History UsefulNotes / ClosedCities

Note that living there was not necessarily bad - it involved (and to a lesser extent, still involves) reasonably good and prestigious if secret work, lots of cool if sometimes dangerous stuff happening, and various privileges such as a temporary exemption of local businesses from taxes in the Nineties.

* ''[[VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans Destroy All Humans 2]]'' had a fictional one vaguely called "Tunguska". It played up all the stereotypes [[UpToEleven To Eleven.]]

* Vladivostok, main base of the Pacific Fleet. Now open.

There are even closed cities in towns outside the former Pact. Several US towns that housed the researchers for the Manhattan Project were temporarily closed, and the towns of Dugway, Utah[[note]]Home to the primary biological and chemical weapons testing grounds of the US military[[/note]], and Mercury, Nevada[[note]]Located in the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, which was the primary site for nuclear weapons tests until they ceased testing in 1992, it still houses staff who work on various subcritical nuclear tests[[/note]] are still closed to the public. Access to Foulness Island[[note]]Home to a weapons testing range, an ordnance disposal area, a live-ammunition training range for the EOD units of the British military, as well as several former ranges and an area previously used for nuclear weapons tests[[/note]] in the UK is also restricted to civilians outside of residents of the two villages on the island.

42 are acknowledged to exist today in Russia, but c.15 more are believed to exist.

The RealLife equivalent of {{Hidden Elf Village}}s. A very Soviet phenomenon, but some still exist in modern UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} and UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}}, although many cities are now "open". The internal term is "[[ExpospeakGag closed administrative-territorial formations]]" = ''zakrytye administrativno-territorial'nye obrazovaniia'' or [[FunWithAcronyms ZATO]] in Russian.

The RealLife equivalent of {{Hidden Elf Village}}s. A very Soviet phenomenon, but one still existing in modern UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} and UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}}, although many cities are now "open". The internal term is "[[ExpospeakGag closed administrative-territorial formations]]" = ''zakrytye administrativno-territorial'nye obrazovaniia'' or [[FunWithAcronyms ZATO]] in Russian.

* In ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears'' movie, agent Cabbot speaks about the closed city called Arzamas (most probably referring to Arzamas-16, now Sarov).

* Snezhinsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast. A nuclear research center.

* Mezhgorye, a closed city near Mount Yamantau that hosts some 17,000 residents that work on defence facilities around the mountain. It may be the home of the ''[[DoomsdayDevice Dead Hand]]'' or ''Perimeter'' semi-auto-second-strike nuclear launch system devised by the Russians, but is known to house nuclear labs and nuclear weapons development. Think of it as the Mt. Cheyenne analogue.

** The accident happened not in the city itself, but at the "Mayak" plant, a huge industrial complex responsible for much of the Soviet nuclear production, in the even ''more'' closed city of Ozyorsk, then known as Chelyabinsk-40, some 72 km from the Chelyabinsk proper. As both the plant and the city were classified at the time, the accident became known as Kyshtym disaster, after the closest "open" town.

These are entire cities that foreigners cannot enter and Russians need a permit to live in, being subject to movement restrictions. Some were physically surrounded by barbed wire, with armed guards. They were referred to only by a postal-code and did not feature on Soviet maps. They were located in remote areas. These cities were usually there to serve the needs of defense industrial complexes or classified research institutes. Most of them were not large enough to be considered cities proper, more likely towns, but they were planned and built as full complexes of urban infrastructure, unlike naturally evolved Russian towns, which resemble overgrown wooden villages with a few apartment blocks thrown in. However, those closed cities that already existed as cities before the Revolution were true cities; none of these remain closed today.

These are entire cities that foreigners cannot enter and Russians need a permit to live there, being subject to movement restrictions. Some were physically surrounded by barbed wire, with armed guards. They were referred to only by a postal-code and did not feature on Soviet maps. They were located in remote areas. These cities were usually there to serve the needs of defense industrial complexes or classified research institutes. Most of them were not large enough to be considered cities proper, more likely towns, but they were planned and built as full complexes of urban infrastructure, unlike naturally evolved Russian towns, which resemble overgrown wooden villages with a few apartment blocks thrown in. However, those closed cities that already existed as cities before the Revolution were true cities; none of these remain closed today.

The RealLife equivalent of {{Hidden Elf Village}}s. A very Soviet phenomenon, but one still existing in modern UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}, although many cities are now "open". The internal term is "[[ExpospeakGag closed administrative-territorial formations]]" = ''zakrytye administrativno-territorial'nye obrazovaniia'' or [[FunWithAcronyms ZATO]] in Russian.

** The accident happened not in the city itself, but at the "Mayak" plant, a huge industrial complex responsible for much if the Soviet nuclear production, in the even ''more'' closed city of Ozyorsk, then known as Chelyabinsk-40, some 72 km from the Chelyabinsk proper. As both the plant and the city were classified at the time, the accident became known as Kyshtym disaster, after the closest "open" town.

** Also from the Half-Life universe, the Black Mesa Research Facility is pretty much an American version of a classic compact, high-tech ZATO (except the above-ground parts of ZATOs tend to be less grungy and industrial and more like normal settlements).

* The game ''Gorky 17'' (a.k.a ''VideoGame/Odium'') takes place in the eponymous closed city (note the error in transcription, as there should be a dash between the name [Gorky is an actual city] and a number).

* The game ''Gorky 17'' (a.k.a ''Odium'') takes place in the eponymous closed city (note the error in transcription, as there should be a dash between the name [Gorky is an actual city] and a number).

These are entire cities that foreigners cannot enter and Russians need a permit to live there, being subject to movement restrictions. Some were physically surrounded by barbed wire, with armed guards. They were referred to only by a postal-code and did not feature on Soviet maps. They were located in remote areas. These cities were usually there to serve the needs of defense industrial complexes or classified research institutes. Most of them were not large enough to be considered cities proper, more likely towns, but they were planned and built as full complexes of urban infrastructure, unlike naturally evolved Russian towns, which resemble overgrown wooden villages with a few apartment blocks thrown in. However, those closed cities that already existed as cities before the Revolution were true cities; none of these remains closed today.

Other closed areas existed elsewhere in the WarsawPact, especially on the border between UsefulNotes/WestGermany and UsefulNotes/EastGermany.

* Possibly non-Russian example: [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 City 17]]. It is an Eastern European city, but it wasn't the humans that closed it.

** Also from the Half-Life universe, the Black Mesa Research Facility is pretty much an American version of a classic compact, high-tech ZATO.

** Also from the Half-Life universe, the Black Mesa Research Facility is pretty much an American version of a classic Closed City.

Other closed areas existed elsewhere in the WarsawPact, especially on the border between WestGermany and EastGermany.

* Some are mentioned in the Role-playing game ''TabletopGame/ColdCity'', wherein the [=PCs=] are part of a special task force cleaning up "[[{{Ghostapo}} Twisted]] [[{{Magitek}} Technology]]" developed by the [[StupidJetpackHitler Nazis]] during WW2. The Soviets certainly want as much of it for themselves as they can get, and you might be able to guess that this is where all the twisted technology Russian [=PCs=] can smuggle away goes.