So, the main reason for organizing the seminar was the long-drawn-out knot of the capital's problems: there is a construction boom in Moscow, they build a lot, but it is expensive, while 60 thousand emigrants come to Moscow a year. New construction is displacing green areas on the outskirts of the city, and according to forecasts, if the same pace of construction continues, the city center may reach the Moscow Ring Road, and the periphery will be behind it. The proposed solution is to reduce the volume of construction and preserve the periphery with its green areas. According to the Deputy Director for Economics of Urban Development of the Research and Development Institute of the General Plan of Moscow V. Ya. Becker, it is necessary to restore the activity of the demolition program of five-story buildings and the vacated territory of 16 million square meters. meters to build up with new housing.
According to the head of the research and design department of the prospective urban development of Moscow NIiPI O. A. Baevsky, one of the city's weaknesses is the underdevelopment of the social sphere. Social housing, which is now receiving a lot of attention in the West (20-60% of all construction), is not enough in Moscow. At the same time, the pace of commercial construction is growing at a rate of 20% per year, which only exacerbates the problem. As the speaker rightly noted, construction in Moscow has become an investment of money, not an improvement in life. O. A. Baevsky - it is necessary to create a fund for social rent, which would be responsible for the social efficiency of housing.
Much has been said about transport, the main reason for poor ecology. It turns out that nowhere in the world does such a large percentage of the population use the metro as in Moscow (75%), but the problem of traffic jams is only growing. A third transport ring has already been built in Moscow and a fourth is planned, but both of them exclude public transport. It is also planned to develop a system of roads connecting Moscow and the region - two different constituent entities of the Russian Federation, which are in complex relationships with each other. In general, city planners in the capital see a solution in the construction of more and more new roads - it is curious that their Western colleagues did not agree with them, proposing to shift priorities from personal to public transport, to focus on an integrated approach. I just want to invite them to travel in Moscow public transport.
Another issue is the lack of garages and parking lots - two-thirds of cars are parked on the streets of the city. If our Western colleagues are engaged in reducing the area of parking, thus displacing cars from the city center, then for us such subtle methods are apparently premature.
After listening to the speeches of Moscow city planners, Western colleagues made the promised recommendations for changing the strategy of the General Plan. All as one, they talked about decentralization and the reduction of personal transport, that you should try to see the future of your metropolis in all details - and based on the picture obtained, try to prevent possible mistakes. Jean-Pierre Palissy, Paris, spoke about decentralization, polycentricity and the need to create public centers outside the city, as well as the indispensable change in the structure of employment, housing, transport. Berlin and Madrid made a proposal to create a network of satellite cities around Moscow and to develop a system of communications with the region, with the removal of all industrial centers outside the city. The mistake of the General Plan, according to Alberto Leboriero, is the search for one solution, and not several, working in a complex. According to Katerina Sukinaki from Athens, the most important thing for Moscow is to have an idea of how to make the city better and think about the quality of life for people. In her opinion, the problems should be solved at the local level and the districts should be provided with everything necessary so that people do not have to travel to the center. The same thought was continued by Zef Zemel, urging Moscow city planners not to focus only on problems and difficulties, but to look further, not to pretend to be a doctor who wants to help a patient - “the city is not sick, it is very lively and mobile! Think about where you are moving, how do you want to see this city in the future? Ask people about it!"
Thus, the view of the existing problems of Moscow as a metropolis among Russian and Western colleagues practically coincides - urban planners of all countries, including Moscow, are for the development of green areas and public spaces, for social programs, for removing some cars from the streets. and from courtyards. The only thing left to do is to choose the ways of realizing these tasks for Moscow. Or for the whole of Russia?
