Work

Extractive assistance: copper mining, socialist development and urban planning in Mongolia, 1962–1983

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Focusing on the case of Mongolia during the Cold War, this article analyses how the goals of resource extraction and socialist development shaped urban and regional planning in the country. The article examines the negotiations for development assistance between Mongolia, the Soviet Union, East Germany and Czechoslovakia since 1962, with a particular focus on the foundation of the mining city of Erdenet in 1973 as a key outcome of these negotiations. It demonstrates that mineral extraction was the central aspect of socialist assistance. The requirements and scale of mining infrastructure provided a distinct logic to urban and regional planning in the country. The article argues that in the socialist development vision, extraction was integral to urban thinking. The socialist approach to resource development in Mongolia employed a heavy-handed approach of extensive urbanization, contrasting sharply with post-socialist urban patterns shaped by investments from private extractive industries.

Source: Urban History

DOI: 10.1017/s0963926825100370

Author: Nikolay Erofeev

Institution: Freie Universität Berlin

Language: English

Topic: Urban Planning and Governance

Subfield: Urban Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550