Urban Conferences
Two major conferences on urban issues will soon take place in Moscow. On November 14-15, the "Smart City of the Future" forum will take place at the RIA Novosti International Multimedia Press Center. And on December 4-5, the Moscow Urban Forum will take place, the theme of which this year is formulated as "Megapolis on a Human Scale" Reading the programs of the two forums, it is easy to make sure that the main topics are largely the same, and the composition of the speakers is very different: the heads of the administrations of Russian cities, their deputies and chief architects will talk about the Smart City, and the Moscow Urban Forum (see. program), many foreign experts are invited, in particular, a lecture by Dayan Sudzhik, Alejandro Aravena is expected (however, the composition of the speakers is still being specified). Registration of participants is open.
It's time for Moscow to stop surprising the world
The Polit.ru portal publishes a transcript of a public discussion with the participation of the French social thinker Olivier Mongin, which took place as part of the Russian-French cycle "Mutating Reality" at the ZaVtra club. Olivier Mongin devoted his speech to how modern cities fit into the process of globalization, how city boundaries change, non-urban space is urbanized and the city is de-urbanized. Participating in this discussion, Sergei Kuznetsov spoke about the problems of Moscow, which, in his opinion, should learn from Soviet urban planners: we are submerged today. Industrial zones used to fill the need for jobs - this was the challenge of that time. But industry is leaving cities - not only from Moscow, but from cities in general. Urban lenses are formed, not filled with jobs, and we get a traffic collapse. Not because our population concentration is very high - it is the same as in other megacities and cities. But because the functionality laid down by the old general plan has ceased to work. In the new general plan, we must eliminate these empty lenses. We must not only correct the city, but first of all take as a basis those principles from the old, 70s, General Plan - and understand why it worked. Compare with what has developed to date. It's pretty easy to be honest. Try, without throwing the child out with the water, to go back and "repair" the current imbalance."
At a meeting of the board of the Moscow construction complex, Sergey Kuznetsov listed the city's priority projects: construction in the periphery and new territories, work with industrial and natural areas, the creation of "multifunctional development areas in" new Moscow ". It is planned to arrange everything in the city center: the city navigation system, graphics, advertising, signs, lighting. “I believe that today Moscow does not need to amaze the world by erecting large, noticeable structures. Our capital should surprise with a reasonable, balanced approach to creating a habitat,”he added. Many officials who spoke at the collegium said that the urban planning policy of modern Moscow is based on the polycentric development of the city, and therefore investors who are now undertaking the development of some territories are required to ensure the complexity of development. In other words, they are obliged to build not only housing, but all social facilities, while the city, in turn, is ready to provide them with any support in this. In particular, he provides them with land for this free of charge. In addition, a simplified procedure for passing project documentation was approved - within a month and not through the town planning and land commission, as is done with all other objects, but through a special working group. Another initiative of the officials, designed to facilitate the development of the annexed territories, will concern the procedure for land acquisition. It is planned to reduce it to five months, and in the future, to completely abolish.
Last week, Strelka alumni proposed their solutions to some of Moscow's problems - a selection of five of the most interesting projects is published by Afisha magazine. In particular, young urbanists answer questions about how and how they can help Moscow pedestrians, what to do with vacant lots in Troparevo-Nikulino, and how to improve life in Izmailovo taken separately.
Collapse of Greater Moscow
Last week, Regional Minister of Investments and Innovations Dmitry Levchenkov told Izvestia that by the end of this year, the Moscow Region authorities intend to identify specific sites for the construction of six business centers, which will form the so-called "business ring" of the Moscow region. So far, territories are being considered in the regions of Khimki, Solnechnogorsk, Novokosino, Kotelnikov, as well as the Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports. Separately, Izvestia tells about the far-reaching plans of the mayor of the city of Troitsk, Vladimir Dudochkin, who announced his intention to apply to the Moscow government and the Moscow City Duma with a proposal to change the territorial division of the annexed lands. In his opinion, more than 20 settlements within the new borders of Moscow should be combined into 3-4 large urban districts. He proposes to add three more settlements to Troitsk itself.
However, residents of Troitsk do not share the enthusiasm of their mayor. And without the addition of new settlements to the city, the life of its inhabitants became much more complicated after they became Muscovites. More than 800 people have already signed an appeal to the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, dedicated to the extremely difficult transport situation that has developed on the Kaluzhskoye and Kievskoye highways - the highways connecting Troitsk with "old" Moscow. The flow of vehicles to them is constantly increasing due to a sharp increase in the pace and volume of construction of housing and commercial infrastructure, and people have no other way to get to the metro except by bus or car, since Troitsk is not connected to any of the railway lines. … Getting to work 3-4 hours a day, people are driven to despair and in protest are ready to block the Kaluzhskoe highway. The RBC Daily newspaper, which decided to analyze the projects being implemented in the annexed territories, does not please the residents of Troitsk with good news: only at the end of this year preparatory work for the reconstruction of Kaluzhskoye Highway is planned, but the Targeted Investment Program for 2013–2015 does not include funds for expanding the highway; Talks also died down about the construction of an additional metro line to Kommunarka, on which the Parliamentary Center station was supposed to be located.
Small towns
In the meantime, Moscow is looking for ways to improve the comfort of its living environment, some small cities in Russia can already boast of implemented projects to improve the quality of life. The City Manager magazine tells about the results of the All-Russian competition of the best urban practices in the Central Federal District, in which the projects of Plyos, Kaluga, Voronezh and Odintsovo near Moscow were awarded. And "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" reports that the rating of the most comfortable cities in Russia is topped by two Middle Volga cities - Saransk and Ulyanovsk.
IA REGNUM talks about the development project of Staraya Ladoga and the transformation of this city into a major tourist and cultural center. It is assumed that this project will be a pilot for the Northwestern Federal District of the Russian Federation, and the scheme of the complex revival of historical sites developed on its basis will then be applied in other constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Dreams Dreams
Sib.fm publishes a fantasy essay on what Novosibirsk might look like in 40 years if it applied the methods of reorganizing the transport infrastructure used by the Brazilian city of Curitiba, which, as the author writes, “after the mayor of Jaime Lerner came to power and three decades shock therapy for the transport industry, Curitiba has become a textbook example and the main object of imitation of world urbanists. The Brazilian TV series begins in 2014, when “overnight, all reasonable and caring people understand that the transport projects being implemented are absolutely meaningless and there is no point in expecting any benefit from them,” and ends already in 2050, when the historic center becomes a pedestrian, business activity is scattered throughout the city, a new type of public transport has been launched - metrobuses, and eight large intercept parking lots have been built for the most stubborn motorists.
Greens and guerrillas
However, even by freeing cities from cars, it is hardly possible to make them more comfortable overnight. Green spaces will cope with this task much better. The Ecodrive website tells about the new urban trend - "Guerrilla Gardening". Activists calling themselves "green guerrillas" have only recently appeared in Russia, but are already successfully transforming certain urban areas with flower bombs and other environmental tricks.
Urbanurban talks about how wastelands and other uncomfortable urban spaces are greening in Berlin. And finally, another example of life-giving landscaping of the territory - in New York, an abandoned railway in New York was transformed into a parkland.
