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The Ultimate Guide to Family Planning: Key Questions Answered

Rosemary K. is a writer and mother of two who has studied theology and psychology. Having been in an abusive marriage for twenty-one years, she is now free to share what... Read more

In This Article

“So when are you planning to start a family? 

This is a common question that a young couple or newlyweds will be asked when they have been married for some time without having a child.

And indeed this is an important question to consider if you are planning to have children, as the implications of having a family are undoubtedly far reaching.

The most apt family planning definition is to control the number of children you have, and the timing and intervals between their births, by means of using contraceptives or voluntary sterilization.

Nowadays there are many options available and it may be a daunting prospect to try and determine what might work best in your particular situation.

Or perhaps you have some doubts and family planning questions as to the safety of certain methods, or about the whole subject of family planning after marriage.

Knowing the right questions to ask about family planning or questions about family planning methods is a must for couples who are entertaining the idea of starting a family. The best family planning advice would not only answer your questions but would also help you identify new ones.

As a couple if you are seeking help in trying to find answers to certain family planning questions like how family planning works? What are the best family planning tips? What are the best family planning methods? What should be your primary family planning considerations?

This article will seek to lay some of those doubts and fears to rest as we discuss the most frequently asked family planning questions, as well as some not so frequently asked questions, on the topic of family planning, as follows:

• Why is family planning important?
• What are the advantages of family planning?
• What are the disadvantages of family planning?
• What are some different types of family planning?
• What are some of the traditional methods of family planning?
• How does natural family planning work ?
• What does sterilization involve?
• How effective are the different types of family planning?
• How does my health affect the family planning method I chose?
• What are the health benefits of oral contraceptives?
• What factors should I consider when choosing a contraceptive method?
• If I get pregnant while using a hormonal contraceptive, will it harm my baby?
• How long will I take to get pregnant after I stop using the pill or injection?
• How will we know when we are ready to start a family?

These family planning questions would most certainly be able to satisfy most of you queries and prepare you for what lies ahead.

1. Why is family planning important?

It is important for every sexually active adult to consider and discuss family planning, or birth control issues . This is not only for the purpose of preventing unwanted pregnancies , but also to plan the timing of conception for wanted pregnancies.

In this way, you can attempt to plan for every baby. The spacing between siblings is also important and can be regulated through appropriate planning.

In bygone eras, birth control options were severely limited, and couples could expect to keep on conceiving children throughout their fertile years, possibly up to twelve or even fifteen pregnancies!

However, now that there have been such advances in this area, the importance of family planning is that it gives couples the opportunity to exercise their responsibility and choices in this significant area of their life.

2. What are the advantages of family planning?

When you plan your family carefully, taking into consideration how many children you would like and how far apart you would like them to be, there are definite advantages. Firstly, there are health benefits for both mother and child.

If children are spaced at least two or more years apart, this gives the mother’s body time to recover before going through another pregnancy, and she is better able to care for each individual child in their early months.

Secondly, there are economic benefits when you can plan to have only as many children as you know you will be able to provide for adequately.

Thirdly, through wise family planning you can have your children while you are still in your twenties or early thirties, thereby reducing the health risks involved in having a pregnancy after the age of thirty-five.

3. What are the disadvantages of family planning?

Some of the key family planning questions revolve around the  disadvantages of family planning. Depending on what method of family planning you use, there may be a few disadvantages to take into consideration where so called side effects are concerned.

This is especially true when using hormonal birth control such as the contraceptive pills or injections, implants, patches or vaginal rings. Although many women use these methods happily with no ill effects at all, for some women there may be some noticeable complications or adverse reactions.

The most common of these may include weight gain, dizziness, nausea and headaches. In more serious cases, which rarely occur, there may be strokes, blood clots or ectopic pregnancies.

After reading that, you may be thinking that the best option is the natural family planning method (more on that later). It is true that this method gives no side effects, but bear in mind that it is only about 75% effective, so you would have at least a 25% chance of having an “unplanned” pregnancy.

4. What are some different types of family planning?

There is a wide variety of family planning options available. These can be broadly divided into the following categories:

• Barrier methods:  As the name suggests, this method basically involves creating a barrier to prevent the sperm from reaching the egg. This can be done by using male or female condoms, spermicidal substances, diaphragms, cervical caps or sponges.
• Hormonal methods: Hormonal birth control includes the use of oral contraceptives (the pill) or injections, as well as vaginal rings and patches. These may include two hormones, namely estrogen and progestin, or only progestin.
• Intrauterine devices: These are generally referred to as IUD’s. This method involves placing a birth control device into the woman’s uterus. One option is the Copper T (ParaGard) which does not contain hormones and can last for ten years or more. Another option is the LNG-IUS (Mirena) which releases a synthetic female hormone and lasts up to five years.
• Natural methods: This method is sometimes called the rhythm method, and it involves the woman taking careful note and monitoring her menstrual cycle, and refraining from having sexual intercourse on the days of the month when she would be most likely to conceive.
• Permanent methods: If you feel that your family is complete and you would like a permanent option to prevent any further pregnancies, then you may need to consider having sterilization surgery. For women this would mean having a tubal ligation, and for men, a vasectomy.

5. What are some of the traditional methods of family planning?

By now you may be wondering, what on earth did they do in the olden days before all these modern methods were discovered? Surely family planning is an age-old concern, and our forefathers and mothers must have had their own ideas and methods.

By 1873 condoms and diaphragms had become available, but before that the main methods of family planning were:

• withdrawal (coitus interruptus), or 
• infanticide (killing babies at birth)

Attempted and failed abortions were also prevalent and posed a serious health risk to mothers.

Prolonged breastfeeding was a method in some cases whereby the mother was able to prevent or stall falling pregnant again while she was still breastfeeding.

The natural method, also known as the calendar method or the rhythm method would have been the most widely used traditional attempt at family planning.

6. How does natural family planning work?

Although natural family planning was used in the past, these days with all the research that has taken place, we have much more knowledge and technology at our disposal to make this a more viable and effective method than it was for our predecessors.

Natural family planning (NFP) refers to any method of contraception in which pregnancy is prevented by not having sexual intercourse on the particular days when the woman is fertile and conception is most likely. 

A careful study is made of the woman’s menstruation and ovulation patterns in order to determine when she may or may not fall pregnant. Although this can be done at home, it is best to enlist the help of your doctor or clinician.

There are six variations of the natural family planning method, as follows:

•   Symptothermal: This method requires the woman to take her basal body temperature every morning with a special thermometer called a basal thermometer which is highly accurate, up to a few hundredths of a degree. 

A slight increase in temperature will indicate the end of a fertile period, as well as other bodily functions which need to be carefully observed, such as the cervical position, mucus consistency and moods.

• Calendar-Rhythm: This is the most traditional method and works best with women who have very regular menstrual cycles. It is based on the assumptions that ovulation occurs fourteen days before menstruation begins, that the ovulated egg can live for up to twenty four hours, and that sperm can live for up to three days.

Using these three assumptions, one can count fourteen days from the first day of the menstrual period to determine when ovulation should next take place, and then avoid having intercourse around that time.

• Standard Days Method: The Standard Days Method (SDM) is similar to the calendar-rhythm method in that it involves counting off the days of the cycle and works best for those who have a very regular cycle of between 26 and 32 days long.

A ring of color-coded beads (CycleBeads) is used, with the different colors indicating which the fertile and infertile days are.

• Ovulation-Mucus: When using this method, a woman needs to observe and record her natural fertility signs as indicated by the different kinds of mucus secreted by the cervix. 

With practice and the help of a certified natural family planning instructor, a woman can soon learn to recognize her most fertile days when sexual intercourse should be avoided if she does not want to become pregnant.

• Fertility Computers: A fertility computer or a fertility monitor is a little handheld device which can be used to predict a woman’s fertility. There are different types of devices; some which measure the basal temperature, and some which measure the hormones present in the urine. 

The device will then indicate whether or not a pregnancy may be likely to result on that particular day.

• Lactational Amenorrhea Method: This method, also referred to as LAM is when breastfeeding is used to prevent pregnancy. The reason this works is that while a mother is breastfeeding, hormones are generated in her body which suppress ovulation, temporarily causing the reproductive system to remain inactive. 

This is especially true within the first six months after a baby is born, if the mother is fully breastfeeding and not giving the baby anything else besides breast milk.

7. What does sterilization involve?

Perhaps you already have one or two children and you feel your family is complete. You may have been using one or other method of contraception , and now you are considering a more permanent family planning solution.

Basically there are two options, one for men and one for women, which involve minor surgery and will result in permanent sterilization.

• Tubal Ligation: For females, this kind of surgery involves cutting, clipping or cauterizing the Fallopian tubes which are attached to the uterus. It is 99% effective and does not stop a woman’s menstrual cycle from occurring.
• Vasectomy: For males, having a vasectomy means that the vas deferens (or tubes) from each testicle are cut and sealed, thus preventing sperm from mixing with the semen which is ejaculated. It is considered 99% effective and does not in any way affect the man’s sexuality.

8. How effective are the different types of family planning?

Different types of family planning would have different rates of effectiveness, with some being more reliable and effective than others. Besides the actual method used, the commitment of the user also plays a vital role in its effectiveness.

If it is consistently and properly used, a better result can be expected. According to various studies and statistics, the following is a general guideline as to the effectiveness of the different types of family planning:

• Surgical sterilization: 99% effective
• Hormonal implants, IUD’s, and hormonal injections: 97% effective
• The pill and the ring: 92% effective
• Condoms, diaphragms, sponges: From 68% – 85% effective
• Natural Family Planning: 75% effective

9. How does my health affect the family planning method I chose?

Another factor which may influence the effectiveness of the family planning method you chose is the condition of your health at that time. For example, if you are using a contraceptive pill and you need to take antibiotics, it is important that your doctor knows you are on the pill.

Certain types of antibiotic can prevent the pill from working properly. It is best to use other birth control precautions (such as condoms) while taking antibiotics and for a week after finishing the course.

If you are a smoker and you are taking a contraceptive pill, you may have an increased risk of developing blood clots.

10. What are the health benefits of oral contraceptives?

When used effectively, oral contraceptives (ie. the pill) may in fact have some beneficial effects on your health. Certain types of birth control pills may help to clear up acne, as well as regulating the menstrual period.

For women who have suffered from heavy and painful periods, the pill can be an absolute blessing, as periods now become lighter, with hardly any cramps or other premenstrual symptoms. According to some studies, regular use of oral contraceptives can reduce the risk of ovarian cysts.

11. What factors should I consider when choosing a contraceptive method?

Probably the first factor you should take into consideration when deciding what kind of contraceptive method to use is your lifestyle. If you have an extremely active or erratic lifestyle, then you may not want to be tied down to taking your pill at a specific and regular time every day.

Similarly, the natural method of carefully observing your body signs and taking regular temperatures may become too burdensome to maintain in a busy lifestyle. Think about how important it is to you whether or not you may have an unplanned pregnancy.

Look into the side effects you may experience, and how long you want to use contraception before starting your family. The financial costs may also be a consideration, and whether or not your health insurance would cover your doctor’s appointments.

12. If I get pregnant while using a hormonal contraceptive, will it harm my baby?

If you are using a hormonal contraceptive such as the pill, you may well be wondering what would happen if you were to fall pregnant despite your precautions.

For the pill as well as the patch and vaginal ring, there would be no harm to the baby, as long as you discontinue use as soon as the pregnancy is discovered.

If you are using a three-month contraceptive injection, such as Depo-Provera, and you happen to become pregnant one or two months after having the injection, there may be some effects to the baby.

These may include a low birth weight and other health concerns. Before receiving this injection it is important to have a pregnancy test to confirm that you are not pregnant.

13. How long will I take to get pregnant after I stop using the pill or injection?

When you decide to stop using the pill, you should first complete the cycle that you are currently using. It may take from one to three months for your body to resume its own hormonal cycle and to begin ovulating and menstruating normally.

You may wish to ask your doctor or clinician for a pre-pregnancy check up and a course of prenatal vitamins.

If you have been taking a three-month contraceptive injection (Depo-Provera) it can stay in your system for anything from six to eighteen months after your last shot. This may mean that you have irregular ovulation and menstruation, but it may still be possible to conceive within that time.

If you want to fall pregnant within the next year, you may consider going off the injection and using a shorter acting method of birth control in the meantime such as the pill, the diaphragm, condoms or spermicides.

14. How will we know when we are ready to start a family?

Coming back to the question we started out with: “So when are you planning to start a family?”

This may not be a simple question to answer, depending on your circumstances and your thoughts and feelings. As a young (or not so young) married couple you may be feeling all kinds of pressure from conflicting directions:

• Perhaps prospective grandparents are giving not so subtle hints about their longings for a grandchild.
• Maybe your career is doing so well that you just can’t imagine taking time off for a family.
• And then of course there’s the ticking of the biological clock which reminds you that you’re not getting any younger.

And what about the costs involved?

Before taking the momentous decision to start a family, you need to weigh up all these factors and more.

Using these family planning questions ask yourself whether both you and your spouse are ready for the full-time commitment that a child requires and deserves, not only physically and financially, but also emotionally and spiritually.

Have you thought about whether there are twins in either of your families, and you might end up with two babies instead of one?

If there is any genetic condition in your family which may be passed down, you would need to get some professional advice on the possible implications of this should you start a family.

Even when you have decided that “now is the time” and you are both excited and eager to forge ahead, bear in mind that it may just take longer than you expected to fall pregnant. Be patient and be prepared for the long haul.

Read up all you can and get the knowledge and information you need to be as prepared as possible.

Then one day, when and if you do find yourself holding a precious little bundle of life in your arms, enjoy every minute of it, and remember to be thankful and savor the immense privilege of parenthood.

It is always a good practice to keep reviewing such family planning questions to ensure that you do not miss out on anything important.

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Rosemary K. is a writer and mother of two who has studied theology and psychology. Having been in an abusive marriage for twenty-one years, she is now free to share what Read more she has learned and is still learning. Read less

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90+ Family Planning essay topic ideas and examples

• Carla Johnson
• May 17, 2023
• Nursing Care Plan , Nursing Topics and Ideas

Family planning is a crucial aspect of reproductive health that enables individuals and couples to make informed decisions about when to have children and how many children to have. It is an important issue that impacts individuals, families, and communities worldwide. Ensuring access to family planning services and education is essential for promoting gender equality, reducing poverty, and improving maternal and child health outcomes.

In this post, we will explore various essay topic ideas related to family planning. We will discuss the importance of family planning, the challenges faced in implementing family planning programs, and the impact of family planning on maternal and child health. Additionally, we will highlight examples of successful family planning programs and policies from around the world. 

Family planning is important for a variety of reasons. It enables individuals and couples to make informed decisions about their reproductive health and to plan their families according to their personal goals and circumstances. This can have a significant impact on maternal and child health outcomes, reducing the risk of unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and maternal and infant mortality.

According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 214 million women in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy are not using modern contraception, leading to approximately 89 million unintended pregnancies each year. Lack of access to family planning services and education also contributes to poverty and gender inequality, as women who cannot control their fertility may be less likely to participate in the workforce or pursue educational opportunities.

Ensuring access to family planning services and education is not only a matter of reproductive health, but also a matter of social justice and human rights. By promoting access to family planning, we can support the health and well-being of individuals, families, and communities worldwide.

Family planning Essay Topics/Ideas

• The importance of family planning in achieving gender equality.
• The impact of family planning on maternal and child health outcomes.
• The role of family planning in reducing poverty and promoting economic development.
• The challenges of implementing family planning programs in low-resource settings.
• The ethical considerations of family planning and reproductive rights .
• The impact of cultural and religious beliefs on family planning practices.
• The effectiveness of different types of contraception in preventing unintended pregnancies.
• The impact of family planning on population growth and sustainable development.
• The impact of family planning on mental health and well-being.
• The impact of family planning on education and workforce participation.
• The role of men in family planning and promoting gender equality.
• The impact of family planning on maternal mortality and morbidity.
• The importance of comprehensive sex education in promoting family planning.
• The impact of access to family planning on infant and child health outcomes.
• The role of healthcare providers in promoting family planning.
• The impact of family planning on the environment and climate change.
• The role of government policies and funding in promoting family planning.
• The impact of family planning on social and economic inequality.
• The impact of family planning on adolescent health outcomes.
• The effectiveness of family planning programs in reducing unintended pregnancies and improving maternal and child health outcomes.
• The impact of family planning on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
• The impact of family planning on the global burden of disease.
• The impact of family planning on maternal and child nutrition.
• The role of technology in promoting access to family planning services.
• The impact of family planning on women’s empowerment and decision-making.
• The effectiveness of community-based family planning programs.
• The impact of family planning on family dynamics and relationships.
• The impact of family planning on breastfeeding outcomes.
• The role of advocacy and education in promoting access to family planning services.
• The impact of family planning on child and maternal health in humanitarian settings.

20 +Controversial Family planning Essay Topics

• The ethics of forced sterilization and its impact on reproductive rights.
• The impact of religious beliefs on access to family planning services.
• The effectiveness of abstinence-only sex education programs in promoting family planning.
• The impact of political interference on access to family planning services.
• The role of the pharmaceutical industry in promoting certain types of contraception.
• The impact of the global gag rule on access to family planning services.
• The ethics of providing family planning services to minors without parental consent.
• The impact of misinformation and stigma on access to family planning services.
• The effectiveness of natural family planning methods in preventing unintended pregnancies.
• The ethics of surrogacy and its impact on reproductive rights.
• The impact of poverty on access to family planning services.
• The role of religion in shaping attitudes towards family planning.
• The effectiveness of male contraception in promoting family planning.
• The ethics of genetic engineering and its impact on family planning .
• The impact of cultural beliefs on access to family planning services.
• The role of the media in shaping attitudes towards family planning.
• The impact of immigration policies on access to family planning services.
• The ethics of using contraception for non-family planning purposes.
• The impact of social norms on access to family planning services.
• The effectiveness of family planning programs in reducing economic inequality .

20+Current Family Planning Essay Topics

• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to family planning services.
• The effectiveness of telemedicine in promoting access to family planning services.
• The impact of the Trump administration’s changes to Title X on access to family planning services.
• The role of community health workers in promoting family planning in low-resource settings.
• The impact of climate change on access to family planning services.
• The impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on reproductive justice and family planning.
• The effectiveness of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) in preventing unintended pregnancies.
• The impact of the MeToo movement on attitudes towards family planning and reproductive rights.
• The role of social media in promoting family planning education and access.
• The impact of the Affordable Care Act on access to family planning services.
• The role of men in promoting family planning and reproductive rights.
• The impact of the gut microbiome on fertility and family planning.
• The effectiveness of mobile health interventions in promoting family planning.
• The impact of cultural competency training on improving access to family planning services for marginalized communities.
• The role of faith-based organizations in promoting family planning and reproductive rights.
• The impact of the opioid epidemic on unintended pregnancies and access to family planning services.
• The effectiveness of peer-to-peer interventions in promoting family planning.
• The impact of the gig economy on access to family planning services.
• The role of midwives in promoting family planning and improving maternal and child health outcomes.
• The impact of the #MeToo movement on contraception and reproductive autonomy.

30 Family Planning Research Questions

• What are the most effective family planning interventions for reducing unintended pregnancies?
• What is the impact of family planning on maternal and child health outcomes in low-resource settings?
• How does access to family planning services vary by income, race, and geographic location?
• What is the impact of cultural beliefs and practices on family planning practices?
• How does family planning education impact contraceptive use and pregnancy outcomes?
• What is the role of men in family planning decision-making and education?
• How does lack of access to family planning services impact women’s economic and educational opportunities?
• What is the impact of religious beliefs on access to family planning services and education?
• How does the global gag rule impact access to family planning services in low-resource settings?
• What is the impact of political interference on access to family planning services?
• How does the COVID-19 pandemic impact access to family planning services?
• What are the most effective strategies for promoting family planning in humanitarian settings?
• How does family planning impact maternal mortality and morbidity rates?
• What is the impact of the gut microbiome on fertility and family planning?
• What are the most effective strategies for promoting male involvement in family planning?
• How does access to family planning services impact infant and child health outcomes?
• What is the impact of social norms and stigma on access to family planning services?
• What are the most effective strategies for promoting family planning in adolescent populations ?
• How does family planning impact gender equality and women’s empowerment?
• What is the impact of natural family planning methods on unintended pregnancy rates?
• How do healthcare providers’ attitudes and beliefs impact access to family planning services?
• How does the affordability and availability of contraception impact contraceptive use and pregnancy outcomes?
• What is the impact of the opioid epidemic on access to family planning services?
• How does access to family planning services impact mental health outcomes?
• What is the impact of the MeToo movement on attitudes towards family planning and reproductive rights?
• How does access to family planning services impact breastfeeding outcomes?
• How does family planning impact social and economic inequality?
• What is the impact of community-based family planning programs on reducing unintended pregnancies?
• How does access to family planning services impact HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment outcomes?
• What is the impact of family planning on the global burden of disease?

What is family planning?

Family planning refers to the practice of controlling the number and spacing of children through the use of contraception and other methods.

Why is family planning important?

Family planning is important for promoting reproductive health , reducing unintended pregnancies, improving maternal and child health outcomes, and promoting gender equality.

What are some common methods of contraception?

Common methods of contraception include hormonal methods (such as birth control pills and hormonal IUDs), barrier methods (such as condoms and diaphragms), and long-acting reversible methods (such as the implant and the copper IUD).

Is family planning only for women?

No, family planning is important for both men and women. Men can use condoms or get vasectomies to prevent unintended pregnancies.

Do family planning services include abortion?

Family planning services may include counseling and referrals for abortion services, but not all family planning providers offer abortion services .

Can family planning services be accessed without insurance?

Yes, family planning services can be accessed at many clinics and health centers, some of which offer services on a sliding fee scale or for free.

In conclusion, family planning is a critical aspect of reproductive health that impacts individuals, families, and communities worldwide. Ensuring access to family planning services and education is essential for promoting gender equality, reducing poverty, and improving maternal and child health outcomes.

Through exploring research questions, essay topics, and frequently asked questions related to family planning, we can gain a deeper understanding of the complex and evolving landscape of this important public health issue . These topics highlight the challenges and opportunities that exist in promoting access to family planning services and education, and offer insights into the many factors that impact individuals’ and communities’ reproductive health decisions.

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Family planning/contraception methods

• Among the 1.9 billion women of reproductive age group (15–49 years) worldwide in 2021, 1.1 billion have a need for family planning; of these, 874 million are using modern contraceptive methods, and 164 million have an unmet need for contraception (1) .
• The proportion of the need for family planning satisfied by modern methods, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicator 3.7.1, has stagnated globally at around 77% from 2015 to 2022 but increased from 52% to 58% in sub-Saharan Africa (2) .
• Only one contraceptive method, condoms, can prevent both a pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
• Use of contraception advances the human right of people to determine the number and spacing of their children.
• In 2022, global contraceptive prevalence of any method was estimated at 65% and of modern methods at 58.7% for married or in a union women (3) .

There are many different types of contraception, but not all types are appropriate for all situations. The most appropriate method of birth control depends on an individual’s overall health, age, frequency of sexual activity, number of sexual partners, desire to have children in the future, and family history of certain diseases. Ensuring access for all people to their preferred contraceptive methods advances several human rights including the right to life and liberty, freedom of opinion, expression and choice and the right to work and education, as well as bringing significant health and other benefits.

Use of contraception prevents pregnancy-related health risks for women, especially for adolescent girls, and when expressed in terms of interbirth intervals, children born within 2 years of an elder sibling have a 60% increased risk of infant death, and those born within 2–3 years a 10% increased risk, compared with those born after an interval of 3 years or longer (4) . It offers a range of potential non-health benefits that encompass expanded education opportunities and empowerment for women, and sustainable population growth and economic development for countries.

The number of women desiring to use family planning has increased markedly over the past two decades, from 900 million in 2000 to nearly 1.1 billion in 2021 (1) .

Between 2000 and 2020, the number of women using a modern contraceptive method increased from 663 million to 851 million. An additional 70 million women are projected to be added by 2030. Between 2000 and 2020, the contraceptive prevalence rate (percentage of women aged 15–49 who use any contraceptive method) increased from 47.7 to 49.0% (5) .

The proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15–49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods (SDG indicator 3.7.1) is 77.5% globally in 2022, a 10% increase since 1990 (67%) (2) .

The proportion of women of reproductive age (aged 15–49 years) who have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods (SDG indicator 3.7.1) is 77.5% globally in 2022, an increase of 10 percentage points since 1990 (67%) (2) . Reasons for this slow increase include limited choice of methods; limited access to services, particularly among young, poorer and unmarried people; fear or experience of side-effects; cultural or religious opposition; poor quality of available services; users’ and providers’ bias against some methods; and gender-based barriers to accessing services. As these barriers are addressed in some regions there have been increases in demand satisfied with modern methods of contraception.

Contraceptive methods

Methods of contraception include oral contraceptive pills, implants, injectables, patches, vaginal rings, intra uterine devices, condoms, male and female sterilization, lactational amenorrhea methods, withdrawal and fertility awareness-based methods. These methods have different mechanisms of action and effectiveness in preventing unintended pregnancy. Effectiveness of methods is measured by the number of pregnancies per 100 women using the method per year. Methods are classified by their effectiveness as commonly used into:

• very effective (0–0.9 pregnancies per 100 women)
• effective (1–9 pregnancies per 100 women)
• moderately effective (10–19 pregnancies per 100 women)
• less effective (20 or more pregnancies per 100 women).

For details on the mechanism of action and effectiveness of different contraceptive methods, click here .

WHO response

Achieving universal access and the realization of sexual and reproductive health services will be essential to fulfil the pledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that “no one will be left behind”. It will require intensified support for contraceptive services, including through the implementation of effective government policies and programmes.

WHO is working to promote contraception by producing evidence-based guidelines on safety and service delivery of contraceptive methods and on ensuring human rights in contraceptive programmes. WHO assists countries to adapt and implement these tools to strengthen contraceptive policies and programmes. Additionally, WHO participates in developing new contraceptive technologies to and leads and conducts implementation research for expanding access to and strengthening delivery contraceptive information and services .

1.  United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). World Family Planning 2022: Meeting the changing needs for family planning: Contraceptive use by age and method. UN DESA/POP/2022/TR/NO. 4 ( https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/files/documents/2023/Feb/undesa_pd_2022_world-family-planning.pdf ).

2.  United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2022). Estimates and Projections of Family Planning Indicators 2022.

3.  United Nations Population Division: www.population.un.org/dataportal/home ( https://population.un.org/dataportal/home . Accessed May 17, 2023).

4.  Cleland J, Conde-Agudelo A, Peterson H, Ross J, Tsui A. Contraception and health. Lancet. 2012;380(9837):149-156. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60609-6

5.  United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2020). World Family Planning 2020 Highlights: Accelerating action to ensure universal access to family planning (ST/ESA/SER.A/450).

• Contraception
• Mechanism of action and effectiveness of different contraceptive methods

Essays on Family Planning

Essay about Family: What It Is and How to Nail It

Humans naturally seek belonging within families, finding comfort in knowing someone always cares. Yet, families can also stir up insecurities and mental health struggles.

Family dynamics continue to intrigue researchers across different fields. Every year, new studies explore how these relationships shape our minds and emotions.

In this article, our dissertation service will guide you through writing a family essay. You can also dive into our list of topics for inspiration and explore some standout examples to spark your creativity.

What is Family Essay

A family essay takes a close look at the bonds and experiences within families. It's a common academic assignment, especially in subjects like sociology, psychology, and literature.

So, what's involved exactly? Simply put, it's an exploration of what family signifies to you. You might reflect on cherished family memories or contemplate the portrayal of families in various media.

What sets a family essay apart is its personal touch. It allows you to express your own thoughts and experiences. Moreover, it's versatile – you can analyze family dynamics, reminisce about family customs, or explore other facets of familial life.

If you're feeling uncertain about how to write an essay about family, don't worry; you can explore different perspectives and select topics that resonate with various aspects of family life.

Tips For Writing An Essay On Family Topics

A family essay typically follows a free-form style, unless specified otherwise, and adheres to the classic 5-paragraph structure. As you jot down your thoughts, aim to infuse your essay with inspiration and the essence of creative writing, unless your family essay topics lean towards complexity or science.

Here are some easy-to-follow tips from our essay service experts:

• Focus on a Specific Aspect: Instead of a broad overview, delve into a specific angle that piques your interest, such as exploring how birth order influences sibling dynamics or examining the evolving role of grandparents in modern families.
• Share Personal Anecdotes: Start your family essay introduction with a personal touch by sharing stories from your own experiences. Whether it's about a favorite tradition, a special trip, or a tough time, these stories make your writing more interesting.
• Use Real-life Examples: Illustrate your points with concrete examples or anecdotes. Draw from sources like movies, books, historical events, or personal interviews to bring your ideas to life.
• Explore Cultural Diversity: Consider the diverse array of family structures across different cultures. Compare traditional values, extended family systems, or the unique hurdles faced by multicultural families.
• Take a Stance: Engage with contentious topics such as homeschooling, reproductive technologies, or governmental policies impacting families. Ensure your arguments are supported by solid evidence.
• Delve into Psychology: Explore the psychological underpinnings of family dynamics, touching on concepts like attachment theory, childhood trauma, or patterns of dysfunction within families.
• Emphasize Positivity: Share uplifting stories of families overcoming adversity or discuss strategies for nurturing strong, supportive family bonds.
• Offer Practical Solutions: Wrap up your essay by proposing actionable solutions to common family challenges, such as fostering better communication, achieving work-life balance, or advocating for family-friendly policies.

Family Essay Topics

When it comes to writing, essay topics about family are often considered easier because we're intimately familiar with our own families. The more you understand about your family dynamics, traditions, and experiences, the clearer your ideas become.

If you're feeling uninspired or unsure of where to start, don't worry! Below, we have compiled a list of good family essay topics to help get your creative juices flowing. Whether you're assigned this type of essay or simply want to explore the topic, these suggestions from our history essay writer are tailored to spark your imagination and prompt meaningful reflection on different aspects of family life.

So, take a moment to peruse the list. Choose the essay topics about family that resonate most with you. Then, dive in and start exploring your family's stories, traditions, and connections through your writing.

• Supporting Family Through Tough Times
• Staying Connected with Relatives
• Empathy and Compassion in Family Life
• Strengthening Bonds Through Family Gatherings
• Quality Time with Family: How Vital Is It?
• Navigating Family Relationships Across Generations
• Learning Kindness and Generosity in a Large Family
• Communication in Healthy Family Dynamics
• Forgiveness in Family Conflict Resolution
• Building Trust Among Extended Family
• Defining Family in Today's World
• Understanding Nuclear Family: Various Views and Cultural Differences
• Understanding Family Dynamics: Relationships Within the Family Unit
• What Defines a Family Member?
• Modernizing the Nuclear Family Concept
• Exploring Shared Beliefs Among Family Members
• Evolution of the Concept of Family Love Over Time
• Examining Family Expectations
• Modern Standards and the Idea of an Ideal Family
• Life Experiences and Perceptions of Family Life
• Genetics and Extended Family Connections
• Utilizing Family Trees for Ancestral Links
• The Role of Younger Siblings in Family Dynamics
• Tracing Family History Through Oral Tradition and Genealogy
• Tracing Family Values Through Your Family Tree
• Exploring Your Elder Sister's Legacy in the Family Tree
• Connecting Daily Habits to Family History
• Documenting and Preserving Your Family's Legacy
• Navigating Online Records and DNA Testing for Family History
• Tradition as a Tool for Family Resilience
• Involving Family in Daily Life to Maintain Traditions
• Creating New Traditions for a Small Family
• The Role of Traditions in Family Happiness
• Family Recipes and Bonding at House Parties
• Quality Time: The Secret Tradition for Family Happiness
• The Joy of Cousins Visiting for Christmas
• Including Family in Birthday Celebrations
• Balancing Traditions and Unconditional Love
• Building Family Bonds Through Traditions

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Family Essay Example

For a better grasp of the essay on family, our team of skilled writers has crafted a great example. It looks into the subject matter, allowing you to explore and understand the intricacies involved in creating compelling family essays. So, check out our meticulously crafted sample to discover how to craft essays that are not only well-written but also thought-provoking and impactful.

Final Outlook

In wrapping up, let's remember: a family essay gives students a chance to showcase their academic skills and creativity by sharing personal stories. However, it's important to stick to academic standards when writing about these topics. We hope our list of topics sparked your creativity and got you on your way to a reflective journey. And if you hit a rough patch, you can just ask us to ' do my essay for me ' for top-notch results!

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FAQs on Writing an Essay about Family

Family essays seem like something school children could be assigned at elementary schools, but family is no less important than climate change for our society today, and therefore it is one of the most central research themes.

Below you will find a list of frequently asked questions on family-related topics. Before you conduct research, scroll through them and find out how to write an essay about your family.

How to Write an Essay About Your Family History?

How to write an essay about a family member, how to write an essay about family and roots, how to write an essay about the importance of family.

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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How Should I Go About Writing My Family Essay?: Examples and Tips

Family is an integral part of every individual's life. Delving into the intricate layers of family relationships and dynamics can yield a captivating essay. Here's a comprehensive guide with examples and tips to guide you through the process.

What Topics Should I Write About for My Family Essay?

Choosing the right topic is essential. Here are some suggestions:

Writing a Family Tree Dive into your roots! A family tree can be more than names and dates; it can narrate stories of ancestors, their challenges, achievements, and legacies. For instance, "When I looked into our family tree, I discovered that my great-grandfather was a sailor who traveled the world and had countless tales of adventures, some of which have become legendary bedtime stories in our family."

Describing My Family in My Essay Discuss each family member in detail. "My sister, with her fiery red hair and matching temper, is the exact opposite of my calm and analytical brother. Yet, when they come together, they create the most amazing music, with him on the piano and her singing."

Writing About a Personal Memory Share a poignant memory. "I remember the time when our cat, Whiskers, went missing. The entire family turned detectives overnight, searching for clues, putting up posters, and even setting up a 'cat trap' with her favorite treats. The adventure ended with Whiskers found sleeping peacefully in the neighbor's shed, unaware of the chaos she had caused."

Dos and Don’ts When Writing a Family Stories Essay

• Be authentic.
• Use vivid descriptions and dialogues.
• Respect privacy; ask permission if sharing personal details.
• Avoid making generalizations.
• Refrain from being overly negative or critical.
• Don't plagiarize; every family's story is unique.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is a good hook for an essay on my family? As Tolstoy once said, 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Our family, though, has found its unique shade of happiness.
• What should I include in an essay about me and my family? Descriptions of family members, memories, traditions, challenges, and lessons.
• How should I start an essay all about my family? Every time I think of the word 'home,' an image of our old cottage, Sunday dinners, and loud family debates comes to mind.
• How long should my essay about my family be? Length depends on the requirement; academic essays typically range from 500-1000 words, while personal essays can vary.
• How do I make my family essay engaging? Incorporate stories, memories, and emotions.
• Is it okay to discuss family challenges in my essay? Yes, but be sensitive and respectful.
• Can I add humor to my family essay? Yes, as long as it's in good taste.

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Family Planning Essays

Ivf & nfp: bioethics and family planning, pros and cons of birth control, the autonomy of family planning and male reproductive rights among latino men aged 20, sustainable development goals, popular essay topics.

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Responsible Parenthood: 18 Family Planning Methods You Should Know About

• September 18, 2020

Parenthood is an experience unlike any other. Anyone who is dreaming of building his/her own family someday should know that maintaining the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of the child will be one of his/her biggest responsibilities. Unfortunately, not all children can experience the privilege of growing up in an ideal family environment. Intimacy is vital for a couple, but unexpected pregnancies can severely affect relationships, bring about difficulties in a child’s upbringing, and cause various complications in the future. To steer clear of these consequences, family planning is crucial. Practice responsible parenthood to ensure the well-being of children. To help couples have a long, happy, and healthy family life, the guide below will discuss the different types of family planning methods.

It has been years since former President Benigno S. Aquino III signed the Reproductive Health (RH) Law. As of 2019, contraceptive use in the Philippines stands at  40% ,  which is still a long way to go from the government’s goal of 65% by 2020. To reach this milestone, health and medical professionals must educate the public about family planning and responsible parenthood.

Thanks to advancements in medical technology, people now have access to different types of family planning methods. However, most people are unaware of these innovations and unconsciously limit themselves to condoms, medication such as birth control pills, and risky measures like withdrawal.

At the same time, they are unaware of how to properly perform these methods and end up getting an unplanned pregnancy. 

For the road to parenthood to go smoothly, family planning is a must. The guide below will discuss 18 family planning methods available today.

1. Abstinence –  Pregnancy cannot happen without intercourse. Complete disengagement from all forms of sexual activity is the most straightforward measure of avoiding it. 

2. Birth Control Implant –  The birth control implant is administered by a health professional. The doctor will inject hormones called progestin into the arm of the woman to prevent pregnancy for a few years.

3. Birth Control Pills –  These are packs of hormone medication ingested by females daily. Available in pharmacies, these hormone-filled pills are designed to stop fertility.

4. Birth Control Patch –  It is a wearable contraceptive that contains estrogen and progestin. Once worn and absorbed by the body, the hormones thicken the mucus of the cervix to hinder ovulation.

5. Birth Control Shot –  A series of hormonal injections that prevent ovulation and thicken cervical mucus; these shots will only be effective if they are administered every three months.

6. Birth Control Sponge –  A soft plastic inserted inside the vagina before intercourse; the sponge covers the cervix and prevents the sperm from reaching the egg.

7. Birth Control Vaginal Ring –  It is a small flexible ring inserted inside the vagina that stops sperm cells from merging with an egg.

8. Breastfeeding –  Due to the secretion of specific hormones, women who are breastfeeding generally do not ovulate. Engaging in intercourse during this period  under certain conditions  will prevent unplanned pregnancies.

9. Cervical Cap –  It is a small and soft device made out of silicone inserted inside the vagina.

10. Diaphragm –  Similar to the cervical cap, the diaphragm is a cup-shaped device designed to cover the cervix.

11. Internal/Female Condom –  It is a soft and elastic pouch inserted inside the vagina that creates a barrier against sperm. The outer ring covers the vaginal opening.

12. Intrauterine Device (IUD) –  It is a tiny, T-shaped plastic device inserted in the uterus and is one of the most effective contraceptive methods. This device impairs the movement of sperm cells within the vaginal canal and prevents them from reaching the ovary.

13. Male Condom –  This thin, elastic, and stretchable cover is one of the most common and widely available contraceptives. This is worn on the penis during intercourse to prevent the sperm from meeting the egg.

14. Rhythm Method –  Also known as the calendar method, this requires couples to abstain from sexual activity during fertile periods of the female.

15. Spermicide –  It comes in the form of a gel or cream that is applied to the vagina before intercourse. Usually paired with other devices such as a cervical cap, this product contains properties that eliminate sperm.

16. Sterilization –  It is a surgical procedure performed on females that can temporarily or permanently close the fallopian tubes to prevent ovulation.

17. Vasectomy –  A surgical operation performed on males that cuts tubes inside the scrotum; this permanent contraception for men prevents sperm from leaving the body. ​ 18. Withdrawal –  It is the process of pulling out the penis from the vagina before ejaculation, preventing sperm from reaching the egg during intercourse.

Benefits of Family Planning

The main benefit of family planning is that it helps governments regulate the population of the country. By adding  sexual education  (sex ed) to the curriculum, teens can be taught early on about sexual responsibility and the consequences of unwanted pregnancy. While sex ed is taught in developed nations, developing countries have a lot of catching up to do.

Given that the Philippines is home to over  100 million  people, family planning is the best way to mitigate the consequences brought upon by overpopulation. Since sex ed in the country is limited, it is estimated that  200,000  out of 2 million births in the Philippines are from teenage pregnancies. To prevent this statistic from rising, spreading awareness is the key.

In a household setting, family planning can bring about many benefits. Bearing a child is a huge responsibility, and being financially unprepared can compromise the short- and long-term security and stability of the family. In terms of health, planning a partner’s pregnancy with the help of medical professionals will also help prevent health complications.

From an emotional standpoint, family planning can strengthen the bond of a couple. The journey of pregnancy to giving birth in a  delivery room  is no easy feat, and the process of raising a child may be one of the biggest tests in a couple’s relationship. Practicing responsible parenthood by planning together will undoubtedly fortify the union in the years to come. 

Practice Responsible Parenthood

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101 Family Relationships Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best family relationships topic ideas & essay examples, 🥇 most interesting family relationships topics to write about, 📌 simple & easy family relationships essay titles, ❓ research questions about family relationships.

• My Belief About Family Relationships I have chosen to discuss my belief about family relationships instead and how my father and family play an important role in shaping that belief. That is my belief in life and I know that […]
• Modern Families: Intimate and Personal Relationships Since Queen’s family lived in the United States and my family resided in England, this paper presents an integrated comparison of household aspects in the two countries.
• Conflict Communication in Family Relationships People in conflict have to be ready to analyze their situations and problems to achieve the goals and come to a certain conclusion.
• Counseling Interview in Family and Relationship Therapy My choice of questions for the interviewees on matters related to life, relationship and family will be designed as linear and systematic questions to aid in formulating an assessment.
• Family Types, Relationships and Dynamics In the case of a consanguine family, the relationship with the family is more absolute in that expenses, food, and other aspects related to living within the same “roof” are shared.
• Family Relationship Analysis with Use of Genogram When we look at John and Mary’s relationship, we see that they have a close and stable relationship, which may have influenced their children’s and grandchildren’s communication patterns.
• Family Relationships: Psychological Inquiry When parents exert excessive control on the lives their children, the ties that should exist in the family break and the victims develop hatred and aggression.
• Managing Interpersonal Relationships in Family Since there has been limited communication with my family, no person was aware of the project and the sensitivity of the compromised information.
• Relationship: Communication Between Family Members Undoubtedly, family is one of the essential elements in a society where the individual is considered in their “full measure,” and accordingly, in each family, there are unique and individual ways and methods of interaction.
• Home, Work, and Relationships in Modern Families The study found that parents were in one room without their children for less than 10% of the observed time. Another finding from the article was that 77% of families ate dinner together at least […]
• Platonic and Familial Relationships in Emerging Adulthood One of the main factors that can and should be used to resolve problems in platonic relationships is boundaries. The advice that can be given to young adults is that emotional connection and mutual support […]
• “Twisted” by Laurie Halse Anderson: Family Relationships As a result, Tyler wants to commit suicide he takes his father’s gun, and it may be regarded as a symbol of the boy’s wish to leave his father guilty for his death. However, in […]
• Family Relationship: Life-Span Development The majority of middle-aged individuals try to preserve a good connection with their families because they realize their parents are old and all they want is quality time.
• “Family Relationships in What It Means to Say Phoenix Arizona” by S. Alexie Victor’s father had died of a heart attack, and the journey to his funeral is at the center of the tale.
• Sociology of the Family: Love and Relationships Romantically entangled pair dates continuously, and the primary objective of this type of relationship, especially in college, is to provide company, and it is more of a necessity in high school.
• Family Relationship, Childhood Delinquency, Criminality In regard to the relationship between the effect of various factors involved in a child’s upbringing and the likelihood of becoming a criminal during adulthood, varied findings were made.
• Modality of Family Faith and Meanings and Relationships in Family Life The theme of this study is to investigate two broad categories of modalities of faith in family life: first, what they value or seek, and how they relate to God or to others and the […]
• Family Relationships in Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper Being the brain and the intellectual reason of the family, the husband wisely guides the ship of his matrimonial unit through all the possible mishaps and traps and takes the necessary precautions in order to […]
• Family Relationship: Lawrence and Joyce The revolt of Stephen Dedalus begins in Joyce’s The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with his rejection of the blind religious attitude found existing in his family.
• Family Relationships of an Anorexic Person The rest of the poem confused and inspired me as a reader because Smith, as well as millions of people around the globe, proved the impossibility to have one particular definition of anorexia in modern […]
• Stepfamily Relationships: The Blended Family Interview The third question concerned such appearances and the overall degree of the man’s attachment to the child. The sixth question was about the introduction itself and the child’s reception of it.
• Sociology of Family: Control and Violence in Relationships In the last type of intimate violence, situational couple violence, the individual might be violent, but the partner is not, even though the aspect of control is not present.
• Family Systems and Relationship Development With the advent of the concept of family systems, the importance of the family unit can now be approached from a different perspective.
• Family and Relationships: New Tendencies For instance, one of the apparent advantages of online dating is the lack of awkwardness peculiar to face-to-face communication, especially during first meetings. That is why more research is needed to conduct the in-depth investigation […]
• Family Relationships Role in the Business It seems that Barry Jr, as well as the other shareholders, failed to implement family talents and skills in an effective way.
• Family Relationships in Media and Theories Understanding the way in which relationships are built between family members, as well as learning about the nature of the connection between family members, is crucial to the identification of the existing issues and their […]
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• Chicago (A-D)
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200 Interesting and High-Scoring Family Essay Topics

An essay about family is written to emphasize the significance of creating a strong societal unit based on positive values in today’s world.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data indicates that approximately 27% of students in grades four through twelve demonstrate proficiency in writing skills.

They mostly struggle with choosing a topic, brainstorming ideas, and making final adjustments. Hence, finding unique family essay topics is a challenge that students could tackle with some strategies.

Table of Contents

The Challenges of Picking up Good Essay Titles About Family

It is often difficult for students to choose a good topic for an essay about family because of the following reasons:

• Family essay topics could be emotional and personal. Plus, it might be difficult for students to write about sensitive aspects of their life in the family. 
• It is hard to find a topic that aligns with all students. One topic could be interesting to some students but less relevant to others. 
• Of course, family structures are complex. Essays on such things might need students to simplify them without losing vital nuances can be very tricky. 
• Some students might refuse to share information about their families due to privacy concerns. Such could restrict them from having some good family essay topics.
• Some family norms vary across cultures. A topic may be acceptable in one cultural context and might not in the other. 

Writing a family essay was a tough and weird task at college. I remember the time when our teacher asked us to write a family essay. At first, I was a bit confused about how I could share my family life with someone. 

But then I realized that it would be fine for me to share some aspects that are well beyond the privacy boundary. So I went on to research different family issues and tried linking them with my family to ascertain if I could come up with any topic. The trick worked as I was able to shortlist some ideas to write my essay on. 

I then discussed those ideas with my class teacher and asked for his help in finding a decent topic. It worked eventually and not only was my family essay topic unique but it also helped me score well with the piece. 

American Family Facts and Figures

You can use these proven facts by Statista to make a list of good family essay topics that would be unique and catchy.

• There are a total of 84.2 million families in the United States.
• There has been a rise in the number of families without children in the past twenty years.
• Nevada is the sole state in the United States where individuals can obtain a marriage license and proceed to marry right away.

Difference Between a Personal Essay and a Family Essay

To come up with good family essay topics, you must be able to differentiate between a personal and a family essay. Here are the key differences. 

Now let’s explore some awesome lists of unique and interesting family essay topics.

50 Topics About Family Relationships

When your essay is unique, you would have a good chance of impressing your teacher. Just like finding unique  high school research paper topics , landing on some interesting family essay topics could be difficult.

Don’t worry, we have some amazing lists for you here. Let’s explore the first list of unique titles about family to consider:

• The family structure in modern society.
• How are grandparents playing a role in families’ well-being? 
• The concept of multigenerational living arrangements.
• The importance of cultural diversity in the family. 
• The various parenting styles over varying cultures. 
• How is technology impacting family communication? 
• How can we find a good balance between work and family life? 
• Things you should know about family dynamics. 
• How is birth order influencing family relationships?
• How to cope with family conflict? 
• The importance of family rituals. 
• The importance of gender roles in families. 
• All we need to know about parenting and families.
• How is divorce affecting children? 
• Understanding the good and the bad of family business conflicts.
• How effective is the family support system for disabled individuals? 
• The relationship between adoption and foster care.
• The significance of sibling relationships.
• How impactful is socioeconomic status on family well-being?
• What should we know about the non-traditional family structures?
• The key cultural differences every parent should know about. 
• Why are mental health issues a grave concern within the Family? 
• How is the media influencing family values these days? 
• What are the challenges of parenting in the digital age? 
• How important is family mealtime and how it helps in children’s mental development? 

Seems like you have already shortlisted some family essay topics, isn’t it? If not, then keep on reading as you will soon have a topic to write a great essay on family. 

• How do we deal with cultural differences within the family? 
• What are the roles of extended family? 
• How is religion playing its role in a prosperous family life? 
• The importance of family resilience. 
• How impactful is substance abuse on family relationships?
• What should we know about blended families?
• The challenges of aging parents. 
• How is education playing a role in redefining family values?
• How are family secrets affecting family relationships? 
• How are intercultural marriages reducing the gaps in family traditions?
• How impactful are the socioeconomic factors on parenting styles?
• Things we should know about family expectations and individual aspirations.
• How is migration impacting family relationships?
• All you need to know about the family’s health and wellness.
• The idea of a chosen family.
• How to find the right balance between individual time and family time?
• How important is parental involvement in children’s education?
• Everything you need to know about family decision-making.
• How is social media affecting parenting these days?
• The meaning and importance of helicopter parenting.
• The importance of family financial planning.
• How does family play a role in shaping cultural identity?
• Ways to address the mental health stigma in the family.
• How to resolve intergenerational conflicts well?
• The recent trends in family dynamics

50 Titles About Family Traditions

For a unique title about family, Students can go with discussing a few family traditions which you can put to paper for a perfect essay. You can also convey your opinion over such traditions or rely on an  essay writing service  for that. Anyway, here are some unique family essay topics.

• How are family traditions important in building stronger bonds?
• Things you should know about the family tradition origins.
• How are family traditions shaping identity?
• The importance of passing down family traditions.
• How are holiday traditions preserving cultural heritage?
• The concept of rituals of passage.
• How can we blend new and old family traditions?
• How important is food in the family traditions?
• The true value of religious traditions in the family.
• How have family traditions evolved?
• How impactful is globalization on family customs?
• Family Traditions in a Digital Age.
• The Concept of Folklore and Folk Traditions.
• How are family traditions effective in fostering resilience?
• How can we explore the regional variations in family traditions?
• How impactful is migration on family traditions?
• The idea of cultural exchange via family traditions.
• How can we preserve the past for future generations?
• The tradition of gratitude in families.
• The roles and expectations of genders in families.

We hope our family essay topics are connecting you to your memory lane side by side. If you are feeling sort of emotional then stay connected and keep on reading essay topics about family as you will surely land on a unique title about family.

• How are family traditions and environmental sustainability linked?
• The symbolism behind family traditions.
• How are family traditions fostering emotional well-being?
• Things we should know about multicultural family traditions.
• The family traditions in times of crisis.
• What should we know about different religious traditions?
• Personal values and ethics in family traditions.
• How are folk music and dance preserving cultural heritage?
• The tradition of work and industry in families.
• How do family traditions play a role in preserving indigenous cultures?
• The generational shifts in family traditions.
• The importance of family traditions and educational values. 
• The traditions of remembrance in families. 
• The impact of family traditions on mental health. 
• How is technology modernizing family traditions?
• Passing down the traditions of creativity and artistry in families.
• The concept of conflict resolution in families. 

We are heading towards a few final family essay topics. So if you still can’t find a good topic here, don’t hesitate to count on finding an impressive one. 

• How are family traditions building cultural pride?
• The importance of traditions of celebration.
• How impactful are economic factors on families?
• The traditions of travel and exploration in families. 
• The role of family traditions in gender equality.
• How impactful are the stories of overcoming adversity through generations?
• How is social media playing its role in family traditions these days?
• The role of family traditions in health and wellness.
• The importance of intergenerational family traditions.
• How impactful are the traditions of hospitality in families?
• How do family traditions play a role in identity formation?
• The traditions of community engagement
• Things that reflect on family traditions.

Anyone in your family gone through immigration with some traditional practices? Then you can extract some essay topics from these  immigration research paper topics  as they are relatable to one’s family circumstances.

50 Family Essay Topics Related to Law

Want to speak on the rights and responsibilities of family laws? Here is a list of essay topics about family relationships essay based on family laws or more.

• How has family law evolved over the years?
• How are the child custody laws protecting the best interests of the child?
• How impactful are the divorce laws on children? 
• Things we should know about spousal support and alimony.
• How are domestic violence laws preventing family abuse? 
• How are adoption laws ensuring the welfare of an adopted child? 
• Things you should know about same-sex Marriage Laws.
• How are surrogacy laws regulating parental rights?
• Legal fatherhood and responsibilities in paternity laws.
• Things we should know about grandparent visitation rights.
• The impact of International Child Abduction Laws.
• Legal considerations in the pre-nuptial agreements.
• The importance of reproductive rights laws.
• How well are the child protection laws safeguarding children’s rights?
• Mediation and alternative dispute resolution in the family.
• How are family laws coping with the custody battles over pets?
• The concept of Parental Alienation Syndrome.
• Are there any legal rights for unmarried couples?
• How do family laws and immigration laws intersect?
• The importance of assisted reproductive technology laws.
• Parental Rights of Incarcerated Individuals.
• Issues in adopting a disabled child.
• Key foster care system reforms.
• Important legal considerations in blended family dynamics.
• Important child support enforcement laws.

One pro tip is to go through some family laws, read case studies, and make unique family essay topics with them. Here are more essay titles about family to consider:

• The role of guardian in family law cases.
• Legal Implications of Family Planning Sabotage.
• Important mandatory reporting laws.
• Genetic Testing in Family Law Cases
• Things we should know about parental rights of individuals.
• The protection of privacy rights in family law proceedings
• Legal Protections for Victims of Domestic Violence in Family.
• Key legal considerations in surrogacy agreements
• The importance of custodial interference laws.
• The legal recognition of polyamorous relationships.
• Legal Rights of Minors in Family Law Cases.
• The Role of Social Services in Family Law Proceedings.
• Legal Protections for Elderly Family Members.
• The importance of legal considerations in international adoption.
• Legal Implications of technological advances in assisted reproduction. 
• Parental rights and substance abuse. 
• Legal Rights of survivors of domestic violence: 
• Legal Rights of Children Born through Donor Insemination.
• Legal Considerations in Parenting Agreements.
• How are Child Advocacy Centers playing a role in family law cases: 
• Legal Protections for Youth in Family Law Proceedings.
• Important legal rights of foster parents.
• Parental abuse and its implications on child custody. 
• Legal Considerations in International Surrogacy Arrangements.
• Legal Frameworks for Assisted Decision-making in Family Law Cases.

Women are the base of any family, however some of them have historically stayed at home with children or other family members — even if they had jobs outside their homes. So for those family members you have a chance to extract essay topics from these  feminist research topics  and write reality based facts!

Final Thoughts

We have tried looking into various family essay topics. From family structure to family law and more. We talked about how important family traditions are, the different ways people raise their kids, and how society affects family relationships.

Besides writing a good essay on family, these family essay ideas are a great opportunity to understand how families work and what it means for society as a whole.

For students to get better at writing a good family essay, they have to read a plethora of good family essay examples and practice their skills of learning this academic activity.

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Essays on Family Planning

Family planning is the technique of determining the number and spacing of children that a married couple wishes to have. Family planning entails the employment of programs to prevent pregnancy using contraception and other means of birth control (Schuiling & Likis, 2013). Family planning is a critical component of sexual and...

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The Neolithic Revolution and Urban Development Since the Neolithic Revolution, families have begun to face difficulties. This was the moment, as described, when humanity ceased to be nomadic hunters and decided to become sedentary farmers. The explanation behind this statement is that people shrunk in size due to social hierarchies and...

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Quiz 25: Family Planning

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Multiple Choice

Informed consent concerning contraceptive use is important since some of the methods

Which patient is a safe candidate for the use of oral contraceptives?

The method of contraception that is considered the safest for women is a(n)

A woman who has a successful career and a busy lifestyle will most likely look for which type of contraceptive?

In reviewing information related to the occurrence of pregnancies using a focus group discussion with women, concern was expressed that many of them had problems using their respective type of contraception. As a result of noncompliance issues several women became pregnant. Based on this information, the nurse would incorporate which of the following in a teaching plan for group members?

Which contraceptive method should be contraindicated in a patient with a history of toxic shock syndrome?

You are teaching a group of adolescents regarding myths and facts related to contraception. Which statement indicates that additional teaching is needed for this group?

Which symptom in a patient using oral contraceptives should be reported to the physician immediately?

The role of the nurse in family planning is to

A nurse is leading a discussion regarding options for birth control. Which of the following methods is considered the most reliable?

Which of the following statements is correct regarding the use of contraception and the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) ?

A patient is 27 years old and delivered her first baby yesterday. She and her husband do not want to have another baby for at least 3 to 4 years. The most appropriate method of birth control to meet their needs is

A patient presents to the Women's Health Clinic for continuation of her contraceptive method. She has been using Depo-Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate) for 24 months. In preparation for instituting a plan of care, the nurse would consider which option as a priority?

Which contraceptive method provides protection against sexually transmitted diseases?

The most appropriate statement for introducing the topic of family planning in the postpartum setting is

The major difference between the diaphragm and the cervical cap is that the diaphragm

When using the basal body temperature method of family planning, the woman should understand that

A male patient asks, "Why do I have to use another contraceptive? I had a vasectomy last week." The best response is

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Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

By marjane satrapi, persepolis: the story of a childhood essay questions.

How would you describe Marjane's interaction with Western culture?

Though she is born and raised for much of her life in Tehran, Marjane Satrapi is as much a product of Western culture as of Middle Eastern culture. Her parents both ascribe to Western political viewpoints and are not reluctant to let their daughter indulge in Western popular culture. One of the major reasons that Marjane is sent to Europe at the novel's end is because her parents feel as though she can no longer sustain the Western style of education that her parents want for her.

Whom do you think is described as the bigger enemy in the novel -- the Shah or the Islamic regime that takes control after the Shah?

Both the Shah and the Islamic fundamentalist regime are characterized as bad rulers of the Iranian people and it is difficult to say which was worse for the Iranian people. Satrapi seems to say that each regime is one side of the same coin. The Shah was brutal to his people, imprisoning many of the political dissidents, in his attempt to maintain power and to serve Western interests. The Islamic regime used the same brutality for the same reasons in order to propagate a pure Islamic state.

Discuss the theme of matriarchy in Persepolis .

Satrapi's novel is written from a feminist perspective, and thus the matriarchal side of her family features prominently in the story. Marjane's grandmother, as represented by her strength in caring for her children and her wisdom of peace and forgiveness, is the novel's chief matriarch. The end of the novel is a poignant scene in which Marjane falls into her grandmother's bosom and is sent out into the world with the mantle of matriarch now upon her.

Do you think that Marjane's father was a "resigned" individual, as Marjane claims in the novel?

Marjane has a complex view of her father throughout the novel. In many instances, one can see how she truly looked up to her father for holding controversial political views and for risking his safety in protests to overthrow the Shah. Marjane also sees her father has having the personality of "resignation," something she calls a Persian trait. He adamantly proclaims that he will not fight against Iran in the war and Marjane is disappointed that her father is not a tortured political hero as were Siamak and Mohsen.

How does the social class of Marjane's family conflict with their political views?

Marjane's family is a member of Iran's middle class. Her father has a good job as an engineer and they are able to keep a maid for the house, drive nice cars, take vacations, and give their daughter an excellent education. This privilege would seem to conflict with their political views, however. The family maintains a long familial heritage as leftist political activists. Many of Marjane's family members were imprisoned or killed for their beliefs. This dissonance between political belief and practice is a central tension of Marjane's childhood.

Discuss the symbolism of jewels and jewelry throughout the novel.

In several scenes of the novel, jewels represent the feminine. They are precious objects of great value. However, they are also easily bought and sold, as in the case of Mali and her family. Mali's jewels are sold in order for the family to survive their great loss in the Iraqi bombings. At the same time, Mali's life is seen as devalued by the other women Tehran because she is now a refugee. The loss of value of such beautiful, rare objects is mirrored in the devaluing of female identity under the Islamic regime.

In the novel's first scene, Marjane shows a photo of her elementary school class. She, however, is cut out of the picture. Why does Satrapi begin the novel with this imagery?

Persepolis can be read as one young girl's journey to find her own identity in the war torn, repressive Middle Eastern culture in which she grows up. By beginning the novel with this scene of a school photo, Satrapi is representing the fact that her Western self (the perspective from which she writes) is only half of her identity. The other half of her identity is found in Iran, a country that literally and figuratively attempts to hide away the identities of its women. Marjane's full identity, therefore, cannot be fully understood as long as a repressive fundamentalist spirit rules the country.

Some critics of the novel have claimed that Satrapi's view of Iran is too one-sided. Why or why not do you believe this is true?

Satrapi has been criticized for writing Persepolis from a Western perspective. In these critic's estimation, Marjane is as much a product of Western culture - Western education, Western politics, Western popular culture - as she is a part of her Middle Eastern milieu. This leads Satrapi to be overly critical of all who would ascribe to conservative Islamic practice. Her viewpoint, thus, correlates all conservative Muslims with the brutality of the Iranian fundamentalist regime. This criticism can be seen as unfair, however, if one reads Satrapi's novel chiefly as a political novel and not as a commentary on religion.

What symbolism does Satrapi give to cigarettes in the novel?

For Satrapi, a cigarette is first a symbol of adulthood and the freedom and independence that comes with being able to smoke. Marjane secretly sneaks away to her basement hideout to smoke a cigarette that she had stolen from her uncle. This, she claims, is her first act of adult independence. Her Uncle Tehar's smoking habit, however, represents the fact that both smoking and adulthood come with serious problems and consequences. Tehar is emotionally torn by his decision to send his son away to Holland while he is physically torn from the damage that smoking has done to his body.

Why does Satrapi think that the Islamic regime was able to gain control of Iran after the 1979 Revolution?

Through the characters of her father and uncle, Satrapi explains that the Revolution had been the product of a vocal minority while the majority of Iranians needed some kind of symbol to guide them and lead them. This allowed the Islamic religious leaders to take control of the country. Satrapi blames this on the people's lack of education. The people have faith only in religion, not in political ideals. Satrapi's uncle believes in the novel that the religious leaders will have no interest in leading the nation, yet this proves not to be the case.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

“The Veil”: How was education affected by the new regime? Why?

Check this out below.

https://www.gradesaver.com/persepolis-the-story-of-a-childhood/study-guide/summary-introduction-the-veil-and-the-bicycle

Persepolis is a graphic novel. Why do you think Satrapi chose this genre to tell her story?

As a graphic novel, it purposefully rejects the Islamic tenet that there should be no iconic representations of the faith. It boldly denounces the brutality of the regime and calls into question the legitimacy of its rule. The book challenges the...

. Why did Marji’s family continue to hold parties despite the danger?

The Satrapis hold a party to celebrate Marjane’s aunt and the birth of her child. The parties are necessary because “without them it wouldn’t be psychologically bearable....”

Study Guide for Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood study guide contains a biography of Marjane Satrapi, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Summary
• Character List

Essays for Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi.

• Unconventional Autobiographies: Arabesques and Persepolis
• The Gray Area Dialogue: An Analysis of Western Perspective in Satrapi’s Persepolis
• Persepolis: A Bildungsroman
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• Introduction

CHAPTER ONE Russia in the Age of Peter the Great By LINDSEY HUGHES Yale University Press Read the Review I

I. RUSSIA IN 1672

Russian Bethlehem, Kolomenskoe, You delivered Peter to the light! You the start and source of all our joy, Where Russia's greatness first burned clear and bright.

Peter Alekseevich Romanov was born in or near Moscow at around one in the morning on Thursday 30 May 1672. A patron saint's `measuring' icon of the apostle Peter made shortly after his birth showed the infant to be nineteen and a quarter inches long. The future emperor's exceptional height was clearly prefigured, but the time and place of his birth, like much else in his life, have been the subject of controversy. For want of concrete evidence locating it elsewhere, the event may be placed in the Kremlin in Moscow, but legends persist, as in the verse by the poet Sumarokov above, that Peter was born in the village of Kolomenskoe to the south of Moscow, where his father had built a wooden palace, or even in Preobrazhenskoe, which later became Peter's favourite retreat and the base for his new guards regiments, formed from the `play' troops of his boyhood. As for the date, most sources accept 30 May, as did Peter himself by honouring St Isaac of Dalmatia, whose feast falls on that day. But at least one record gives 29 May, following the old Russian practice of starting the new day not at midnight but at dawn.4 In those countries which had adopted the Gregorian calendar (which Russia did only in 1918) the date was ten days ahead of those which still followed the older, Julian calendar, and 30 May fell on 9 June. Contemporary Russian chroniclers (using not arabic numerals but Cyrillic letters with numerical equivalents) recorded the year of Peter's birth as not 1672 but 7180, following the Byzantine practice of numbering years from the notional creation of the world in 5509 BC. The year 7181 began on 1 September 1672, which, following the usage of Constantinople, marked the start of the Muscovite new year.

    These peculiarities of time and record keeping provide a foretaste of the different customs observed in the Russia where Peter was born and the West into which he was later to forge a `window'. On the eve of the new century, in December 1699, Peter himself decreed that official records would henceforth adopt calendar years from the birth of Christ in the manner of `many European Christian nations'. When he died on 28 January 1725, there were no arguments about how the date should be recorded. It is appropriate that questions of time and chronology should arise at the outset of Peter's life, for he was to be obsessed with time and its passing, believing that `wasted time, like death, cannot be reversed'. Traditionalists denounced the tsar for tampering with `God's time' by changing the calendar. There were even rumours that the Peter who was to adopt the title `emperor' in 1721 was not the Peter who had been born in 1672. We shall return to these matters later, but let us take a closer look at the Russia into which Peter was born.

    Peter's parents had been married for less than eighteen months when he arrived. On 22 January 1671 nineteen-year-old Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina married forty-two-year-old Tsar Alexis (Aleksei) Mikhailovich, whose first wife Maria Miloslavskaia had died in 1669 at the age of forty-three after giving birth to her thirteenth child, a girl who did not survive. Given a more robust set of male half-siblings, Peter might never have come to the throne at all. His father's first marriage produced five sons, but in 1672 only two were still alive. The heir apparent, Fedor, born in 1661, had delicate health, while Ivan, born in 1666, was mentally and physically handicapped. There were six surviving half-sisters: Evdokia, Marfa, Sophia, Ekaterina, Maria, and Feodosia, ranging in age from twenty-two to ten. They were not regarded as direct contenders for power: no woman had ever occupied the Muscovite throne in her own right, and the policy of keeping the royal princesses unmarried minimized the complications of power-seeking in-laws and inconvenient offspring through the female line. The practice of keeping well-born women in virtual seclusion also meant that they were unknown to the public.

    When Tsar Alexis died at the age of forty-seven in January 1676, Fedor succeeded him without the formal appointment of a regent, even though he was only fourteen. (Rumours of attempts to place three-year-old Peter on the throne in his stead may be discounted.) Twice in the next six years Peter narrowly escaped being pushed further down the ladder of succession. Fedor's first wife, Agafia Grushetskaia, and her newborn son Il'ia died in July 1681. His second wife, Marfa Matveevna Apraksina, was left a widow after only two months of marriage, by Fedor's death in April 1682. Rumours that she might be pregnant proved unfounded. But this is to leap ahead. In 1672 there was every prospect of Tsar Alexis continuing to rule for many years, and a fair chance, given infant mortality rates, that Peter would not survive for long. Modern readers will treat with scepticism the intriguing story recorded by one of Peter's early biographers to the effect that the royal tutor and court poet Simeon Polotsky predicted Peter's rule and future greatness by the stars on the supposed day of his conception, 11 August 1671.

    Many pages of print have been devoted to Peter's childhood and adolescence. His first two decades will be considered here only briefly, in order to give a context for the changes which he later forced upon Russia--the main subject of this book. I will begin by dispelling a few misconceptions, such as that Peter's early environment was closed and stultifying, dominated solely by Orthodox ritual and concepts. In fact, seventeenth-century Romanov childrearing practices did not exclude `modern' elements. For example, Peter's interest in military affairs was stimulated in the nursery, where he, like his elder brothers before him, played with toy soldiers, cannon, bows and arrows, and drums. Military affairs were the right and proper concern of a tsar almost from the cradle. His father had gone to war with his troops, as Peter was well aware and was proud to recall in later life. On the other hand, Peter's prowess as a soldier, virtually from the cradle (a contemporary compared him to the young Hercules, who strangled serpents), has been greatly exaggerated. The myth that Peter was already a cadet at the age of three has been refuted: in fact, at that age, Peter still had a wet-nurse. Toy weapons were supplemented by spades, hammers, and masons' tools, which no doubt fostered Peter's love of mechanical crafts. The fiercest of Peter's boyhood passions--his love of ships and the sea--is at first sight harder to explain. Why should a boy raised in a virtually land-locked country with no tradition of seafaring have developed such a passion? It is even said that as a boy Peter had a dread of water. But Russia's naval inexperience should not be exaggerated. Most major Russian towns were situated on rivers, which small craft plied. Russians may not have been expert sailors on the high seas, but they knew how to navigate inland waters, and Russian peasant navigators had long sailed the northern coastline. Peter did not see the open sea until he was twenty-one, but there was no lack of stimuli to the imagination closer to hand: toy boats, maps and engravings, and, what he himself identified as the spark which lit the flame, the old English sailing dinghy, the `grandfather of the Russian fleet', which he discovered in the outhouse of a country estate. The fact that it should have found its way to Moscow is not so surprising when one considers that English sea-going vessels had been docking on the White Sea since the 1550s, and that Tsar Alexis had commissioned Dutch shipwrights to build a small fleet on the Caspian Sea in the 1660s.

    In some respects, however, Peter's introduction to the wider world actually lagged behind that of his half-siblings. His brothers Fedor and Alexis (who died in 1670), and even his half-sister Sophia, were taught by the Polish-educated monk Simeon Polotsky, who gave instruction in Latin, Polish, versification, and other elements of the classical syllabus. Polotsky died in 1680, before he had the chance, had it been offered, to tutor Peter. His protege, Silvester Medvedev, was at daggers drawn with the conservative patriarch, Joachim, who, as adviser to Peter's mother, would scarcely have recommended a suspect `Latinizer' as the tsarevich's tutor. Peter thus received indifferent tuition from Russians seconded from government chancelleries; they included Nikita Zotov and Afanasy Nesterov, an official in the Armoury, whose names first appear in records as teachers round about 1683. Not only did Peter's education lack scholarly content; it also seems to have been deficient in basic discipline. His prose style, spelling, and handwriting bore signs of lax methods for the rest of his life. It should be added that there was no question of Peter receiving his education from a Muscovite university graduate or even from the product of a local grammar school or its equivalent. There were no universities in Muscovite Russia and no public schools, apart from some training establishments for chancellery staff in the Kremlin. In fact, clerks ( d'iaki and pod'iachie ) and clerics were the only two orders of Muscovite society who were normally literate, many parish priests being only barely so.

    The inadequacies of Peter's primary education were later offset by practical skills learned from foreigners, whom he was able to encounter in Moscow thanks to the policies of his predecessors. Foreigner-specialists first started arriving in Muscovy in significant numbers during the reign of Ivan IV (1533-84). Their numbers increased when Peter's grandfather, Tsar Michael (1613-45), reorganized certain Russian infantry regiments along foreign lines. In 1652 Tsar Alexis set aside a separate area of Moscow called the `New Foreign' or `German' Quarter to accommodate military, commercial, and diplomatic personnel. It was here that Peter encountered officers such as Patrick Gordon, Franz Lefort, and Franz Timmerman, his teachers and companions in the 1680s and 1690s. Residents of the Foreign Quarter also made their mark on Russian elite culture. From the 1650s several foreign painters were employed in the royal Armoury workshops. Alexis is the first Russian ruler of whom we have a reliable likeness, his daughter Sophia the first Russian woman to be the subject of secular portraiture. It was the Foreign Quarter which in 1672 supplied the director and actors for Russia's first theatrical performance. Unlike portraiture, however, which quickly became more widespread, theatricals were discontinued after Alexis's death. During Sophia's regency (1682-9) Huguenots were offered sanctuary in Russia, Jesuits were admitted to serve Moscow's foreign Catholic parish, and invitations were issued to foreign industrialists and craftsmen. In the 1670s and 1680s foreigners were no longer a rarity on the streets of Moscow, and were also well represented in commercial towns on the route from the White Sea port of Archangel.

    Of course, Moscow was not the whole of Russia, any more than a few relatively outward-looking individuals in the Kremlin were representative of Moscow society as a whole. Most Muscovites, from the conservative boyars who rubbed shoulders with them to the peasants who rarely encountered one, regarded foreigners as dangerous heretics, and viewed foreign `novelties' and fashions with intense suspicion and even terror. During the reign of Peter's immediate predecessors, foreigners were still in Russia on sufferance, tolerated as a necessary evil. The building of the new Foreign Quarter in 1652 was actually an attempt to concentrate foreigners and their churches in a restricted locality, away from the city centre, where they had lived previously. Patriarch Joachim urged that mercenaries, the most indispensable of foreign personnel, be expelled, and non-Orthodox churches demolished. Russian culture was prevented from falling further under foreign influence by strict controls. For example, publishing and printing remained firmly in the hands of the Church. It is a striking statistic that in the whole of the seventeenth century fewer than ten secular titles came off Muscovite presses, which were devoted mainly to the production of liturgical and devotional texts. There were no Russian printed news-sheets, journals or almanacs; no plays, poetry or philosophy in print, although this lack was partly compensated by popular literature in manuscript, a flourishing oral tradition, news-sheets from abroad (albeit restricted to the use of personnel in the Foreign Office), and foreign books in the libraries of a few leading nobles and clerics. Presses in Kiev, Chernigov, Vilna, and other centres of Orthodoxy supplemented the meagre output of Moscow printers. Russians were still clearly differentiated from Western Europeans by their dress, although a number were tempted by Polish influence to don Western fashions in private. According to Tsar Alexis's decree of 1675, `Courtiers are forbidden to adopt foreign, German ( inozemskikh i nemetskikh ) and other customs, to cut the hair on their heads and to wear robes, tunics and hats of foreign design, and they are to forbid their servants to do so.'

    The `courtiers' to whom this warning was addressed formed the upper echelons of Russia's service class. Sometimes loosely referred to as `boyars', roughly the equivalent of the Western aristocracy, they belonged to noble clans residing in and around Moscow. The upper crust were the `men of the council' ( dumnye liudi ), the so-called boyar duma, which in the seventeenth century varied in number from 28 to 153 members. Those in the top rank were the boyars proper ( boiare ), next the `lords in waiting' ( okol'nichie ), followed by a smaller group dubbed `gentlemen of the council' ( dumnye dvoriane ), and a handful of `clerks of the council' ( dumnye d'iaki ). All enjoyed the privilege of attending and advising the tsar. Membership of the two top groups was largely hereditary. Unless there were contrary indicators (e.g., serious incapacity or disgrace) men from leading families generally became boyars in order of seniority within their clan. Their numbers were swelled by royal in-laws (marrying a daughter to the tsar or one of his sons usually boosted a family's fortunes) and by a handful of men of lower status who were raised by royal favour. The council's participation in decision making is indicated by the formula for ratifying edicts: `the tsar has decreed and the boyars have affirmed' ( tsar' ukazal i boiare prigovorili ). Nobles immediately below the `men of the council' (often younger aspirants to the grade) bore the title `table attendant' ( stol'nik ), a reference to duties which they had once performed and in some cases still did. Below them were `attendants' ( striapchie ), Moscow nobles ( dvoriane moskovskie ), and `junior attendants' ( zhil'tsy ). In peacetime Moscow nobles performed a variety of chancellery and ceremonial duties. In wartime they went on campaign as cavalry officers. On duty, be it military or civil, they bore their court ranks: boiarin, okol'nichii, stol'nik and so on; there was no differentiation by office.

    In 1672 commissions, appointments, and other placings, such as seating at important banquets, were still in theory governed by the code of precedence, or `place' system ( mestnichestvo ), which determined an individual's position in the hierarchy of command by calculations based on his own and his clan's service record and his seniority within his clan. It was considered a great dishonour to be placed below someone who, regardless of ability, was deemed to merit a lower `place'. Such an insult gave grounds for an appeal to the tsar. Increasingly, mestnichestvo was suspended in order to allow the Crown a freer hand in appointing officers. For some campaigns it was ordered that military rolls be drawn up `without places' ( bez mest ).

    With the exception of members of the elite sent to serve as provincial governors ( voevody ), outside Moscow the ruler relied on a larger group of the `middle servicemen', provincial gentry ( gorodovye dvoriane ), and `junior servicemen' ( deti boairskie , literally and misleadingly `children of boyars') to perform policing duties and swell the ranks of the army in wartime. All the categories described above, it should be repeated, were counted among the elite and enjoyed certain privileges, the first of which was exemption from tax and labour burdens ( tiaglo ). The second was the right to land and serfs. Most of the Moscow elite owned both inherited estates ( votchiny ) and service lands ( pomest'ia ), the latter, in theory, granted and held on condition of service, but increasingly passed from generation to generation. The peasants living on both votchina and pomest'e holdings were serfs, the property of their landlords, who could freely exploit their labour (in the form of agricultural work and other duties) and collect dues (in money and kind). It should be noted, however, that nobles were not automatically supplied with serfs. Some of the top families owned tens of thousands of peasants distributed over dozens of estates, whereas many in the provincial deti boiarskie category owned only one or two peasant households, and in some cases worked their own plots. The Muscovite Crown also deployed non-noble servicemen ( sluzhilye liudi po priboru ). Men in this category were subject to a service, not a tax requirement, but they could not own serfs. They included the strel'tsy (`musketeers'), who formed army units in wartime and did escort and guard duty in peacetime, carrying on small businesses and trades when off duty; artillerymen ( pushkari ), and postal drivers ( iamshchiki ). Civilian personnel in the non-noble service category included secretaries and clerks ( d'iaki, pod'iachie ), the backbone personnel of the government chancelleries.

    Most of the non-noble residents of Russia's towns were bound to their communities by tax obligations, apart from a handful of chief merchants ( gosti ), who dealt in foreign trade. Including merchants of the second and third grades ( gostinnye and sukonnye sotni ) and the mass of clerks, artisans, and traders, or `men of the posad ' ( posadskie liudi ), the total registered male urban population in the 1670s has been estimated at 185,000. In addition, substantial numbers of peasants resided temporarily in towns, which also had shifting populations of foreigners and vagrants, but lacked many of the native professional categories--bankers, scholars, scientists, doctors, schoolteachers, lawyers, and actors--to be found in most contemporary Western European towns of any size.

    If townspeople were less numerous and played a less prominent role in Muscovy than they did in Western European countries, the opposite was probably true of church personnel. The Russian clerical estate was divided into `white' (secular) and `black' (monastic) clergy, the former group, consisting of parish priests and deacons, who were obliged to marry. The prelates--the patriarch, metropolitans, bishops, and abbots of monasteries--were drawn from the celibate black clergy, who also formed the monastic rank and file. The ecclesiastical estate enjoyed considerable privileges. Apart from the royal family and the nobles, only they could own serfs (although, strictly speaking, peasants were attached to monasteries and churches, not individuals). They were exempt from taxation. They had access to church courts. But the rural clergy, like the lesser rural gentry, were often barely differentiated in wealth and education from the mass of the population.

    This brings us to the masses themselves: rural dwellers engaged in working the land-- pashennye liudi . Roughly 50 per cent were serfs or bonded peasants, living on lands owned by the royal family ( dvortsovye ), nobles ( pomeshchichie ), or the Church ( tserkovnye ). The rest were `State' peasants ( gosudarsvennye ), not bound to any one landlord, but obliged to pay taxes to the State and perform labour duties as required--for example, by providing transport and carrying out forestry and road work. All were eligible for military service, which freed them from obligations to their former owners. Another group of `unfree' persons were slaves, who entered into contracts of bondage with richer people (usually, but not invariably, nobles) in return for loans and support. It has been calculated that as much as 10 per cent of the population may have fallen into this category.

    Thus, in 1672, it was possible to divide the great majority of people in Muscovy into those who performed service ( sluzhilye liudi ), those who paid taxes ( tiaglye liudi ), and those who served the Church ( tserkovnye liudi ). They included the tsar's non-Russian subjects: various tribespeople who rendered taxes in the form of tribute ( iasak , often in furs) or did occasional military service. Some of the tsar's subjects fell outside these estates: these included socalled wandering people ( guliashchie liudi ) unattached to any locality or category, who were either incapable of performing service or paying taxes--for example, cripples and `fools in Christ'--or who wilfully escaped obligations--runaway serfs, deserters, and religious dissidents, of which the biggest category were the Old Believers, protesters against Nikon's church reform of the 1650s. A number set up communities in remote localities out of reach of the government. Cossack communities, consisting originally of refugees from the long arm of government, maintained a variety of links with Moscow, being either bound in service, like the registered Cossacks of Ukraine, intermittently loyal, like the Cossacks of the Don, or persistently hostile, like the Host of the Zaporozhian Sich.

    This, then, was the Russia into which Peter was born, a country, on the one hand, deeply rooted in tradition and in many ways very distinct from Western Europe, where Russia was still regarded as a `rude and barbarous' kingdom, on the other, increasingly open to the influence of Western people and ideas. In the year 1672 the birth of a Russian prince went more or less unnoticed in the rest of Europe, of which Russia was at best a fringe member. There would have been scarcely any speculation about the new prince's eligibility as a marriage partner, since the Muscovite royal family was known to be uninterested in such foreign involvements, although this had not always been the case. The concept of the European community as `a single, integral system of mutually interdependent states', which came into being after the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, rested on a Protestant-Catholic balance of power in which Orthodox countries barely figured. But Russia was poised to play an increasingly active role in world affairs. In the reign of Alexis, during the socalled First Northern War (1654-60), it entered the wider sphere of international relations when it was pitted against its old enemies Poland and Sweden. War with Poland began in 1654, as a result of Moscow's provocative acceptance of the allegiance of Ukrainian (Little Russian) Cossacks under their leader Bogdan Khmel'nitsky, who were formerly Polish subjects, and ended in 1667 to Russia's advantage, with Left Bank Ukraine (to the east of the River Dnieper) and Kiev brought under the tsar's rule. But there was no progress during the shorter conflict of 1656-61 with Sweden, which had blocked the way to the Baltic since the 1617 Treaty of Stolbovo removed Moscow's narrow foothold on that sea. At the time Sweden's King Gustav Adolph boasted that Russia could not even launch a rowing boat on to the sea without Sweden's permission. When Peter was born, Russia's only seaport was Archangel, on the White Sea. In the south, Russia and Poland vied for possession and domination of the steppes with the Turks and the Crimean Tatars, who barred Russia from the Black Sea. Direct conflict was usually with the Tatars, who exacted a heavy toll of prisoners and livestock, as well as demanding and receiving annual tribute, known as `gifts'. In 1672 the Turks and the Tatars seized parts of Polish (Right Bank) Ukraine, and threatened incursions across the Dnieper into Muscovite territory. It was this crisis which prompted Tsar Alexis to send envoys all over Europe seeking aid for an anti-Turkish league. In 1676 his son Fedor found himself at war with the Turks and the Tatars. After losing the fort at Chigirin on the Dnieper, and fearing a Turkish attack on Kiev, Moscow made an uneasy twenty-year truce with the Tatars at Bakhchisarai, in January 1681.

II. SOPHIA: THE 1680s

On 27 April 1682 Fedor died childless. The same day, Peter, a month short of his tenth birthday, was declared tsar, on the grounds that his elder half-brother Ivan was `weak-minded'. Matters might have rested there. Ivan's afflictions evidently precluded him from taking an active role in civil or military affairs. There was no written law of succession to rule out the accession of a younger brother under these circumstances. Observance of primogeniture was a matter of custom rather than constitution. Peter's accession had the support of the patriarch, who intervened in such matters in the absence of mature royal males. But Peter's maternal relatives, the Naryshkins, and their hangers-on, who could expect to enjoy considerable power in Peter's minority and to retain key government posts when he came of age, had not reckoned on a lethal combination of unrest among Moscow's armed guard, the strel'tsy, and the fury of the affronted Miloslavskys, kinsmen of Tsar Alexis's first wife, led by Ivan's sister Sophia, that `ambitious and power-hungry princess', as a contemporary described her.

    The Miloslavskys succeeded in harnessing the strel'tsy, who were ultrasensitive to rumours of abuses in high places as a result of a series of disputes over management, pay, and conditions dating from Fedor's reign. After two weeks of negotiations, during which the new Naryshkin government made concessions, to the extent of handing over unpopular officers to strel'tsy mobs, a rumour that Tsarevich Ivan had been strangled by his `ill-wishers' brought rebel regiments to the Kremlin. There on 15-17 May, the strel'tsy settled personal grudges by butchering commanding officers and unpopular officials, and, at the instigation of the Naryshkins' rivals, singled out members of the Naryshkin clan and their associates as `traitors', and slaughtered them. The victims included Peter's uncle, Ivan Naryshkin (who was accused of trying on the crown), and his mother's guardian, the former foreign minister Artamon Matveev, who was accused of plotting to murder Ivan. In all, about forty persons fell victim to axe and pike. The role in all this of Sophia, Peter's twenty-five-year-old half-sister, has been widely debated. Although there is little hard evidence that she had the `Machiavellian' tendencies attributed to her by some writers, still less that she plotted to kill Peter and his mother (who remained unharmed, despite being the easiest of targets), the events of April-May 1682 undoubtedly allowed her to champion the legitimate claim to the throne of her brother Ivan and to emerge as regent over a joint tsardom, with Ivan as senior tsar and Peter as junior.

    No attempt will be made here to chart the further outbreaks of strel'tsy unrest after the dynastic question had apparently been settled, or to examine the role of Prince Ivan Khovansky in the events of May-September 1682, sometimes referred to as the `Khovanshchina', which were complicated by the activities of Old Believers, who enjoyed some support from the strel'tsy. We shall be concerned only with those events and features of Sophia's regency which had relevance for Peter's future policies and reforms. The most immediate consequence of the seven-year regency on Peter's own circumstances was that he was by and large relieved of ceremonial duties, which Sophia was happy to have performed at first by Ivan, who was thus given a prominent, active role in the public eye, and later by herself. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of these seven years for Peter's development. They may be regarded as a sort of `sabbatical' from the routine burdens of rulership, which allowed him to pursue his own interests (military games and sailing) and to build up a circle of friends and assistants at a slight distance from traditional clan networks. Members of the boyar elite predominated in Peter's circle, but foreigners and men of lower rank appeared in greater numbers than in the past. Ivan's role as Orthodox figure-head meant that Peter had less contact with the church hierarchy. It should be emphasized that Peter was neither banished nor persecuted. As for the charge that Sophia `stifled Peter's natural light', rather the opposite was true, although some contemporaries believed that lax supervision and too much contact with foreigners and `low' types ruined the tsar's character. On occasion he was still required to do ceremonial duty--for example, at ambassadorial receptions and important family anniversaries--but by and large his being out of Moscow suited him as much as it did Sophia. If it had one unfortunate effect, it is that it further alienated Peter from Sophia's chief minister and reputed lover, Prince Vasily Vasil'evich Golitsyn (1643-1714), a man with the sort of talent and vision that Peter could have used, had not hostility towards his sister made it impossible later to employ someone so close to her. Under Golitsyn's direction, the Foreign Office pursued policies which provided both foundations and lessons for Peter's future programme. The major achievement was the 1686 treaty of permanent peace with Poland, which ratified the secession of Kiev and its Right Bank hinterland to Moscow (which had been in dispute since the 1667 Treaty of Andrusovo), and Russian rule over Smolensk, Dorogobuzh, Roslavl', and Zaporozh'e. In return, Russia was to pay the Poles 146,000 roubles indemnity `out of friendship', to sever relations with Turkey and Crimea `on account of the many wrongs committed by the Muslims, in the name of Christianity and to save many Christians held in servitude', and to wage war on Crimea. Other clauses included a ban on the persecution of Orthodox Christians in Poland by Catholics and Uniates (thus allowing the tsar a pretext for intervention), permission for Catholics in Russia to hold divine worship (but only in private houses), recognition of royal titles, encouragement of trade, and a pledge to seek the aid of `other Christian monarchs'. Russian suspicion of Catholics was exploited by Prussian envoys in Moscow, who induced Golitsyn and Sophia to offer sanctuary to Protestant exiles from France. In 1689 commercial treaties were signed allowing Prussia trading rights in Archangel, Smolensk, and Pskov, thereby laying the foundations for future Russo-Prussian co-operation during the 1710s.

    Thus Russia joined the Holy League against the Turks, formed in 1684 with papal backing, between Austria and Poland, both of which had lands bordering on the Ottoman Empire, and Venice, Russia's rival at sea, following the relief of the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. Russian ambassadors were dispatched all over Europe with appeals for assistance and closer alliance--to Holland, England, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, France, Spain, Florence, Austria, and Venice. In 1687 and 1689 Vasily Golitsyn led huge armies south to Crimea. On both occasions logistical problems forced the Russian armies to withdraw, on the second occasion with huge losses of men and horses, from thirst and epidemics. Golitsyn's return to Moscow in the summer of 1689, where he was feted as a hero on Sophia's instructions, gave his opponents an opportunity to undermine both him and Sophia, whose public appearances Peter (prompted by his maternal relatives) had begun to criticize. Peter was well into his majority (Fedor, it will be recalled, was tsar without a regent at the age of fourteen); he was married (in January 1689), and his wife, Evdokia Lopukhina, was pregnant; he had troops at his disposal, notably his own `play' regiments and foreign officers; and he had the support of the patriarch. In fact, Sophia's rule was doomed from the start, because it could be perpetuated indefinitely only by disposing of Peter. This she seems never seriously to have contemplated, despite ample opportunities. Even the crisis of August 1689, when Peter believed that the strel'tsy were coming to kill him and fled to the Trinity monastery, may have been engineered by Peter's own supporters in order to force a confrontation between Peter and Sophia which they knew she was unlikely to win, given dissatisfaction with the Crimean campaigns, and which Peter, too wrapped up in his own interests, could not be relied upon to precipitate. August-September saw a stand-off between Sophia and her fast-dwindling forces in the Kremlin and Peter's supporters, massed at the Trinity-St Sergius monastery. The brief clash ended in late September, when Vasily Golitsyn was exiled to the north of Russia, and Sophia was locked up in the Novodevichy convent, were she remained until her death in 1704.

    For the rest of his life Peter associated Sophia with the dark forces of opposition, even if he blamed most of the active wickedness on her male supporters. The perpetrators of the so-called Tsykler plot to kill Peter in 1696-7 were executed over the exhumed coffin of Ivan Miloslavsky, identified by several contemporaries as the master-mind behind the 1682 rebellion. `The seed of Ivan Miloslavsky is sprouting,' wrote Peter, when called back to Russia to deal with another strel'tsy revolt in 1698. He apparently recognized Sophia's `great intelligence', but thought it was overshadowed by `great malice and cunning'. Engraved portraits depicting her wearing a crown and carrying royal regalia were sought out and destroyed, but many copies survived, along with painted portraits set against the background of the double-headed eagle bearing the seven Virtues on its wings, eloquent testimony both to Sophia's political aspirations and to the new cultural trends which she encouraged. At least one of Peter's successors did not share his view. Catherine the Great wrote of Sophia: `Much has been said about this princess, but I believe that she has not been given the credit she deserves ... she conducted the affairs of the Empire for a number of years with all the sagacity one could hope for. When one considers the business that passed through her hands, one cannot but concede that she was capable of ruling.'

III. THE MAKING OF A SOVEREIGN: THE 1690s

There are good reasons for devoting some space to the period between the overthrow of Sophia and Golitsyn and the declaration of war against Sweden in August 1700. The fact that these years have generally been regarded as merely a `prelude' to reform has condemned the 1690s to neglect in general histories, which tend to confine themselves to such selected highlights as the Grand Embassy and the Azov campaigns. Yet this decade is vital for understanding both the man and his Russia, the moulding of Peter's priorities and the clarification of the options open to him, both at home and abroad. For a start, a closer examination of the early 1690s reveals the error of assuming an unbroken line of developing `Westernization' from the 1680s into the new century. The 1690s were not merely a bridge between the cautious modernization of the Sophia-Golitsyn regime and Peter's full-blooded post-1700 variant. Some new trends--in art and architecture, for example--continued and flourished, while others were suspended. The 1690s saw a continuing struggle, to use a cliche, between the `old' and the `new', personified in the figures of the two ruling monarchs: `pious' Ivan making stately progress in his heavy brocade robes and `impious' Peter clad in German dress dashing from shipyard to military parade.

    In a letter to Tsar Ivan, written between 8 and 12 September 1689, Peter wrote: `And now, brother sovereign, the time has come for us to rule the realm entrusted to us by God, since we are of age and we must not allow that third shameful personage, our sister the Tsarevna S.A., to share the titles and government with us two male persons.' In fact, Peter showed little inclination to `rule the realm'. His preoccupation with his own interests for the first few years, then his prolonged absences, first at Azov, then in the West, ceded the centre to others, to the extent that some of the first actions of the new regime appeared to turn back the clock, taking advantage of the removal of Vasily Golitsyn, the `friend of foreigners', to annul concessions made during Sophia's regency and to adopt closer supervision of foreigners in general, in order to stem the spread of heresy from across the borders. Patriarch Joachim was the prime mover. On 2 October 1689 the Jesuit fathers Georgius David and Tobias Tichavsky were expelled. Sanctions were imposed against Jesuits in particular, not Catholics in general, probably because there were some influential foreign Catholics close to Peter, and Russia was still allied to Catholic powers. A decree of 1690 allowed two priests to serve the foreign Catholic community, but the authorities were to take precautions to ensure that they did not try to convert Russians, visit them in their homes, carry on foreign correspondence or turn out to be Jesuits in disguise. In October 1689 the Protestant mystic Quirinus Kuhlman was burned on Red Square together with his works. P.I. Prozorovsky, governor of Novgorod, was warned to take care that `such criminals should not enter the country and that foreigners who in future arrive from abroad from various countries at the border and in Novgorod the Great and claim that they have come to enter service or to visit relatives or for some other business in Moscow, should be questioned at the border and in Novgorod and detained and not allowed to proceed to Moscow until you receive our royal instructions'. All foreign travellers were to be interrogated and asked to provide certificates and passes, and transcripts of such interrogations were to be made. Just before his death in 1690, Patriarch Joachim called a church council to consider the recantation of the monk Silvester Medvedev, who was accused, among other things, of propagating a Catholic view of transubstantiation. Copies of Medvedev's book Manna were seized and burnt, and its author was defrocked and beheaded in 1691. Another whiff of Old Russia comes from a report of the uncovering in 1689 of a sorcerers' conspiracy, master-minded by Andrei Bezobrazov, who allegedly attempted to undermine the health of Peter and his mother by casting spells `on bones, on money and on water'. The ring-leaders were beheaded or burnt, other `conspirators' flogged and banished. For a few months after Sophia's overthrow the atmosphere was so oppressive that Peter's friend, the Scottish mercenary General Patrick Gordon, contemplated leaving Russia.

    But in the midst of this resurgence of the old, the new was asserting itself with unprecedented vigour. Despite the Church's dire warnings about the dangers of contamination by heretics, Peter himself was spending more and more time in the company of foreigners. The Foreign Quarter was only a few miles from the Preobrazhenskoe palace, where Peter spent much of Sophia's regency. Peter became a frequent visitor at the homes of Lefort and Gordon, and soon got to know other foreign soldiers and merchants, attending banquets, weddings, and funerals. Lefort's palace, with a splendidly appointed ballroom added, was turned into a semi-official residence for the sort of reception which it was still difficult to hold in the Kremlin, accompanied by `debauchery and drunkenness so great that it is impossible to describe it'. At about this time Peter probably learned Dutch (from Andrei Vinius, a government official of Dutch descent), and also took lessons in dancing, fencing, and riding. In February 1690 the birth of Peter's first child, Alexis, was celebrated not only with the customary church services and bells but also with cannon-fire and drum-beats. Foreign-led infantry regiments were drawn up in the Kremlin, presented with gifts and vodka to mark the occasion, and ordered to fire off rounds of shot, `disturbing the peace of the saints and ancient tsars of Moscow'. Over the next few days there were firework displays, more gun salutes, banquets, and feasts. Conservatives took retaliatory action. On the patriarch's orders, a banquet on 28 February was held without the now customary foreign guests, who were banned; but the next day the tsar dined with Patrick Gordon. Then in March Joachim died. His `Testament', which denounced the policy of hiring foreigners and deplored toleration of other faiths, has been described as the `last gasp' of Old Russia:

May our sovereigns never allow any Orthodox Christians in their realm to entertain any close friendly relations with heretics and dissenters--with the Latins, Lutherans, Calvinists and godless Tatars (whom our Lord abominates and the church of God damns for their God-abhorred guile); but let them be avoided as enemies of God and defamers of the Church.

Joachim's successor was Adrian, consecrated on 24 August 1690. He was to be Russia's last patriarch, his office left vacant after his death in 1700, and abolished altogether in 1721.

    As long as Tsar Ivan was alive, the old guard still retained a figure-head in the Kremlin. After the overthrow of Sophia and Golitsyn, the old Muscovite court life, with its liturgical emphasis, was resumed with a vengeance, cleansed of the `unseemly' female variants introduced by Sophia. Festivals gave special prominence to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, celebrating earlier hierarchs who had assumed a strong political role, such as Metropolitans Philip and Alexis, and paying homage to the ruling dynasty with requiems for departed royalty (such as Tsarevich Alexis Alekseevich, whose death had not been marked in previous years). Old palace protocols persisted, on paper at least; for example, the practice of listing in order of rank all the nobles `in attendance' ( za nimi Velikimi Gosudariami ) on the tsars at such occasions as summer outings ( pokhody ) to country residences and monasteries. The Church continued to make its contribution to the business of warfare and government: in April 1695 General Avtamon Golovin was issued with icons of the Saviour, the Mother of God, and St Sergius and ten pounds of incense to carry in the campaign to Azov. In September 1697 Prince M. Ia. Cherkassky, the new governor of Tobol'sk, received a set of instructions, the first of which was to go to the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom and hear prayers for the tsar and his family read by Metropolitan Ignaty of Siberia. A few months later Patriarch Adrian issued a long instruction to churches and monasteries on priorities and procedures.

    Despite the apparent vigour of tradition, the keepers of the palace records could not conceal the fact that one of the tsars was opting out of the usual rituals. Nowhere is the spirit of the new better illustrated than in an entry recorded shortly after Joachim's death. On 27 April 1690 (April was traditionally the start of the royal pilgrimage season) `the Great Sovereign Peter Alekseevich deigned to visit Kolomenskoe'. For his trip a rowing boat was got up to look like a sailing ship; the boyars followed in two boats and strel'tsy went in front in seven, and `as they sailed along the water there was firing from cannon and hand guns'. The `play' regiments, Peter's private troops, went along in smaller craft. Tsar Ivan travelled by land. Thus we see two tsars, one firmly rooted in old Russia, the other looking to new horizons. (Thirty-four years later, in 1724, Peter again travelled to Kolomenskoe along the river, in a small flotilla with Russian and foreign guests who had gathered in Moscow for the coronation of his second wife, Catherine. The interior of the old wooden palace, it seems, had been preserved exactly as it was in the tsar's youth.) In May 1690 we find Peter making a tour of monasteries, but more often than not Ivan carried out such duties alone. This turn of events was noted by contemporaries. Boris Kurakin records: `First the ceremonial processions to the cathedral were abandoned and Tsar Ivan Alekseevich started to go alone; also the royal robes were abandoned and Peter wore simple dress. Public audiences were mostly abandoned (such as were given to visiting prelates and envoys from the hetman, for which there were public processions,); now there were simple receptions.'

    Many of Peter's unofficial activities are recorded in the diary of Patrick Gordon, which provides a secular alternative to the old records which were so deeply rooted in the religious calendar. We learn that on 30 May 1690 Peter spent his birthday at Preobrazhenskoe enjoying gun salutes and target practice. On 19 January 1691 Peter visited P. V. Sheremetev, and the next day Gordon had such a dreadful hangover that he could not get out of bed until the evening. A dinner at Boris Golitysn's on 16 May had similar consequences. And so on. Royal account books for 1690-1 show numerous entries for orders for `German dress' in the royal workshops, made from materials bought from foreign merchants and intended for Peter and members of his play regiments. Peter's enthusiasm for things foreign is indicated by the motley collection of foreign goods shipped to Archangel in 1692: mathematical instruments, two globes, a large organ, four large clocks, five barrels of Rhine wine, and a barrel of olive oil.

    The new was taking its place alongside the old. After the traditional blessing of the waters at Preobrazhenskoe on 1 August, for example, there was firing from guns. Tsaritsa Natalia's name-day celebrations on 27 August 1691 combined the usual church services, visits from churchmen and receipt and dispensing of gifts on the tsaritsa's behalf, with a reception of visitors by the tsaritsa herself (from which, however, foreigners were excluded), followed by gun salutes and fireworks. We must also look to the beginning of the 1690s for the origins of one of Peter's most controversial `institutions', the All-Drunken, All-Jesting Assembly or `Synod'. Sometimes dismissed as an adolescent aberration, in fact the Drunken Assembly flourished throughout Peter's reign. The new trends seemed to be growing inexorably, yet how easily it might all have changed. In November 1692 Peter fell ill, and for ten days was at death's door. There were rumours that many of his supporters were preparing to flee. His recovery signalled the resumption of the new life with a vengeance. In July 1693 Peter set off for Archangel to see the sea. This was an `outing' ( pokhod ) for which the record-keepers lacked the vocabulary. The clerks compromised by listing the courtiers in attendance on Peter in the usual manner, but without reference to their destination. Yet this historic journey had much in common with the royal outings of old. The accompanying retinue was listed according to rank, from boyars to secretaries. Peter travelled with a priest, eight choristers, two dwarfs and forty strel'tsy. During Peter's travels Tsar Ivan's activities were solemnly chronicled, and Peter's absences were sometimes noted--for example, at the requiem mass for the late Tsarevna Anna Mikhailovna on 24 July. Moscow was depleted of courtiers. More than ever, the life-style of the two courts diverged. For example, the Russian New Year on 1 September 1693 was celebrated in Archangel with gun salutes from both foreign and Russian ships in the harbour, while back in Moscow, Tsar Ivan, clad in robes of red velvet, `deigned to go from his royal chambers to the cathedral' to hear the patriarch celebrate the liturgy `according to the usual rites'. On occasion, Peter assumed a traditional role, visiting his father's favourite place of pilgrimage, the St Sabbas monastery at Zvenigorod, in May 1693; but after Tsar Ivan's death in January 1696, more and more rituals were enacted without any tsar at all. An old formula was adopted to cover for Peter's absence, be it on campaign or abroad, i.e., the appointment of a small group of deputies to attend services and ceremonials in his stead. An order to this effect was issued: from 2 April to 1 September 1697 `the tsarevichy, boyars, okol'nichie and gentlemen of the duma shall follow behind the holy icons in parades and services', although entries in the palace records reveal that the escort usually comprised only token representatives of these ranks. So, for example, the 1697 Epiphany ceremony was attended by Tsarevich Vasily of Siberia, boyar Prince P. I. Khovansky, okol'nichii S. F. Tolochanov, and Secretary Avatamon Ivanov.

    If the early 1690s were a time of exploration and game playing, they also saw the beginnings of serious activity. Peter's first chance to try out his strength came in 1694 when his mother died. The demise of Natalia Naryshkina, a useful figure-head for the leading men, whose power rested upon their relationship to the royal mother, threatened a new configuration of forces which could have worked to Peter's disadvantage. But any thoughts of, for example, using the strel'tsy again against Peter were discouraged by Peter's own forces, based upon the `play' ( poteshnye ) troops. The two regiments took their names from the adjacent royal villages at Preobrazhenskoe and Semenovskoe to the north of Moscow. Their organization--foreign ranks, training, uniforms--was modelled on the new-formation infantry regiments introduced in the 1630s. The story goes that in the 1680s Peter discovered about 300 men idle at a former royal hunting-lodge, and signed them up to play military games. Others were requisitioned from regular units: for example, a drummer and fifteen troopers from the Butyrsky infantry regiment in 1687. Young nobles who might once have served as gentlemen of the bedchamber and in other junior court posts were recruited alongside local lads from a variety of backgrounds. The Semenovsky regiment was formed from the overflow from the Preobrazhensky regiment. Officers and men were all said to be known to the tsar personally. By 1685 the embryonic guards had a scaled-down wooden fortress which Peter named Presburg, with barracks and stables adjacent to the Preobrazhenskoe palace. In deference to foreign expertise, Russians, including the tsar himself, served in the ranks or as non-commissioned officers. A list of officers ( nachal'nye liudi ) of both regiments for 1695 shows that they were all foreigners, although Russian names appear in the next year or so, mostly in the lower officer ranks.

    In September 1694 Peter staged the so-called Kozhukhovo manoeuvres, mock exercises which were `partly political in nature', in which some 30,000 men participated. The `campaign' presented Muscovites with a show of strength, as armies commanded by Fedor Romodanovsky, the `king of Presburg', and Ivan Buturlin, the `king of Poland', paraded through the city. The mock battle included an assault with explosives on a specially constructed fortress, which left twenty-four dead and fifteen wounded. Members of both the Lopukhin and the Naryshkin families were placed on the losing side, perhaps to make the point that Peter did not intend to be beholden to any of his relatives unless they proved their worth.

    Soon there were to be opportunities for real service. In the wake of the disastrous Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689, which attracted little allied support, Russia began to lose confidence in the Holy League, fearing exclusion from any future peace negotiations with the Turks. Even so, Peter was determined to continue the war in the hope of real gain and in 1695 he reopened hostilities in a campaign against the Turkish coastal fort of Azov at the mouth of the River Don, in an attempt to recover Russian prestige, gain a stronger bargaining position with his allies and ward off Turkish attacks on Ukraine. It was widely believed in 1694-5 that Peter was planning to make another assault on the Crimea, `march with a mighty army against the Crim Tartar, having an Artillery of 80 great guns and 150 Mortars', to bring relief to hard-pressed Poland, rumours which Peter was happy to encourage. In the event, he marched not to Perekop, but to Azov, a plan which may have been suggested by Patrick Gordon. Two armies were dispatched: the joint force of B. P. Sheremetev and the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa to the Dnieper, to deflect the Tatars from the mouth of the Don, and a smaller unit consisting of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky guards and strel'tsy on river craft down the Don.

    Peter wrote to Fedor Apraksin: `In the autumn we were engaged in martial games at Kozhukhovo. They weren't intended to be anything more than games. But that play was the herald of real activity.' In this, as in some subsequent campaigns, Peter ceded nominal command to others. The commander-in-chief was A. S. Shein, while the tsar marched as a bombardier in the Preobrazhensky regiment. The first Azov campaign was a failure, and the fortress remained in Turkish hands. Peter blamed this on multiple command, tactical errors, and technical deficiencies. Foreign engineering specialists were hired for the next campaign, in an effort to avoid such fiascos as mines planted on ramparts far away from the enemy blowing up 130 Russians without doing any damage to the Turks. The Turks, meanwhile, were able to replenish supplies from the sea, with no Russian ships to hinder them.

    This set-back has often been identified as the real beginning of Peter's career, when he was forced to `grow up' and discover `astonishing reserves of energy'. Such formulae should not simply be dismissed as part of a Petrine myth propagated by both tsarist and Soviet writers. Failure did indeed stimulate the implementation of a number of measures, characterized by what was to become the typically `Petrine' use of speed, mass recruitment, and command from above. The prime example was the preparation of galleys at Voronezh on the Don for a renewed campaign in 1696, a huge effort in which thousands of the tsar's subjects were expected to do their bit, from the leading churchmen and merchants, who reluctantly supplied the cash, to the hapless labourers drafted in to hack wood in terrible conditions. Both river craft and seagoing vessels were to support an army of some 46,000 Russian troops, 15,000 Ukrainian Cossacks, 5,000 Don Cossacks, and 3,000 Kalmyks. At the end of May 1696, Peter's land and sea forces laid siege to Azov. By 7 June a Russian flotilla was able to take to the sea and cut off access to Turkish reinforcements.82 Apart from the use of sea power, Russian success was aided by General Gordon's plan of a rolling rampart ('the throwing up a wall of earth and driveing it on the Towne wall') and the services of Austrian engineers. On 18 July the fortress surrendered.

    This victory prompted some striking manifestations of the new culture. In the past, military triumphs had been largely religious affairs, celebrated by parades of crosses and icons headed by chanting priests. Such displays of thanksgiving continued right to the end of Peter's reign--in Russia, as in every other European country, military victory and defeat were interpreted as inextricably linked with God's will--but from now on the religious processions were supplemented, and usually eclipsed, by secular parades bristling with `pagan' symbols. After Azov, triumphal gates of Classical design bearing the legend in Russian `I came. I saw. I conquered' gave a preview of the imperial Roman references and imagery which culminated in the festivities of 1721, when Russia became an empire. There were references to Christian Rome, too, and comparisons of Peter to the Emperor Constantine. In addition to the customary prayers, verses were chanted through a megaphone by State Secretary Andrei Vinius. Peter, wearing German uniform, marched in the parade behind the official heroes Admiral Lefort and General Shein, while the religious authority was parodied by `prince-pope' Nikita Zotov in a carriage. It is said that Peter had in mind not only Roman precedents but also the example of Ivan IV, who organized a similar parade after the conquest of Kazan in 1552. This was the first public display of the new manners, which until then had by and large been confined to semi-private indulgence at Preobrazhenskoe or in the Foreign Quarter. This new openness fanned growing popular disapproval of Peter's foreign ways, which expressed itself in full force in 1698, when the strel'tsy revolted.

    The 1690s saw interesting developments in art and culture. The semi-Westernized Moscow baroque style of the 1680s matured and spread beyond the capital, where masonry churches and civic buildings displayed decorative features such as Classical columns and carved stone and brick ornament inspired by Western Renaissance and baroque originals. Peter's maternal relatives commissioned so many churches in this style that it is often referred to as `Naryshkin baroque'. One of the finest examples, the Church of the Intercession at Fili, built for Lev Naryshkin in 1690-3, had icons which reflected family history--images of SS Peter and Paul, John the Baptist, Alexis Man of God, and St Stephen, the latter bearing a striking resemblance to the young Peter, who often visited the church. An even more remarkable church, commissioned by Prince Boris Golitsyn on his estate at Dubrovitsy in 1690, dispensed with the traditional cupolas (the tower is capped by an open-work crown) and had statues of saints over the parapets and Latin inscriptions inside.

    The painting of the 1690s also exhibits interesting `transitional' features. In January 1692 the Armoury received an order for eleven large pictures for Peter's residence at Pereiaslavl'-Zalessky (where he was experimenting with sailing), the subjects of which were the Saviour, the Mother of God, the martyr Natalia, Alexis Man of God, Alexander Nevsky, Peter and the martyr Evdokia. The family references (Alexander Nevsky, for example, was the patron saint of Peter's second son Alexander, born in October 1691) were almost certainly chosen by Peter's mother rather than Peter himself. But the commission reflected `modern' trends in so far as these were not traditional icon panels but paintings on canvas in frames. There are even more revealing indications of Peter's emerging individual taste: for example, his order in July 1691 for twelve German portraits ( person nemetskikh ) in gilt frames, to be taken to his apartments from the confiscated property of Prince Vasily Golitsyn. In August 1694 a team of painters in the Armoury received orders for twenty-three battle paintings for Peter's apartments, `after the German model', with frames also of German design. Four painters were to take four subjects each, and the rest were to be done by apprentices, `painting different subjects, making use of German pictures [as models]'. In June 1697, when Peter was abroad, the same team of Armoury painters was instructed to paint eight pictures on canvas depicting `troops going by sea, making use of foreign German pictures or engravings, employing the best workmanship'. Again, these were large canvases, evidently executed in some haste, given that the same painters were all dispatched to work in Voronezh in July, and the frames were ordered in August. Painters were called upon to do other jobs to meet new demands: for example, to decorate the new ships built at Voronezh in 1696-7. These few examples indicate clearly the emergence of a distinct secular culture from within the walls of the Moscow Armoury, that early `academy of arts' which housed a secular painting studio separate from the icon-painting workshops only since the 1680s.

    It is very difficult to assess the art of the 1690s because, like the 1696 triumphal gates, so few examples have survived. Accurate likenesses of Peter pre-dating the Grand Embassy are notable by their absence. Earlier engravings, such as Larmessen's double portrait of Peter and Ivan (ca. 1687), are mostly imaginative reconstructions. Evidently others existed but have disappeared; thus, in July 1695 an order was given for a printed `persona' of Peter to be stuck on to canvas and framed. Perhaps Peter's restless activity in the 1690s precluded sitting for portraits. Yet it is with portraits that we shall conclude our examination of the 1690s. The first is the most famous (once thought to be the only) image of the young tsar, painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller in London in 1698, now hanging in Kensington Palace in London. The startling contrast between this wholly Western depiction of a monarch and the few surviving images of Peter's father has often been pointed out, but is worth drawing attention to here: the bearded Orthodox tsar of the 1660s with traditional robes and pectoral and crown crosses gives way to the warrior in armour with a warship in the background. For Kneller, Peter was just another European monarch. All traces of Russian `exoticism' were expunged. Indeed, Kneller used the same set formula--column and crown to the left, warship in the background to the right, royal ermine, and armour--as in his 1680s portrait of James II. Yet there are other portraits of Peter from this period which remind us that the break with Old Russia was far from complete. One by the Dutch artist Pieter Van der Werff shows Peter dressed in the Polish style, while in an anonymous portrait now in the Rijksmuseum he wears Russian dress. A similar contrast may be observed in two much smaller images, produced a year later in an entirely different medium. In 1699 two experimental half-roubles were minted. The first, by Vasily Andreev of the Armoury, shows Peter full face, in icon style, wearing the Crown of Monomach. The second is wholly Western, showing the tsar as a Roman emperor in profile, with laurel wreath and mantle. On the reverse is a collar of St Andrew and a coat of arms. On the eve of the new century and the outbreak of the Northern War, the designers had, albeit unconsciously, expressed the contrast between old and new. Which of the two would prevail? In Peter's mind, at least, the contest was already decided, as were the means for augmenting national prestige and prosperity. The focus would shift from the Black Sea to the Baltic and the country which barred Russia's way, Sweden.

(C) 1998 Lindsey Hughes All rights reserved. ISBN: 0-300-07539-1

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--> 02/21/2012 All three core areas rely significantly on transit. Muscovites use the Metro at about the same rate as New Yorkers use the subway, taking about 200 trips each year. Tokyo citizens use their two Metro systems at nearly 1.5 times the rate used in Moscow. But there are important differences. Moscow officials indicate that approximately two-thirds of Moscow's employment is in the central area. This is a much higher figure than in the world’s two largest central business districts -- Tokyo's Yamanote Loop and Manhattan -- each with quarter or less of their metropolitan employment. Both New York City and Tokyo's 23 wards have extensive freeway lengths in their cores, which help to make their traffic congestion more tolerable. Moscow's arterial street pattern was clearly designed with the assumption that the dominant travel pattern would be into the core. Major streets either radiate from the core, or form circles or partial circles at varying distances from it. In New York City and Tokyo's  23 wards there are radial arterials, but,the major streets generally form a grid, which is more conducive to the cross-town traffic and the more random trip patterns that have emerged in the automobile age. Moscow has become much, more reliant on cars,  following the examples of metropolitan areas across Europe. The old outer circular road, which encloses nearly all of the central municipality, was long ago upgraded to the MKAD, a 10 lane freeway as long as Washington's I-495 Capital Beltway (65 miles or 110 kilometers). The MKAD has become a primary commercial corridor, with large shopping centers and three nearby IKEAs. It is not surprising, therefore, that traffic congestion and air pollution became serious problems in Moscow. The road system that had been adequate when only the rich had cars was no longer sufficient. The "cookie-cutter" apartment blocks, which had served Iron Curtain poverty, had become obsolete. The continued densification of an already very dense core city led to an of intensification of traffic congestion and air pollution. Transit-oriented Moscow was not working, nor could "walkability" make much difference. In such a large urban area, it is inevitable that average travel distances, especially to work, will be long. Geographically large employment markets are the very foundation of major metropolitan areas. If too many jobs are concentrated in one area, then the traffic becomes unbearable, as many become able to afford cars and use them. Traffic congestion was poised to make Moscow dysfunctional. The leadership of both the Russian Federation and the city of Moscow chose an unusual path, in light of currently fashionable urban planning dogma. Rather than making promises they could not keep about how higher densities or more transit could make the unworkable city more livable, they chose the practical, though in urban planning circles, the "politically incorrect" solution:  deconcentrating the city and its traffic. Last year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev proposed that Moscow be expanded to a land area 2.3 times as large. Local officials and parliament were quickly brought on board. The expanded land area is nearly double that of New York's suburban Nassau County, and is largely rural (Note 2). Virtually all of the expansion will be south of the MKAD. The plan is to create a much larger, automobile-oriented municipality, with large portions of the Russian government to be moved to the expanded area. Employment will be decentralized, given the hardening of the transport arterials that makes the monocentric employment pattern unsustainable. Early plans call for commercial construction more than four times that of Chicago's loop. At the same time, the leadership does not intend to abandon the older, transit-oriented part of the municipality. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has voiced plans to , adding that there will be the opportunity to build underground parking facilities as refurbishments proceed. Moscow appears to be preparing to offer its citizens both an automobile-oriented lifestyle and a transit-oriented one. The reduced commercial traffic should also make central Moscow a more attractive environment for tourists, who spend too much time traveling between their hotels and historic sites, such as the Kremlin and St. Basil's. As Moscow expands, the national leadership also wants the Russian family to expand. Russia has been losing population for more than 20 years. Since 1989, the population of the Russian Federation has dropped by 4.5 million residents. When the increase of 3.0 million in the Moscow area is considered, the rest of the nation has lost approximately 7.5 million since 1989. Between the 2002 and the 2010 censuses, Russia lost 2.2 million people and dropped into a population of 142.9 million. Russia's population losses are pervasive. Out of the 83 federal regions, 66 lost population during the last census. Continued population losses could significantly impair national economic growth. The projected smaller number of working age residents will produce less income, while a growing elderly population will need more financial support. This is not just a Russian problem, but Russia is the first of the world's largest nations to face the issue while undergoing a significant population loss. The government is planning strong measures to counter the demographic decline, increase the birth rate, and create a home ownership-based "Russian Dream". Families having three or more children will be across the nation., including plots of up to nearly one-third of an acre ( ).  Many of these houses could be built in Moscow's new automobile- oriented two-thirds, as well as in the extensive suburbs on the other three sides of the core municipality. While population decline is the rule across the Russian Federation, the Moscow urban area has experienced strong growth. Between 2002 and 2010, the Moscow urban area grew from 14.6 million to 16.1 million residents (Note 3). This 1.3 percent annual rate of increase  exceeds the recently the recently announced growth in Canada (1.2 percent). This rate of increase exceeds that of all but 8 of the 51 major metropolitan areas (Note 4) in the United States between 2000 and 2010. While the core district grew 6 percent  and added 41,000 residents, growth was strongest outside the core, which accommodated 97 percent of the new residents (See Table). Moscow's outer districts grew by nearly 1.1 million residents, an 11 percent increase, and its suburbs continued to expand, adding 400,000 residents, an increase of 10  percent. These areas have much lower densities than the city, with many single-family houses. Table Moscow Urban Area Population 2002 2010 Change % Change Share of Growth Inner Moscow 701,000 743,000 41,000 5.9% 2.7% Outer Moscow 9,681,000 10,772,000 1,090,000 11.3% 70.3% Suburban 4,198,000 4,617,000 420,000 10.0% 27.0% Total 14,581,000 16,132,000 1,551,000 10.6% 100.0% Note: Suburban population includes the total population of each district and city that is at least partially in the urban area. Moscow, like other international urban areas , is decentralizing, despite considerable barriers. The expansion will lead to even more decentralization, which is likely to lead to less time "stuck in traffic" and more comfortable lifestyles. Let's hope that Russia's urban development policies, along with its plans to restore population growth, will lead to higher household incomes and much improved economic performance. Wendell Cox is a Visiting Professor, Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris and the author of “ War on the Dream: How Anti-Sprawl Policy Threatens the Quality of Life ” Note 1: The 23 ward (ku) area of Tokyo is the geography of the former city of Tokyo, which was abolished in the 1940s. There is considerable confusion about the geography of Tokyo. For example, the 23 ward area is a part of the prefecture of Tokyo, which is also called the Tokyo Metropolis, which has led some analysts to think of it as the Tokyo metropolitan area (labor market area). In fact, the Tokyo metropolitan area, variously defined, includes, at a minimum the prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama with some municipalities in Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi. The metropolitan area contains nearly three times the population of the "Tokyo Metropolis." Note 2: The expansion area (556 square miles or 1,440 square kilometers) has a current population of 250,000. Note 3: Includes all residents in suburban districts with at least part of their population in the urban area. Note 4: Urban area data not yet available. Photo: St. Basil's Cathedral (all photos by author) Login to post comments Evolving Urban Form: Development Profiles of World Urban Areas Transportation Comment viewing options Road in city area. The roads and ways of the city areas are very clumsy and many accidents are happening due to the short road. But you need to maintain the driving properly otherwise you may face accident. So now the government decided to expand the road which may put the positive effect on automobile sector. I think it is a helpful service for the society people. If you have a BMW car and you have faced any problem then better to repair it at BMW Repair Spring, TX for the best service. Transit & transportation Transit and transportation services are quite impressive in most of the urban cities; therefore people were getting better benefits from suitable transportation service. Urban cities like Moscow, Washington, New York and Tokyo; we have found high margin of transportation system that helps to build a better communication network in these cities. I hope through the help of modern transportation system we are able to bring revolutionary change in automobile industries; in this above article we have also found the same concepts to develop transportation system. Mercedes repair in Torrance Moscow is bursting Noblesse Moscow is bursting Noblesse at the seams. The core city covers more than 420 square miles (1,090 kilometers), and has a population of approximately 11.5 million people. With 27,300 residents per square mile (10,500 per square kilometer), Moscow is one percent more dense than the bleach anime watch city of New York, though Moscow covers 30 percent more land. The 23 ward area of Tokyo (see Note) is at least a third more dense, though Moscow's land area is at least half again as large as Tokyo. All three core areas rely Belgravia Villas is a new Belgravia Villas is a new and upcoming cluster housing located in the Ang Mo Kio area, nested right in the Ang Mo Kio landed area. It is within a short drive to Little India, Orchard and city area. With expected completion in mid 2016, it comprises of 118 units in total with 100 units of terrace and 18 units of Semi-D. belgravia villas Russians seeing the light while Western elites are bickering? What an extremely interesting analysis - well done, Wendell. It is also extremely interesting that the Russian leadership is reasonably pragmatic about urban form, in contrast to the "planners" of the post-rational West. An acquaintance recently sent me an article from "The New Yorker", re Moscow's traffic problems. The article "abstract" is HERE (but access to the full article requires subscription) http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/02/100802fa_fact_gessen One classic quote worth taking from it, is: "People will endure all manner of humiliation to keep driving". I do find it odd that the "New Yorker" article author says nothing at all about the rail transit system Moscow had, on which everyone was obliged to travel, under Communism. It can't surely have vaporised into thin air? Moscow is a classic illustration of just how outmoded rails are, and how important "automobility" is, when the auto supplants rails so rapidly than even when everybody did travel on rails up to a certain date, and the road network dates to that era, when nobody was allowed to own a car; an article written just 2 decades later does not even mention the rail transit system, other than to criticise the mayor for "failing to invest in a transit system".......!!!!!!!! This is also a give-away of "The New Yorker's" inability to shake off the modern PC ideology on rails vs cars. Subscribe to NG Articles Get new posts by email:, connect with us:. NewGeography.com is a joint venture of Joel Kotkin and Praxis Strategy Group Featured Content The Coming of Neo-Feudalism Infinite Suburbia Recent blog posts Feudal Future Podcast: British Elections—European Populism and Its Impact on the UK Feudal Future Podcast: The Future of Cars — Hybrid and Electric Insights Net Domestic Migration Gains & Losses by State since 2000 Feudal Future Podcast: Unpacking Europe's Youth-Driven Political Shift Feudal Future Podcast: Navigating South Africa's Political and Economic Changes Dining Out on Taxpayers in NYC The Next Australian City: the Suburban Evolution Why Latino Success Matters Update on the Relationship Between House Values and Rents Feudal Future Podcast Empowering California's Future: The Latino Workforce and Socio-Economic Recent popular content Migration: Geographies In Conflict The Midwest: Talent, Ambition, and Culture Why Republicans Need the Cities The Evolving Urban Form: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) New Zealand Housing Hits Political Hot Button Suburb Hating is Anti-Child The 2013 Best Cities For Job Growth USA: A Net Exporter of Natural Gas? More from this author Largest World Cities: 2014 Largest Cities in the World: 2016 World Urban Areas Population and Density: A 2012 Update Largest 1,000 Cities on Earth: World Urban Areas: 2015 Edition The Evolving Urban Form: Rio de Janeiro Recommended Books Blogroll and partner sites. Burgh Diaspora Center for Economic Research and Forecasting China Urban Development Blog Chris Bradford - Austin Contrarian Houston Strategies LA Observed Multiplier Effect: Levy Economics Institute The Rural Blog The Urbanophile Request new password © 2024 New Geography CONTRIBUTORS : PRIVACY POLICY Stay up to date: Paris Olympics closing ceremony means America is next. And IOC, I have questions. Los angeles is up next as host of the 2028 summer games. how will la beat the paris olympics' opening ceremony. As with the Olympic opening ceremony , my three-generation family will be watching Sunday's closing ceremony . Like millions of our fellow earthlings, we've been glued to our screens on all platforms for so much of the Summer Games in the past two weeks that I wouldn't dream of missing the finale. My family will remember the Paris Olympics for so many viral moments, including: The already most-decorated-gymnast Simone Biles , 27, winning four more medals for Team USA. How swimmer Katie Ledecky , 27, became the most decorated American female Olympian of all time with 14 medals. Jerome Brouillet's photo of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina , 30, and his board levitating above the ocean as he earned a near-perfect 10. French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati , 21, gaining followers because, as he posted on TikTok after his crotch knocked down the crossbar, "You create more buzz for your package than your performances." Zeng Zhiying, a 58-year-old table tennis player who missed out on being selected to represent China in Los Angeles in 1984 but in Paris represented Chile. Her Olympic debut at our age was heavenly.   A much more down-to-earth feat, though, will be what sticks with me after the 2024 Summer Games. It's also what brought a few questions to mind. 'I don't believe it. I'm scoring at least once.' The Olympics table tennis moment we need to know more about. On opening ceremony evening July 26, NBA international superstar Steph Curry swapped Olympic pins with as-yet-unknown Olympians like a giddy kid at summer camp. When he realized he had just met the U.S. women's table tennis team, Curry brought the star-struck Asian Americans to where his mostly African American basketball teammates were hanging out and goaded Anthony Edwards , who prides himself on excelling in many sports, that these seemingly demure ladies could shut him up. Friendly trash talk followed, with the 23-year-old Minnesota Timberwolves guard Edwards saying, "I don't believe it. I'm scoring at least once," and the 28-year-old Olympic veteran Lily Zhang smilingly responding , "There's only one way to try it out." Olympic boxers deserve compassion: But questions of fairness shouldn't be brushed aside. I instantly followed @usabasketball and @usatabletennis_ on Instagram, but so far, there's been no word of this match that so many on social media have demanded. This sparked the first of several questions I have for Olympians as well as Olympic organizers: When can we see Ant play Ping-Pong with Lily? It's heartwarming that Edwards showed up to cheer Zhang on as she advanced to the round of 16. And bravo that his team invited her squad to basketball practice , where they traded souvenirs and autographs. But the U.S. Major League Table Tennis could use the help of NBA gods to gain support. Take pity on us mere mortals and hold an exhibition. Where's Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva? In February 2022, during the Beijing Winter Games, I wrote a column saying, " I have never wanted a 15-year-old to fail so much in my life . But when (Valieva) executed her short program ... that's exactly what her team's handling of her positive drug test had reduced me to – a spiteful fan who loved her during the pre-Olympics competitions but now feels betrayed. ... Russia grabbed gold, the USA earned silver and Japan won bronze." Olympics diversity: Would you call Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles or Suni Lee a 'DEI hire'? As USA TODAY Sports columnist Christine Brennan wrote this past week: " The Russian scandal ... forced the original medal ceremony to be canceled and triggered an infuriating series of international delays and appeals, finally ending with a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling less than two weeks ago." On Wednesday, the 2022 U.S. Olympic figure skating team ‒ including "Rocketman" Nathan Chen ‒ finally got their gold medals and the Japanese skaters got their silver, all surrounded by their loved ones at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. But what about Valieva? Now two years older but still a teenager, did she watch the medal ceremony somewhere? What is she up to? Who does she blame for losing gold? Olympics gender equality vs. gender-blind sports How long before gender-parity Olympics lead to gender-neutral Games? Paris witnessed the first-ever Olympics to reach  gender parity . In 2016, as the Summer Games wrapped up in Rio de Janeiro, I co-wrote an editorial advocating, " Let men and women compete head-to-head in shooting ." Josh Rivera and I reasoned: "For decades, men and women shooters competed against each other in international events. At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, American  Margaret Thompson Murdock tied for first with teammate Lanny Bassham in the small-bore rifle competition. After the judges examined the targets, they awarded the gold medal to the man and the silver to the woman. To Bassham’s credit, he asked Murdock to share the top podium with him as the national anthem played. "After that, the International Olympic Committee phased out mixed-gender shooting and created events just for women. Yet in the 21st century, shooting remains one of the  few collegiate sports that’s gender blind ‒ and in which women are highly competitive. It’s time to take a fresh look at which sports lend themselves to head-to-head competition, regardless of gender." Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store . Equestrian remains the only Olympic sport that's gender neutral . So our editorial question from eight years ago still stands: "If the horse doesn’t care who’s handling it, why should a gun?" How will Los Angeles beat the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony? I can't wait to see how Sunday's closing ceremony will compare with the opening ceremony's historic parade of nations on boats down the River Seine. But L.A. holds the next Summer Games. How do you top the Eiffel Tower? Traditionally, at a closing ceremony, the next Olympic host also puts on a show to tease coming attractions. There are rumors that Tom Cruise, who's been prominently attending numerous Olympic events around Paris, will execute some wild stunt . Hollywood, bring it. Thuan Le Elston, a  USA TODAY Opinion  editor, is the author of " Rendezvous at the Altar: From Vietnam to Virginia ." You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page , on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter . More From Forbes Tips for getting succession planning right. Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Bruce Werner specializes in governance, strategy, finance and M&A. Author & Experienced Outside Director. Kona Advisors LLC . A mom and dad in a small west Texas town had built a nice bookkeeping business for themselves. Their two sons had developed their own careers, one in consulting and the other in technology. As the business grew, they realized they needed help, and the consultant son became CEO. But Mom and Dad still owned the business. At the point that Mom and Dad wanted to plan their retirement, they realized they needed a mechanism to transfer the equity between generations but weren’t sure how to do it. There was no reason to consider selling to outsiders since the son was an effective CEO and wanted to take over the business. Yet, they needed a liquidity mechanism. In an initial conversation, I explained the Three Circle model of family business, and with that was able to structure a resolution process. A family business consists of three overlapping circles, and each needs to be understood: Family – Who is considered family? Does it include in-laws and cousins, or only direct descendants? As the numbers grow, everything gets more complicated, and the economics get diluted. Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Clues And Answers For Wednesday, August 14 Why fans think ‘it ends with us’ stars blake lively, justin baldoni are feuding—as baldoni reportedly hires crisis pr, trump’s manhattan conviction moves forward as judge merchan refuses to leave case. Ownership – Who owns equity, and does it have voting rights or not? Many families have two classes of stock, so that economics can be equally shared, but control is limited to a few individuals. Business – Who works in the business, and in what capacity? Some may be executives, and others may work in a non-executive capacity. With that, I posed these questions to bring things back into focus: • Does everyone agree on who is in each circle? • Who and how are decisions made in each circle? • Is there accountability for behaviors in each circle? • How is conflict dealt with in each circle, or is conflict ignored? The truth is, it is fairly hard to conduct succession planning without being realistic about these questions and understanding all of the soft issues. If there are real deal-breakers, then the sooner you understand them, the more successful you are likely to be. Using this as a jumping-off point, I highlighted a number of issues that they would need to contend with moving forward: How to secure financial security for Mom and Dad? It is hard to transition into retirement if your future is uncertain. Running the numbers, and knowing that there is a margin of safety, is the first step on the path to a successful succession. Since the business was modest, it wasn’t obvious that a buyout would fund retirement. So, we needed to consider a growth strategy to ensure that the buyout would hit their magic number. Are there non-economic legacy issues to address? Once Mom and Dad know they are secure, do they still have non-economic goals to achieve? This usually includes reputational or philanthropic goals, in addition to trying to control what happens to their employees after their retirement. Part of the retirement plan included providing their grandchildren with college funds and support of their church and local community. This meant we needed to refine the marketing component of the growth plan and make sure they could execute the new business plan successfully. It also meant they would need to work a few years longer to achieve their goals. Is it family first or business first? Every family business makes a choice, as it is not possible to put both family and business first. Businesses can be successful either way, although “business first” families don’t always function as well. This may not be due to the business. The real question is whether or not the second son was part of the plan or not. There had been no discussions yet on this. Since he was successful on his own, there was reason to believe he would want to invest in the business and trust his brother to do well. How might this work out to everyone’s benefit? We needed to explore if his participation in the new ownership group would help make the math work. Is there consistency in ownership, compensation and distribution policies? After the parents are out of the ownership structure, they will still have thoughts on issues between their sons. The CEO son was paid a salary but did not receive distributions. The second son received nothing from the business. How should this be handled during the transition years? Do the parents want both kids to be equal in the succession process or not? If the outside son had voting rights but did not depend on the business for his livelihood, it may create a conflict between the children. But if he was purchasing equity, would he not want voting rights as well? These issues can be sorted out, but they need to be enumerated and assessed. What about tax planning? Effective tax planning usually impacts the timing of these decisions. One thought was to transfer some of the stock to the grandchildren now, to avoid estate taxes, but that went against maximizing their retirement plans. There was also a question about getting the stock out of their estate within their lifetimes so that they knew it was done. So, if those are some of the important questions, how do we go about finding answers? Well, it starts with a conversation. In this case, the family communicated reasonably well, so a facilitated conversation uncovered thoughts and feelings, and we were able to create a process to outline the issues and possible solutions. We then worked through each branch of the decision tree. We spent some time talking about their family values—what was important, how did they want to live and what did they want to be remembered for, both by employees and in their small community. With hard work and perseverance, we were able to build a roadmap to get them from today to their desired tomorrow. We also were prepared to adjust the plan, if need be, since we understood all the options. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify? Editorial Standards Reprints & Permissions 235 IMAGES Practice of Family Planning Free Essay Example ⚡ Family planning essay. 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Find inspiration for topics, titles, outlines, & craft impactful family planning papers. Read our family planning papers today! Russia in the Age of Peter the Great The family references (Alexander Nevsky, for example, was the patron saint of Peter's second son Alexander, born in October 1691) were almost certainly chosen by Peter's mother rather than Peter himself. But the commission reflected `modern' trends in so far as these were not traditional icon panels but paintings on canvas in frames. HERRIOT IS ADROIT IN PRAISING STALIN; Says the Soviet Leader's 'Six HERRIOT IS ADROIT IN PRAISING STALIN; Says the Soviet Leader's 'Six Points' Show Highest In- telligence and Courage. PRESSES HIS PEACE AIMS Ex-Premier of France Displays Skill in Evading Questions ... Securing The Legacy Of Your Life's Work Through Succession Planning But succession planning isn't just a box to tick off; it's a vital process that ensures your business remains operational and successful, even when you decide to step back. The Evolving Urban Form: Moscow's Auto-Oriented Expansion The government is planning strong measures to counter the demographic decline, increase the birth rate, and create a home ownership-based "Russian Dream". Families having three or more children will be granted land for building single-family houses across the nation., including plots of up to nearly one-third of an acre ( 1,500 square meters ). Olympics brought us so many viral moments I'm left with so many memories and moments from the Paris Olympics. Also, a few questions about what's next. Tips For Getting Succession Planning Right The truth is, it is fairly hard to conduct succession planning without being realistic about these questions and understanding all of the soft issues. Peter Reddaway, who brought tales of Soviet dissent to the West, dies Smuggled documents from Soviet dissidents reached Mr. Reddaway in London in 1968, drawing him into an underground world of opposition activists. assignment essay homework phd report resume review speech thesis