[15] It occupies a highly seismically active oasis plain bounded on the south by the foothills of the Kopet Dag mountains (Turkmen: Köpetdag) and on the north by the Karakum Desert.

The Russian writer Vasily Yan, who lived in Askhabad from 1901 to 1904, described the city as "a little tidy town consisting of numerous clay houses, surrounded by fruit gardens with straight streets, planted with slim cottonwood, chestnut, and white acacia planned by the hand of military engineers".

[24] The first master plan for Ashgabat, developed between 1935 and 1937 at the Moscow Institute of Geodesy, Aerial Imagery, and Cartography, envisioned expansion to the west, including irrigation and greening of the Bikrova canyon (today Bekrewe).

[23] During the 1948 earthquake, since the bulk of Ashgabat at that time was built of either adobe or fired brick, all but a very few buildings collapsed or were damaged beyond repair (the reinforced concrete grain elevator, Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, and Kärz Bank were among the structures that survived).

This plan was used for about 20 years, and led to construction of the city's first four-story apartment buildings in the Howdan (Russian: Гаудан) microdistricts, formerly the site of the Ashgabat-South aerodrome, as well as annexation of three collective farms in the near suburbs and their conversion into residential neighborhoods, one of which, Leningrad kolkhoz, to this day is referred to informally by its former name.

Beginning in the 1970s, Ashgabat's boundaries shifted outward, with the aforementioned municipalities annexed, the aerodrome at Howdan redeveloped, and creation of the Parahat (Russian: Mir) neighborhoods to the south and industrial parks to the east.

In 2013, Ashgabat annexed a portion of the then-Ruhabat district of Ahal Province as well as the city of Abadan (previously named Büzmeýin, and renamed that as a neighborhood) plus all land and villages in between.

[34][35][36] A further expansion occurred January 5, 2018, when additional land to the north was annexed, incorporating the Gurtly Reservoir and two greenfield residential construction projects, known today as Täze Zaman.

[44][45] The near suburb of Köşi, until 2013 a separate village but in that year annexed by Ashgabat, may have been site of a Parthian fortress constructed to protect the capital city, Nisa, based on discoveries of pottery and other artifacts in the 1970s and as recently as 2020.

Other artifacts indicating settlement during the Parthian period were reportedly discovered during laying of telephone cables on the site of the Gülistan (Russian) Bazaar in downtown Ashgabat.

[23] It was formally part of Persia but de facto autonomous under Turkoman tribal control until Russian forces defeated the Teke army at the Battle of Geok Tepe in January 1881.

[23][49][18][50] Russian military engineers platted the garrison settlement "on the western edge of the aul (village) of Askhabad on the Gaudan (Howdan) road leading to Persia.

However, in July 1918, a coalition of Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries, and Tsarist former officers of the Imperial Russian Army revolted against the Bolshevik rule emanating from Tashkent and established the Ashkhabad Executive Committee.

[65] Ashgabat's "11th Line" project was dedicated on June 29, 2012, including 17 high-rise apartment buildings along 10 ýyl Abadançylyk şaýoly, two secondary schools, two kindergartens, a fire station, and a health clinic.

[56][70][71][72][73] Subsequent to conclusion of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, the "16th Line" project, a redevelopment of the Köşi neighborhood and extension of Magtymguly Avenue to the west, was begun in 2018.

[77][78][79] In May 2021 the government announced plans for the "17th Line", consisting of a resort complex encircling Golden Lake (Turkmen: Altyn köl), the former Gurtly Reservoir, to include 268 vacation cottages plus buildings for public services and amenities.

[80] On 23 August 2022 the government announced plans to demolish one- and two-story houses in several microdistricts of central Ashgabat and to replace them with modern apartment buildings.

[111][112][113] The official Turkmen government guide book to Ashgabat refers to the star of Oguz Khan as "...the basic dominant of the whole architectural-art decor..."[22] After independence, the city architect's office ordered construction of many high-rise (generally 12-story) residential buildings.

In advance of the V Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in September 2017, roughly one billion dollars was spent on widening and upgrading Ashgabat's major thoroughfares.

[114][115] In May 2024, a monument dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the birth of Turkmen poet and philosopher Magtymguly Pyragy was unveiled in Ashgabat, near Walk of Health at the foot of the Kopetdag mountain range.

[120][121][122][123][124][125] When Ashgabat was under Russian rule, the number of Bahá'ís in the city rose to over 1,000, and a Bahá'í community was established, with its own schools, medical facilities and cemetery.

[21] Another source relates that as of 1911 roughly half the workforce of somewhat more than 400 "workers" was employed at the railroad depot, engaged in locomotive and railcar maintenance and repair, with the rest occupied in cotton ginning, cottonseed oil extraction, flour milling, and leather-, brick-, glass-, and iron production.

[18] As of 1948, Ashgabat boasted "about twenty large factory-plant enterprises, which produce fabrics, glass, footwear, garments, meat products, dredges, agricultural implement parts and much else".

Also, suburban communication has been established with Ýaşlyk, Geok Tepe, Gorjaw, Yzgant, Babarap, Bugdaýly, Annau, Gämi, Owadandepe, Watan, Khurmant, Onaldy, Gami Dacha, Kasamly Julge, Gäwers, Yashyldepe, Akdashayak, Niyazow, Suitchilik, Parahat.

It features a range of traditional crafts, including ceramics, paintings, felt tapestries, leather items, and handmade paper, offering visitors an introduction to the country’s artistic and cultural heritage.

The library includes specialized sections for book storage, cataloging, and services for different age groups, from preschool children to high school students, as well as an arts department.

[260] Ashgabat was home to the Arch of Neutrality, a 75 m (250 ft) tall tripod crowned by a golden statue of late president Saparmurat Niyazov (also known as Turkmenbashy, or head Turkmen).

[272][273] Halk Hakydasy Memorial Complex was opened in 2014 in remembrance of those killed in the Battle of Geok Tepe in 1881, during World War II, and to commemorate of the victims of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake.

[276] These statues honor renowned figures such as Sayat-Nova, Yanka Kupala, Du Fu, Honoré de Balzac, Shota Rustaveli, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sándor Petőfi, Rabindranath Tagore, Hafez Shirazi, Dante Alighieri, Yasunari Kawabata, Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly, Chingiz Aitmatov, Raja Ali Haji, Adam Mickiewicz, Mihai Eminescu, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Juan Jiménez, Sayido Nasafiy, Yunus Emre, Hryhorii Skovoroda, William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes and Alisher Navoi.

[295] The city hosts 32 foreign embassies[296] and serves as the headquarters for the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea[297] and United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia (UNRCCA).