In pictures | Strategic object: Baku’s years of transformation

In a four year project, Chloe Borkett captured images of Baku’s metamorphosis in the 2010s from a different angle.

In pictures | Strategic object: Baku’s years of transformation

23 July 2020

Since the 19th century, Azerbaijan’s wealth has come from oil. Baku, its oil-pumping epicentre, curls around the Caspian Sea and has become a focal point for those following apparent dreams of prosperity, drawing over half the population, five out of nine million people, into the city.

Since the second oil boom of 2005, Azerbaijan’s ever-expanding capital has continued its rapid transformation.

2017: The Qaradagh Quarry is where much of the stone used in the renovation of Baku was mined.
2015: A man builds a wall. Large walls are a common sight in Baku, often serving no other purpose than to block out less 'pleasant' sights, such as the more dilapidated housing of the poor or areas under construction.
2014: Yasamal, a working-class district in north Baku. Many residents arrived from the countryside after independence, yet others are internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh living in disused schools and dormitories.
2016: East of Baku, a vast barren city suburb wends it way down to a sliver of land 19 kilometres long. An area that was the first in the region to drill for oil and remains the sole domain of the state-run oil pumping company SOCAR. The peninsula is also used as a departure point for oil workers to ferry to off-shore platforms.

As the sun breaks, the dawn light outlines the city’s newly newbuilt skyline of shiny skyscrapers, hotels, and shopping malls. Traces of old Soviet city planning are dwarfed against mushrooming luxury apartments, commercial centres and renovated cultural sites – a playground for the Bakuvian elite and foreign oil workers alike. It’s impressive and has all the trappings of any modern metropolis.

2016: A couple sits in an old Lada while Port Baku, a luxury shopping area is visible behind them; directly situated next to White City, an upmarket housing development. Its prices remain unattainable to most Bakuvians.
2015: Baku Olympic Stadium in Baku's Koroglu district stand behind snaking oil pipelines. Koroglu has undergone extensive remodelling which began in earnest in 2014 in preparation for the European Games held in the summer of 2015. Seen by critics as a costly public relations move to promote Azerbaijan. The showpiece stadium, an immense, white circular structure which at night flashes the colours of the Azerbaijani flag has, for some, become a symbol of misspent public funds.

Remodelled public spaces offer the appearance of prosperous globalisation. But despite the glitz, the country is deeply unequal and behind the billboards and sandstone walls many struggle to get by.

2017: The homes of internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh are illegally tapped into the city's electrical grid by a tangle of wires.

The homes are directly behind Heydar Aliyev Mosque, the largest mosque in the South Caucasus. — 2017: The homes of internally displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh are illegally tapped into the city's electrical grid by a tangle of wires. The homes are directly behind Heydar Aliyev Mosque, the largest mosque in the South Caucasus.

2017: Balakhani, Northeast Baku.
2016: Sabayil is another residential neighbourhood that has undergone significant redevelopment. Once home to a sprawling oil field and workers community, redevelopments made way for the second-largest flagpole in the world and the Crystal Palace (used for the Eurovision song contest in 2012). Demolition continued in earnest in 2014 to make way for an aquatic centre and luxury apartments for use during the European Games. Further works extended the Bulvar to create one of the longest promenades in the world (15km) which more recently houses an oil museum, art centre and restaurants.

I arrived in Baku in December 2013 and have witnessed the steady demarcation of the city. Colossal four-meter high sandstone-coloured walls run the length of every major highway in and out of the city. The central boulevards and avenues are lined with lavish Parisian-style buildings punctuated with contemporary glass skyscrapers that puncture the skyline.

2017: New street lights lie on the ground in front of a translucent cover that depicts a park – Sabayil, west-central Baku.

The city’s soviet past and its poorer residents are hidden behind facades as buildings are covered in new cladding and large stretches of the city disappear behind low-grade photographic billboards and high fences.

The Bulvar area in downtown Baku, a promenade that hugs the Caspian sea, is now overlooked by the Flame Towers.
The trio of flame-shaped skyscrapers, built from 2007 to 2012 cost an estimated $350,000 million and feature high-powered LED lights that light up the Azerbaijani flag or dancing flames.

The city’s transformation and role as host to high-profile events also transformed the city. Such as the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, one of the most expensive in history, and the 2015 European Games which saw the demolition of entire neighbourhoods across the city to make way for roads, sporting arenas, and luxury apartments.

2016: Balakhani, northeast Baku.
2015: Four-meter high sandstone-coloured walls run the length of every major highway in and out of Baku. Meanwhile, newly acquired plots or ‘grand prospects’ are watched over by security guards or made conspicuous by large stretches of low-grade photographic billboard coverings that celebrate the country’s trophies – in this case, two icons of Baku: the Maiden Tower and nearby fountains.
2014: Labourers at work building a road connecting Baku to Heydar Aliyev International Airport.

The games’ main events were held in the newly constructed Baku Olympic Stadium, the biggest stadium in the country.

2014: Sovietski was a historical residential area located in the heart of Baku. The homes of the neighbourhood's residents were demolished to make way for a new park and road.
2015: A fatal fire tore through a Baku apartment block on 19th May 2015, just weeks before the European Games. Spreading quickly due to the use of highly flammable cladding, sparking public outrage. The authorities claimed only just over eight hundred buildings were covered in such cladding. In the weeks following the tragedy, all over Baku city workers were busy removing the cladding and painting everything sandstone so as to keep a uniform look to the other buildings in the city.
2014: A poster depicting a scenic natural scene still hangs on the wall of a demolished home. – Sovietski, central Baku.
2015: A solitary tree emerges from behind plastic-covered fencing – Koroglu district, northeast Baku.
2016: Before the oil price crashed in 2015 and then the devaluation of the Manat in 2016 a multi-billion dollar - artificial island project was in the works. The forty-one islands of Khazar promised a lavish mini-city comprising: schools, hospitals, a university, an airport, numerous malls, parks and cultural centres along with a mini Formula One race track. The economic crisis halted the project with only the erection of a statue of ex-President Heydar Aliyev along with a few waterfront homes completed.