Social and cultural development of the cities in the south of the Amur governor-general in the late XIX – early XX centuries (using innovations in the urban infrastructure as an example)

Abstract

The article describes changes in the infrastructure of the cities of the south of the Amur governor-general related to the introduction of technological advances in the late XIX – early XX centuries. The activity of the city authorities to address the most acute problems of quality water supply for cities is shown on specific examples. Factors and conditions constraining the introduction of the drain in Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok are thoroughly analyzed. On the basis of archival material main forms of work on switching to electric urban lightning are identified and disclosed. Methods of urban electrification and its impact on the city appearance, consumer culture and economic development are described. The process of implementing means of urban communication, such as postal and telegraph services, is disclosed. A tendency of growth of the need of the citizens in rapid transfer of information that linked the urban space together is described. The article also reflects the development of urban transport. The factors which determined the adoption of such means of transport as bus and tram are revealed, and the reasons hindering their development in the studied cities are pointed out. Conclusions about a qualitative change in urban infrastructure in the analyzed period and its influence on the development of cities as a social and cultural center of the Far Eastern suburbs of imperial Russia are made in the article.