page_title: Black City (Baku)
section_title: Planning
hierarchical_section_title: Black City (Baku) / Planning
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Черный город. Вид на нефтяные промыслы. Фото К.Буллы 1905г.
context_page_description: Black City is the general name for the southeastern neighbourhoods of Baku, which once formed its suburbs. In the late 19th and early 20th century it became the main location for Azerbaijan's oil industry.
context_section_description: The plan for Black City marked the first time in the history of Russian urban planning that the design of an urban area was based on the principle of symmetrical construction. The blocks in Black City were laid out in a rectangular grid with wide, straight roads. One of the roads ended at a square which overlooked the area's numerous wharfs. This was quite different from the layout of downtown Baku, with its small blocks and a network of narrow streets. The industrial zone grew from south to north and eventually occupied the rural area that separated Black City from Balakhany. After draining the coastal marshes and reclaiming the land, the coastal area of Black City began to be used as well.
  In the decades that followed its initial construction, the road plan of Black City did not change. The built-up area was renovated and replaced according to technological requirements of the time.
caption: Black City in 1905
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