Technological development of the Russian cities in a hundredyear retrospective

The article analyzes the technological evolution of multi-apartment housing construction in 18 Russian cities from 1917 to 2023. The authors propose an original method for studying technological modes (K3, K4, K5) based on the largest Russian database, the House Register, which contains information on tens of thousands of buildings. The methodological framework is based on a combination of Kondratiev's long wave theory, evolutionary economic geography, and the structural analysis of urban real estate. Three waves of technological development are identified: the wooden-brick mode (K3), mass panel housing construction (K4), and monolithic construction (K5). A typology of cities is presented based on the nature of their transition between modes: from leaders in technological change to outsiders stuck in the previous cycle. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of brick housing construction as an inter-structure connecting element and the variability of the transition to monolithic construction, including the change of foundation structures. A detailed analysis of the dynamics by years is carried out, allowing us to identify the characteristic phases of technological cycles: introduction, aggression, maturity and attenuation. The article proposes criteria for diagnosing the renaissance of old technologies (for example, the repeated growth of panel housing construction in the 2000s) and distinguishing inertia from real technological shifts. The results of the study are of practical value for urban development policy, especially in the context of the need to transition to energy-efficient and flexible forms of urban development. The work makes a significant contribution to the development of approaches to the retrospective analysis of technological trajectories of urban development.