Why is the Moscow Metro so grandiose compared to other Soviet architecture
It's a bit surprising that this omits the fact that the Moscow Metro is a nuclear bomb shelter. There are huge blast doors everywhere and at many stations it's significantly deeper than Paris of New York. It's also got some of the longest escalators I've ever used in my life. Naturally since you need several minute to descend into the depths you'd want wider spaces and plazas. I can't imagine the claustrophobia if they'd made it to a western scale.. I also imagine there are huge challenges with ventilation and whatnot...<p>To the other points raise, I never quite understood the multi-decade Moscow housing shortages. The USSR (and now Russia) had internal travel passports, and at least back then you couldn't just pick up your bags and move to a different city. Why were more people than houses allowed to immigrate to Moscow? Maybe someone has some historical insight into this?