With introductions to various urban land use phenomenons occurring across the globe such as Manhattanization, Brusselization, and Californication, the concept of the 'Monotown' is the latest addition to our list. Unlike the aforementioned phenomena, which come about due to a combination of market demand and land use regulation or lack thereof, the 'Monotown'—a populated area whose economy depends on a single industry or company—is the product of a command economy. As such, the links to Toronto's own urban context are limited at best. Nonetheless, a look at this phenomenon can enrich our understanding of the links between economic production and urban land use. SkyriseCities has more: 

Tolyatti is an example of a monotown, image retrieved from Google Maps

Despite the fall of the Soviet Union, the landscape of the world's largest country remains populated by numerous monuments and structures that together shaped a unified Communist identity. Strolling through certain neighbourhoods and towns can be akin to going back in time and reliving, through these physical relics, an unforgettable chapter in Russian history. On a much larger scale, entire towns that were birthed from the principles of the Soviet planned economy still exist to this day, although many of them, like the Soviet Union itself, have collapsed.

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