Astana (translated: Capital), is the capital and second largest city (after Almaty) of Kazakhstan, with an officially estimated population of 708,794. It is located in the north-central portion of Kazakhstan, within Akmola Province, though administrated separately from the province as a federal city area. Politics and government are the main economic activities in the capital, which also forms a Special Economic Zone. Since the move, Astana has seen one of the world’s greatest building projects, as oil money has been spent on government buildings, a massive home for the president, a mosque, and numerous parks and monuments. The project is designed to make the town the centre of not only Kazakhstan, but all of Central Asia.
Astana is located in central Kazakhstan on the Ishim River in a very flat, semi-desert steppe region which covers most of the country’s territory. The elevation of Astana is at 347 metres (1,138 ft) above sea level. Astana is in a spacious steppe landscape, in the transient area between the north of Kazakhstan and the extremely thinly settled national center, because of the river Ishim. The older boroughs lie north of the river, whilst the new boroughs are located south of the Ishim.
Astana can be divided largely into a few different areas. North of the railway line, which crosses Astana in an east-west direction, are industrial and poorer residential areas. Between the railway line and the river Ishim is the city center, where at present intense building activity is occurring. To the west and east are more elevated residential areas with parks and the new area of government administration to the south of the Ishim. Here many large building projects are underway; for example, the construction of a diplomat quarter, and a variety of different government buildings. By 2030, these quarters are to be completed. The original plans for the new Astana were drawn up by the late Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. Astana’s current chief planner, Vladimir Laptev, wants to build a Berlin in a Eurasian style. He has stated that a purely administrative capital such as Canberra is not one of his goals. While looking at the tremendous oil, natural gas and uranium reserves of the country most plannings and developments seems to be pretty realistic. The annual economic growth rate of 10% does the rest.
The old buildings that remained from the Soviet era are now being removed and replaced with totally new structures resulting in significant construction work throughout the city. President Nazarbayev has paid particular attention to Astana’s architecture; most of the recently completed structures had been accredited to internationally acclaimed architects and designers such as Kisho Kurokawa or Norman Foster.