The Upper Town, colloquially "the Upper Part" of Nizhny Novgorod — the main part of Nizhny Novgorod, situated on the high banks of the Oka and the Volga River, separated from the western part by the Oka River. It is home to the administrative center and the Historic Center. Administratively, it is divided into the Nizhegorodsky District, Sovetsky District, and Prioksky District Districts.
The essence of the phenomenon
The Upper Town is a typical city of the middle and lower Volga Region: situated on a high riverbank, whose steep bluffs are home to the main recreational areas for the city's residents.
The area contains the majority of the city's cultural and educational institutions, a business center, a service sector that is reasonably well developed by Russian standards, and the organs of administrative authority.
The historic architectural character of the Upper Town is defined by its distinctive low-rise wood-and-stone streetscapes, largely formed in the 19th century. There are individual architectural monuments dating from the 15th–18th centuries, as well as from the early 20th century. The greater part of the historic low-rise development is to be demolished pursuant to a plan drawn up by the Moscow-based GIPRONII institute. The Soviet-era and post-Soviet buildings of the Upper Town are unremarkable and represent no significant architectural value.