Moscow gets a much needed facelift. But is it worth the cost?

Moscow is a city that's notorious for its grand, overpowering architecture. Modernizing and humanizing it by enabling public access and convenience is no small task.

But that is what the $2 billion My Street project launched by Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is attempting to do.

And depending on who you ask, the massive remaking is either a magical transformation that shows this glorious, ancient city arising Cinderella-like from its Soviet-era rags, or else it's an endless source of dust, noise, and traffic snarls, as well as a giant trough of public funds for greedy officials and construction magnates to wallow in. (And in Russia's far-flung provinces, you will only hear complaints about the exorbitant

Remaking the cityPolitical implications‘Same country in a different way’