The important role of urban planning in the development of the country has been talked about for a hundred years, no less. But now more and more often one can hear confessions that the sphere of urban planning is going through a deep crisis in Russia: the legal mechanisms of urban planning regulation and local self-government have not been worked out, the professional knowledge of Russian urban planners is ineffectively used at all levels of government - from local and regional to federal, and personnel potential is shrinking. Of course, it is impossible to solve all these problems with the help of one new media outlet, but the magazine is quite capable of identifying them, making them the subject of broad professional and public discussion, and this is precisely the task that Grado sets itself.
The publisher and editor-in-chief of the new magazine is Vladimir Korotaev, the project manager is Dina Sattarova. Honored Architect of the Russian Federation, advisor to the RAASN and a full member of the International Academy of Architecture, Korotaev knows about the real state of affairs in domestic urban planning almost more than anyone else: since 1998, for several years he headed the State Unitary Enterprise NIIPI of the General Plan of Moscow and was one of the leaders of the team of authors of the General Plan of Development capital until 2020. Sattarova is no stranger to architectural journalism either - for 8 years Dina has been publishing the professional magazine Design and New Architecture in Kazan. Together, the editor-in-chief and the head of "Grado" gathered in the editorial office of their brainchild a whole galaxy of brilliant experts in the field of urban planning. These are Professor of Moscow Architectural Institute, Director of the Institute for the Promotion of Innovations of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Vyacheslav Glazychev, and Chief Architect of the Krasnodar Territory Yuri Rysin, and President of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences Alexander Kudryavtsev, and Deputy Minister of Regional Development of the Russian Federation Alexander Viktorov, and Director of the Center for Strategic Research "North-West" Vladimir Knyaginin. Famous foreign experts were also involved in the work on the magazine, including Honorary Professor of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) and the Association of Higher Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Lance Jay Brown, President of the XXII World Congress of Architecture Sua Ozkan, architect Carlo Ratti and ex-head of the program UN Slum and Homeless Response Selman Ergüden.
“We, as city planners, are also responsible for resolving pressing issues. Today, in many respects, it depends on us whether the profession of an urban planner will become in demand, whether we will be able to defend its prestige and authority. To solve all these problems and get out of the current crisis situation, it is no less important to consolidate the efforts of the entire professional department,”writes Vladimir Korotaev, editor-in-chief of Grado, in his address to the readers. And it should be noted that such a constructive position is inherent in the entire magazine. "Grado" does not write about the enclosure of the profession of urban planner and does not call on those in power to cut the Gordian knot of all problems in one fell swoop; instead, the publication thoroughly and comprehensively analyzes the existing and hypothetical scenarios of the spatial organization of Russia (for example, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara-Togliatti agglomeration, Perm and Irkutsk), as well as advanced foreign experience in managing agglomerations (for example, Bilbao, Stockholm, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Munich and Shanghai). Other topics of the first issue of Grado include issues of territorial management and the use of city resources (I would like to especially note the article by Georgy Lappo “Agglomerations of Russia: the country's innovative potential”), effective mechanisms for creating an attractive urban environment, investment potential of historical buildings and sustainable development. The frequency of the new professional urban planning magazine is 4 times a year.
