Azernews.Az

Ulviyya Poladova

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Speaking at the World Urban Forum, Nuradil Galymzhan shared how Kazakhstan is reshaping its cities while trying to create more comfortable, modern, and people-centred urban spaces, AzerNEWS reports.

Galymzhan said the country’s fastest-growing cities today include Astana, Almaty, Shymkent, and Turkistan. He also revealed plans for a completely new city - Alatau - which will include a special economic zone aimed at attracting investment and supporting future growth.

"If we summarize all this experience, we can say that Kazakhstan has learned both how to transform old cities and how to build new urban centers," he said.

He described Astana as the clearest example of that transformation. Nearly three decades ago, the city - then known as Tselinograd - became the country’s new capital.

"It has become a completely different city," Galymzhan said. "We rebuilt it almost from scratch, in a completely new way."

Today, Kazakhstan’s urban projects are increasingly focused not only on construction, but also on improving the quality of life.

Galymzhan also spoke about the growing importance of Turkistan, describing it as a city with deep historical and cultural significance for the Turkic world. The city has hosted meetings of leaders and officials from Turkic states and is becoming an increasingly important regional center.

Kazakhstan is also actively exchanging urban development experience with other countries. Galymzhan mentioned cooperation with Indonesia, which is currently building a new capital city and studying international urban planning models.

At the same time, he acknowledged that Kazakhstan itself continues learning from neighboring countries.

"Looking at Baku, we can also learn a lot," Galymzhan added.