An important element of the urban development of the city is that the square of the fortress created a network of streets converging at right angles.

The mutually perpendicular orientation of the streets and the accompanying division of the urban environment into standard quarters was the original and distinctive feature of Penza.

Perhaps Penza owes this to its first builders, who are well acquainted with the European urban planning trends of the 17th century - the German Joseph von Sommer (Lieutenant Colonel of the Moscow Service Osip Zumerovsky) and the Polish nobleman Yuri Kotransky.

At the end of the next 18th century, in the process of implementing Catherine's master plan for Penza, only some sections of the old streets were straightened, the standard width of the roadway and sidewalks was set.

Newly carved quarters of the Upland part of the city, more comfortable for living, were inhabited by the nobility and eminent merchants.

In accordance with the General Plan of 1785, the dilapidated fortress, trading rows and philistine buildings adjacent to its walls were dismantled.

As a result of clearing, the posadskaya Nikolskaya church came out of the environment of spontaneous buildings and acquired a harmonious look, becoming a true decoration of the city.

In the Fortress Quarter there is also a special administrative street of the city – the Line of Public Places, passing from Sadovaya to Moskovskaya, bypassing the Spassky Cathedral.

[18] Belemnites Belemnitella lanceolata and B. americana were also collected from Maastrichtian layers along the banks of the Sura River in Penza area.

[18] In addition, these layers contain a mixed complex of microfaunal characteristics of the Turonian (Bolivinita couvigeriniformis), Santonian (Reussia subrotundata) and Maastrichtian (Bolivina incrassata) ages, indicating that all of these deposits were eroded and redeposited.

The initial construction consisted of a wooden Kremlin, a village, and quarters for the nobility, small tradesmen, and merchants.

The Muscovite government placed the Cossacks here, who constructed a fortress and called it "Cherkassy Ostroh", from which the regional city of Penza has developed, thanks to the arrival of new settlers, particularly Russians.

The Cossack roots of the city and its first settlers are now remembered in the names of Cherkasskaya street, along with the "Cherkassy" historical district.

[19] In 1774, the insurgent army led by Yemelyan Pugachev occupied Penza after the citizens of the city welcomed the rebellious Cossacks.

A heat wave in the months of June, July, and August 2010, raised temperatures from previous norms often by 15 °C (27 °F) in Penza.