every year, and to build there the site would have had to be raised by at least eight meters of fill. Popov considered only "very selective and very small-scale" development feasible — "so as not to block the horizons."[4]

The original version of the Bor Floodplain development project is buried.

— Sergey Popov, Chief Architect of Nizhny Novgorod Region, June 2011[4]

What was proposed instead

The floodplain continued to attract ideas. By 2020, instead of a satellite city, the Bor riverbank had seen the appearance of "Borskoe Volgorech'ye" and a 520-space parking lot, while a pedestrian promenade bridge with viewing platforms was estimated at 130 million rubles.[5]

On 31 May 2021, a new project was unveiled — the parktown "Nizhny": a low-rise, eco-friendly city with the largest university campus in the world by area. The concept was developed by the "Creative Laboratory" on commission from the autonomous non-profit organization "Project Office for the Development Strategy of the Nizhny Novgorod Region," at the direction of Governor Gleb Nikitin. Building height was capped at three storeys; more than 60 percent of rooftops were to be given over to heated lawns, the rest to solar panels. The city was planned to accommodate 70,000 students, 40,000 entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals, and 30,000 staff members; ten years were allocated for the construction of the main campus area.[6]

On 7 September 2024, Deputy Governor Egor Polyakov presented the parktown at the Eastern Economic Forum, again affirming the three-storey limit; no timeline was given this time either.[7]

Objections from environmentalists

Ecocenter "Dront" (listed in the register of NGOs deemed foreign agents from 22 May 2015 to 31 August 2017) objected from the outset to any large-scale development. The Bor Floodplain is a group of meadows and lakes that flood during the spring Volga overflow and is home to the Russian desman, the Zerynthia polyxena butterfly, and the fire-bellied toad — all listed in the Red Book; the law prohibits activities that reduce the numbers of Red Book species, and "it is impossible to build a huge city and simultaneously not destroy Red Book animals." Instead, the environmentalists proposed a UNESCO geopark and a carbon monitoring site.[8]

By 2025, the position had not changed. The director of "Dront," Askhat Kayumov, insists on preserving the floodplain as a protected natural area: "Floodplains have highly diverse natural conditions — that is precisely why they host such a wealth of plant and animal species."[9]

The floodplain today

In May 2025, Deputy Governor Sergey Morozov announced that investors were prepared to put more than 30 billion rubles into floodplain development and that a new bridge across the Volga would increase its attractiveness for developers. The Bor administration clarified, however, that neither the bridge itself nor its approach roads are planned to be located within the Bor Floodplain.[9]

By May 2026, "Russian Manhattan" had definitively passed into the realm of urban legend: more than fifteen years had elapsed since the idea first emerged, its cost is now estimated in retrospect at $100 billion, and construction has never begun. Joining it in the same roster of unfulfilled visions is the Strelka-City business district on the Strelka itself — more than twenty buildings of up to 60 stories for roughly four billion dollars: the project was abandoned when Nizhny Novgorod was awarded the FIFA World Cup and stadium construction began on the Strelka.[1]

Sources

  1. V gorode N — Unfulfilled hopes: seven grand projects that were never realized in Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  2. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — Implementation of the Globe Town project may begin in 2013 (archive)
  3. Vremya N — The Globe Town project will give Nizhny Novgorod new development — V. Shantsev (archive)
  4. NIA "Nizhny Novgorod" — The original version of the Bor Floodplain development project has been buried — Sergey Popov (archive)
  5. tvoy-bor.ru — Tvoy Bor — What became of the Globe Town project in the Bor Floodplain (archive)
  6. V gorode N — Parkograd "Nizhny" instead of Globe Town: a new development project for the Bor Floodplain has been presented (archive)
  7. V gorode N — Parkograd to be built in the Bor Floodplain near Nizhny Novgorod (archive)
  8. Ecocenter "Dront" — Ecological Center "Dront" — Paradise, hell, parkograd: environmentalists on development of the Bor Floodplain (archive)
  9. GIPERNN — A new bridge across the Volga will boost the investment potential of the Bor Floodplain (archive)