The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper publishes an interview with the chief architect of Moscow, Alexander Kuzmin, who spoke about the construction of the metro, the creation of pedestrian streets, as well as competitions for the development of the concept of the Zaryadye territory and the concept of the development of the Moscow agglomeration. In particular, he said that the competition for the development of the agglomeration has already passed a third of the way, at the end of May a regular seminar will be held, at which the borders of the existing and new Moscow will be considered. The final results will be announced in September. Meanwhile, participants in the construction market are rather skeptical about the Big Moscow project. Gazeta.ru cites the opinions of some of them. Thus, the adviser to the president of the financial and construction corporation "Leader" Grigory Altukhov believes that without a comprehensive study of the master plan, the annexed territory can turn into an area populated by migrants with an underdeveloped infrastructure. And the commercial director of Nagatino i-Land Sergey Kanaev doubts that the project will be implemented within the intended boundaries. And for its implementation, he believes, it is necessary to reduce the territory of the new Moscow and solve transport problems. Apparently, the officials themselves do not believe in the success of the new Moscow. This is the conclusion reached by Nezavisimaya Gazeta, speaking about the reconstruction of the 14th building of the Moscow Kremlin at the cost of 5 billion rubles, and in this case doubting that officials would move to the territory of the new Moscow.
The tasks, including those related to the expansion of the borders of the capital, are intended to be solved by the Strategy of Social and Economic Development of Moscow until 2025. Its first working version is now ready. The document should become the basis for the future General Plan and city state programs. Among the main objectives of the strategy is the creation of a unified management and planning system for Moscow and the Moscow Region. It will consolidate the reduction of industrial zones within the capital, an increase in pedestrian spaces, paid entry for cars to the city center, and the development of the sphere of innovation, education and science. The developers also promise to make Moscow housing affordable and create a smart city based on clusters. The final version of the project will be submitted for approval to the mayor's office in September.
The terms of reference of the competition for the concept of development of the Zaryadye territory, formed during the past "people's" competition, can be discussed on the website of the Moscow Committee for Architecture and Construction, RIA Novosti reports. In the task, it was proposed to abandon high-rise, large-scale buildings and structures, from large open areas and from the attributes of the "ceremonial" style. It is also recommended to use underground space and reduce surface construction as much as possible. In addition, in the "people's" task there is a proposal to conduct an archaeological survey and a historical and cultural examination of the territory of Zaryadye.
Last week, the media talked about new Moscow bike paths and that their construction should begin this summer. The Village has studied the pre-project solution of the designers, which is now being discussed by the mayor's office. It is curious that the competition for the development of the project was won by the Research Institute of the General Plan, and all the papers of the pre-design solution bear the emblems and signatures of "GlavAPu". The document itself is replete with miscalculations and errors. So, for example, contrary to international experience, most of the bike paths in Moscow are proposed to be built of tiles, and the strips should be designed at 60 cm, which contradicts the GOST standards - only the width of a standard bicycle handlebar is 65 cm. It is not clear from the document how the intersections with carriageways and footpaths will be organized. The document contains three specific routes of bike paths, for the detailed study of which a state order appeared just this week. This is the route from Krasnopresnenskaya to Frunzenskaya embankment, from the Belyaevo metro station to Yuzhnaya and from the MKAD stop in Kapotnya to the Bratislavskaya metro station.
Moscow authorities have identified three more historic buildings, the restoration of which will attract private investors, writes the newspaper "Moscow News". These are the house of the master Sysoev of the 19th century in Pechatnikov lane ("house with caryatids"), the estate of Gusev of the first half of the 19th century on Bolshaya Polyanka and the city estate of the Kolesnikov-Sargins on Taganka. Having paid for the restoration, tenants will be able to use them at a rate of one ruble per sq. m per year for 49 years. The Moscow City Heritage announced the creation of the so-called "Society of Moscow Guardians": "in order to become a responsible custodian of the monument, you need to put the so-called like in the status of the corresponding architectural monument on the Facebook social network," Radio Culture reports.
And in St. Petersburg, the Committee for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade (KERPPiT) announced an open competition for the development of a concept for the development of territories (master plan) of the historic city center. So far, two of the seven territories selected for participation in the program have been put up for the competition. The first is a block from the Field of Mars to Nevsky Prospect. The second - from New Holland to the second stage of the Mariinsky Theater. These territories will be landscaped, they will receive a modern engineering infrastructure, and buildings, including emergency ones, will be reconstructed while preserving their appearance. It is also planned to withdraw a maximum of cars from the city center, creating paid entrances, parking lots and bypass roads. The program for the preservation of the historical center of St. Petersburg is designed for decades. The first pilot project is expected to be completed by 2018. You can leave your suggestions regarding the developed program on the KERPPiT website.
City activists of St. Petersburg continue to resent the reconstruction of the Summer Garden. Chairman of the regional office of the International Council for the Preservation of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) Sergei Gorbatenko believes that the city has lost the Summer Garden: “Now they have made a garden that never existed. The new elements are a real fake. There were no detailed drawings of the fountains, and everything had to be thought out. Other public figures are perplexed why the Summer Garden was allocated 2.3 billion rubles, because there are other significant objects in the city that need to be restored. The renovated Summer Garden will be open on May 28.
The St. Petersburg branch of VOOPIiK proposed creating an independent body for the protection of heritage at the federal level, independent of the Ministry of Culture. With such a request, they turned to President Vladimir Putin. The need to create such a committee is justified by the rampant destruction of monuments. For example, recently builders damaged a monument of federal significance, a fortification of the times of Peter I in Pskov - a bastion at the Pokrovskaya Tower - RIA Novosti writes about this. The excavator worked on May 7, this message appeared in blogs almost instantly, now the damage to the bastion, destruction of trees and the possible revival of the project for the construction of the multifunctional cluster "Pskovsky" near the Pokrovskaya Tower, rejected several years ago, is discussed by the press. Now all work has been stopped, an act has been drawn up on violation of the federal law while working on the monument. In the future, a comprehensive check will be carried out with the participation of the Control Department of the Administration of the Pskov Region, the contractor will be obliged to examine the disturbed slopes of the bastion and restore its profile. And it was decided to return the embankment reconstruction project to the town planning council for consideration.
The issue of transformation of territories and the formation of demand for a high-quality urban environment was discussed in Perm at the interregional "Architectural and Construction Forum". The architect, chief specialist of the planning and planning department of the MBU "Bureau of Urban Projects" Alexander Lozhkin believes that Perm should become a compact city with a comfortable structure, multifunctional use of territories, full-fledged public spaces and natural landscape, a high-quality public transport system and a variety of housing. Deputy Chairman of the Perm City Duma Arkady Katz stressed that the city's development strategy will not work if investors do not invest in engineering networks, the development of social and road infrastructures. The official believes that the ultimate goal of the strategy is to increase human potential. All participants of the round table agreed that the development strategy of Perm should be developed on the basis of a dialogue between city planners, business representatives and government officials.
