Sofia Romanova, editor-in-chief
Urban magazine / Courtesy of Urban magazine
Transport in a city is perhaps the most important thing for its residents, especially when it comes to a metropolis, where people are forced to walk and drive tens of kilometers every day, making trips from home to work or study, visiting theaters, exhibitions, sports competitions.
What roads and what the townspeople will drive in the near future - we have identified this issue as the leading topic of the fourth issue of URBAN, which will be published in mid-December.
Almost half of this episode consists of interviews. We did this deliberately so that readers would hear a clear, not diluted with journalistic rhetoric, the point of view on the transport situation in Moscow of the city leaders responsible for this area, well-known urban planners, engineers, architects, scientists.
In the genre of historical chronicle with the eloquent title “Transport and the city. Fatal attraction”was presented by our regular author, member of the editorial board of URBAN Chris van Uffelen (Germany). The architectural historian who has published dozens of books on the study of urban public spaces, Chris van Uffelen sees the transport system as the cornerstone of the relationship between urban structure and citizens, tracing the history of this relationship and interdependence from ancient Rome to the present day.
One of the most authoritative urbanists of our time, British expert on urban development Greg Clark, who took part in the IV Moscow Urban Forum, spoke about how such issues are resolved in different countries.
Our partners from the International Academy of Architecture (IAA-MAAM) have prepared a kind of essay "Traffic Rules", which even the most inexperienced reader can understand, the vector of modern development of the urban transport system is so clearly and clearly indicated in the material.
City highways are arteries along which life flows in an endless and continuous stream. Streets change their functions depending on the time of day, days of the week, labor and seasonal migrations. Urban planners, architects and engineers are key figures who are able to professionally assess the situation and influence it, making the space harmonious and mutually acceptable for the townspeople and the transport they use on a daily basis. We talked about this with Martin Stokely, British engineer, urbanist, expert, whose projects were included in the popular English edition “Manual for Streets” as the most worthy examples.
Several examples of reconstruction of transport facilities and nearby territories have been prepared for this issue by our own correspondents in Boston, Vladivostok, London and Paris.
With all the variety of judgments and points of view, it would be naive to believe that the topic of urban transport has been exhausted and the publication of one issue contains all the most pressing issues and problems of this direction of life in the metropolis. We will definitely continue the conversation, preserving the format of the discussion discussion and expanding the circle of its participants and the geography of objects.
