Moscow’s Industrial Zones in the 2010s and 2020s: Ecological Vector

The article provides an assessment of sectoral and territorial changes in Moscow industry. According to the SPARK database (System of Professional Analysis of Markets and Companies), analysis of images, field observations and official statistics, it has been shown that the trend of deindustrialization of Moscow, which dominated in the post-Soviet period, has been replaced by a complex multi-vector process, when the closure of enterprises and the change in the functions of production zones is combined with the trend at reindustrialization as a result of the emergence of small and micro enterprises producing computers, electrical and refrigeration equipment. Moscow industry has become more diverse, and the long-term formation of industrial zones has been replaced by a trend towards their disintegration as three quarters of enterprises are located outside the industrial zones. The contribution of industrial zones to the polluting emissions into the atmosphere from stationary sources in the city is 70%, given that they have retained the larger enterprises. The geographical projection of reindustrialization points to a change in the territorial structure of Moscow industry. Industrial zones in the central part of the city, as well as those specializing in machinery industry, have been completely renovated. Some of the industries have been preserved in industrial zones with favorable transport and geographic locations, with enterprises servicing the city’s transport infrastructure, food processing plants, and the polygraphy industry. The closure of enterprises continued even in 2018–2022, when they lost more than half of their employees, and production volumes and emissions into the atmosphere also decreased. The peripheral industrial zones near the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) have been preserved to the greatest extent; they are extremely efficient due to the proximity to thermal power plants, and include large enterprises in the construction industry, food, and oil refining. Industrial zones specializing in oil refining and the building materials industry have increased their pollution at a higher rate than those with manufacturing industries. For most industrial zones, increased production still causes increased pollution, although at a somewhat slower rate. This is a consequence of the fact that the leading factor in pollution dynamics remains the volume of manufactured products, rather than modernization and implementation of environmental protection systems.