Astana is the newly developed capital city of Kazakhstan. Astana is a planned city, after gaining capital status, the development of the city has been purposefully altered in order to fit with propaganda. The new master plan is designed by Kisho Kurokawa, and has since been extensively executed. Kurokawa was asked to develop the Master Plan of Astana development to 2030 on the base of his presented town-planning concept. This order was carried out under an agreement between the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Corporation of the development of Kazakhstan capital, Astana city, for the fellowships of the Japanese government. Nazarbayev’s been leader of Kazakhstan since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and remains the country’s first and only president. He was returned to office for a fifth term in 2015, after winning almost 98 per cent of the vote.

      The planning of Astana is extremely peculiar, as the city features distinct height zones. The city planned in a sort of ring manner, even though the city itself does not resemble a circular shape. The center of Astana features grand monuments; the inner ring has grand boulevards, tall residential and commercial buildings; the outer ring, which is only 2 blocks away, is dominated by low single family dwellings. Similar with Naypyidaw, Astana has a low population density in relation to its size; the majority of its citizens resides in the outskirts, while the city center (which features some of the higher density housing), remains vacant.

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