The Moscow International Urban Forum “Global Solutions for Russian Cities” coincided with the approval of the new administrative boundaries of the city. On December 7, deputies of the Moscow Regional Duma approved a bill on the unification of the capital with 21 settlements of the Moscow region, and most of the experts, including the planners of the “Greater Beijing” and “Greater Paris”, who took part in the Moscow Urban Forum, quite predictably discussed exactly those large-scale urban planning tasks, who are now facing Moscow.
The opinions of specialists and their forecasts regarding the future of the metropolis turned out to be diametrically opposed. Some advocated the growth of the capital's territories, which would make it possible to translate new projects into reality, others reminded of the land resources already available in the capital in the form of industrial zones. According to Jim Hyde, head of the Moscow Expert Group, quoted by Moscow Perspective, “the issue of expanding the borders has left us confused. There is such an experience in the world, but it is usually negative. " In general, it should be noted that the foreign experts invited to the Forum turned out to be surprisingly unanimous in their bewilderment. In particular, European and Asian city planners could not understand why the Russian capital annexed the southwestern part of the region, and not any other part. “The actively growing Domodedovo is located nearby. This area will continue to grow and generate financial flows, it could become an ideal driving force for the development of lands, "- convinced Vice President of AECOM Design Planning Chris Choa, who is quoted by Moskovskie Novosti.
Experts also agree that before it grows in breadth, Moscow should decide what qualities it wants to develop. "According to experts from the Urban Land Institute, Moscow needs to decide what kind of global city it would like to become - a financial center or a tourist center, a center of knowledge, culture, or, for example, a center of communications," writes Moscow Perspective. Gazeta.ru published an interview with the city manager of the center of The Hague, Max Yelenievski, and Afisha magazine prepared a selection of conversations on urban planning topics with the world's leading experts in this field. Among them are Danish architect Jan Gale and French general planner Bertrand Lemoine, interviewed by Alexander Ostrogorsky.
One of the brightest stories about the upcoming expansion of Moscow was published in the Kommersant newspaper. In his article "Moscow has died out", the architectural critic Grigory Revzin explains in a tough and well-argued manner why the concept of increasing the capital is unprofitable and of little interest even to those who initiated this idea six months ago. “Instead of a competition, a competition is held for who will hold the competition, instead of a general plan, an exhibition layout of the general plan is developed - this sometimes happens when, instead of an activity, it is necessary to demonstrate that it is going on”. According to Revzin, the main problem is that all the initiatives came from the team, which is now stopping its game in the political arena. “For Medvedev, it was an image project that appeared at a time when he was still claiming something. The new president is building a new capital - this is, in principle, a plot, a theme. The problem is that when the president fails in such a case, the country also fails,”Revzin notes. Further prospects for the expansion of Moscow, according to the critic, are more than vague, because until now not a single architect has been involved in the work on the new master plan and other program documents.
This fall (October 25), the results of the competition for the development of the urban planning part of the design documentation for the Skolkovo Innovation Center were announced. The architectural studio SPEECH Choban & Kuznetsov received the tender. In February 2012, the development of the project for the Skolkovo town-planning part should be completed, after which the architects will proceed to the detailed design stage, ASN-info reports. Sergey Kuznetsov, the managing partner of the company, told the Architectural News Agency in more detail about how this competition was held and what work is ahead of the winner.
In the area of heritage preservation, recent days have also been turbulent. Activists of the public urban protection movement "Arhnadzor" tried once again to draw public attention to the building of the Moscow "Children's World". On December 15, many online media disseminated an official statement of the Detsky Mir movement: on the anniversary of good intentions, "in which members of Arkhnadzor again advocate the salvation of the unique interiors of the country's main children's department store. As you know, a year ago, Deputy Mayor of Moscow Marat Khusnullin promised to revise the existing concept of the restoration of the Children's World, which initially assumed a complete internal redevelopment. And although in October 2011 the developer presented a new version of the reconstruction, the interiors of Detsky Mir are again supposed not to be preserved, but to be dismantled and reproduced in modern materials. In the fall of this year, experts sent to the Moscow Cultural Heritage Department a new draft of the subject of protection of this building, which protects not only the facade of the house, but also its layout, but this document has not yet been considered. City activists urge: "It is necessary to develop a new project of adapting the building of the" Children's World "to modern use, based on respect for the law and for the historical and cultural value of the object."
And on the pages of the journal "Expert" a controversy unfolded related to the preservation of the cultural and historical appearance of another Russian metropolis - St. Petersburg. Elena Zelinskaya's article "I Can't Hear the City Noise" sharply criticizes the actions of the KGIOP employees and city administrative institutions, including the resigned Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko: ? - before the vicious circle of dependence on the unpunished will of some and the archaic lack of will of others breaks. " Two weeks later, the "Expert" published a response polemical material by Elena Prudnikova "Anatomy of a city-defense lie", in which the actions of the same officials are covered from completely different positions. “Our urban protection community is generally akin to the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park - it notices only moving objects. As long as nothing is done with the building, nobody needs it. When stucco moldings were poured all over the city, there was no particular noise about this. As soon as the Governor's program "Facades of St. Petersburg" began, criticism immediately began. " According to Prudnikova, both the KGIOP and the previous governor of the city made a huge contribution to the preservation of the historical appearance of St. Petersburg: "the strictest protection legislation that has no analogues in the world was developed under Matvienko."
In addition, this week the St. Petersburg media covered in great detail the fate of the Tower of Griffins. This romantic name was given to the building located in the courtyard of a residential building on the Seventh Line of Vasilievsky Island: the “tower” is the name of the surviving part of the chimney of the former Imperial Pharmacy of Dr. Pel and his sons. According to urban legends, inside the "Tower" there was Pel's laboratory, where the pharmacist raised griffins and looked for the recipe for the elixir of happiness. In early December, local residents set out to demolish the building in order to make way for parking and stop the pilgrimage of romantically minded tourists. The news about this was published on December 9 by the Karpovka. Net portal. Materials in defense of the Tower of Griffins were also posted by the Fontanka. Ru portal and the Kommersant-Spb newspaper. On December 12, the KGIOP intervened, announcing that this building “is an integral part of the cultural heritage site“House of A. V. Pelya with a pharmacy, a chemical laboratory and a factory. " As reported by "Gazeta-SPB", today "Bashna" is no longer in danger.
