Urbanism on the Steppe

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, feels less like a city and more like a prototype.

Rising from the steppe with glass towers, monumental axes and improbable geometries, it often resembles the set of a science fiction film — except it is very real, and very deliberate.

In 2017 the city hosted Expo 2017, a World Exposition dedicated to “Future Energy”, placing questions of sustainability and innovation at the center of a global conversation. Much of that ambition remains embedded in its architecture and urban scale.

I arrived in Astana by train from Chelyabinsk, Russia, crossing the vast Eurasian plains before entering a city that seems designed to anticipate tomorrow. I spent three weeks there, documenting its contrasts: between symbolism and daily life, spectacle and routine, vision and reality.