From traditional tents to shipping containers. Kazakhstan was once the homeland of nomads. Today, few people live in a yurt but there is a new kind of nomadic space which can be seen throughout the big cities as well as in the countryside: shipping containers.

Why? The answer is simple: because of Soviet style specialization and limited domestic manufacturing, Kazakhstan is a country which has to import a lot of products. That’s where the containers come from. As there is not much export from Kazakhstan, the shipping containers are left around and are used as mobile and relatively cheap living spaces, storage rooms, shops or restaurants. A surprising sight at first – but it somehow seems like a natural development for a once nomadic population.

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